By Harry Minium
Nick Rice and Jarod Brown, the greatest placekickers in Old Dominion football history, are good friends and will remain so even though Rice will soon surpass Brown as ODU's all-time field goal leader.
ODU plays at Liberty University on Saturday night with Rice needing one more field goal to surpass Brown's record of 49.
Brown played at ODU from 2010 through 2013 and was one of the nation's best kickers. Rice tied his record by making all five of his field goal attempts so far this season.
Brown was in the stands Saturday when Rice kicked a career-high four field goals during a 47-7 victory over Hampton. "I know he's going to break my record," he said when I saw him tailgating with former teammates.
He shrugged his shoulders as if to say, what am I going to do?
ODU placekicker Nick Rice
Brown befriended Rice when the St. Petersburg, Florida, native was a freshman and Brown had graduated. Brown came to ODU practices, introduced himself to Rice and began giving him pointers not only on how to improve his kickoffs and field goal mechanics but also how to approach the game mentally.
Brown and Rice have essentially the same positive mentality. They shut out the crowd noise, focus and know they're going to make the kick regardless of how long the field goal attempt. And if they miss a kick, they let that go and move on to the next kick.
"He was a little down in the dumps Saturday when I tied his record," Rice said of Brown. "But he shot me a text after the game, saying I knew you were going to break it from the first season you stepped on the field. That was really a nice thing for him to do."
Rice also holds the school record, at least so far, for points-after-touchdown accuracy – he's made 90 of 91 (98.9 percent).
However, there are some other records set by Brown that he won't break.
Brown is ODU's all-time leading scorer. Rice recently passed former wide receiver Antonio Vaughan and into third place with 238 points. But Brown has a commanding lead with 382 points. Rice might catch Ray Lawry, who is second with 288 points
Brown also leads with 233 PATs made. Rice is second but still in double digits.
Jarod Brown
Brown had the good fortune to be kicking when quarterback Taylor Heinicke, now with the Washington Football Team, led ODU's offense to national scoring records. That means that some of Brown's records may not be broken in his lifetime.
Brown also has ODU's longest field goal – a 54-yarder at Pitt in 2013. Rice's longest is 48 yards, and he said if the right situation presents itself, he'd like to try one from 55 yards.
"I think my range is 56 yards," he said, smiling.
Former Monarch Eli Kessner passes away
Eli Kessner was one of the nicest ODU football players I ever interviewed. He was polite, smart and charismatic.
Sadly, the Jacksonville, Florida, resident died last week from complications resulting from a COVID infection.
ODU coach Ricky Rahne began his weekly press conference by announcing Kessner's death.
"I'd like to open the day by passing on my condolences to the family of Eli Kessner, former offensive lineman here from 2013-2015, who passed away on Friday," Rahne said.
Eli, Hannah and Brett Kessner
"Obviously, we're keeping the family in our prayers and thoughts right now. Old Dominion doesn't have a huge football family so losing anybody is always a huge loss. I never was able to meet him, but I met a lot of people from that era, and I know how much they meant to him."
The circumstances of his death are tragic. He married the former Hannah Owens, whom he met at ODU, and they had a baby boy in May. Hannah reluctantly agreed to allow their son to be named Brett after former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Eli was a huge Packers fan.
He came down with COVID in August and struggled from the start. He was on a ventilator for weeks but was off it and appeared to be improving when he died from other complications, including kidney failure.
I reached out to Hannah by email.
"He fought over a month to conquer it, but unfortunately the virus just took too big of a toll on his body," she wrote.
"From the moment I met Eli, there was something about him that I never wanted to live without," she added. "Eli quickly became that smile that never left my face, the laughter that constantly flowed from my lungs and the love that filled up every inch of my heart.
"Losing Eli is a loss that I'll never get over. Being newlyweds, you think you'll get to spend forever with your person. I had a husband who was forgiving, hardworking, full of life and never went a day without making me feel like I was the most loved woman in the world."
She said she's grateful that she allowed her son to be named Brett.
"Brett was Eli's biggest life accomplishment, and I am so lucky that I have such a big piece of him to hold on to forever."
I wrote a story about Eli when he gave up football his senior year to focus on academics – he was an engineering major. A walk-on from Blacksburg, he earned a scholarship and was the backup center for Josh Mann.
Eli Kessner and Tyler Fisher
That same season, offensive tackle Tyler Fisher was also forced to give up football because of injuries. Regardless of the reason, it's always difficult when a player hangs up his cleats for the last time. Offensive linemen are generally close, but in that difficult time, they became best friends.
"We hung out with each other even more than when we played," said Fisher, now an intern in ODU's academic advising department. "We talked almost every day. We leaned on each other all year. We went to games together. We did everything together."
Former ODU linemen Connor Mewbourne and Mufu Taiwo and quarterback Blake LaRussa were among former players who also reached out to me about Kessner.
Mewbourne said he is heartbroken.
"Losing Eli is one of those losses that will never go away," he said. "He made his way into the hearts and souls of everyone around him. He will always be a part of us. He will always be there. He left his physical body, but the legacy of Elias Kessner will live on forever in the hearts of everyone who knew him."
Hannah said that a celebration of life service is planned for her husband on Oct. 16 in Virginia Beach at a time and place to be announced.
ODU hosts Western Kentucky at 3:30 that afternoon.
Liberty Student Body Will be Stoked for ODU
The last time the Monarchs played at Liberty, dozens of students in the stands put on makeup to mimic the movie character the Joker, and several thousand students behind the ODU bench rode the Monarchs unmercifully.
At the time, those in makeup were known as "Jerry's Jokers," referring to President Jerry Falwell Jr. Now that Falwell has left the university under a cloud, they have changed their names to the LUnatics. So don't expect any makeup but do expect them to be loud, though in a respectful way, on Saturday.
I recall that while the students were riding the Monarchs pretty hard, they immediately stopped and many bowed their heads when a couple of ODU players knelt in prayer by the bench. They also carried a running and friendly conversation with me as I roamed the sidelines.
Offensive tackle Nick Saldiveri was a freshman on that 2018 team, and it was his first road game. He did not play, but said the Liberty student body was quite a shock to a guy fresh out of high school
"I remember thinking, this is a little bit different than high school," he said.
He said the best way to quiet the fans is to dominate the game, something that did not occur in 2018, when Liberty won 52-10.
Asked if that lopsided defeat would have any impact on ODU Saturday, Saldiveri said that game is ancient history.
"We hardly have any those guys left from that team," he said. "This is a completely different team. So no, I don't think that game affects us at all."
Liberty Quarterback Among the Nation's Best
Liberty's football team presents a lot of problems. Its defense is veteran and among the stingiest in the country. The Flames are ranked tenth nationally in points allowed (10 per game) and No. 14 for yards (250.5).
Liberty was 10-1 last season and was ranked 17th in the final Associated Press poll. Currently, the Flames are 28th in voting for the AP Top 25.
They're also very good at home. They've won 12 games in a row at Williams Stadium, dating back to 2019.
But Liberty's biggest asset is quarterback Malik Willis, a 6-foot-1, 225-pound Atlanta native and a senior who is an expected first-round NFL draft choice. Willis may be better running the ball than he is passing and his arm is strong and accurate. He transferred from Auburn, where he had little opportunity to play, and has broken seven Liberty school records.
He completed 28 of 41 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 148 yards in Liberty's victories over Campbell and Troy.
Rahne calls Willis "a rare talent."
"He is difficult to prepare for," he said. "I do think that we have some scout team quarterbacks that can emulate him but it's about maintaining discipline and being in the right spot and those little things.
"You've got to keep him in the pocket as much as possible knowing that he can extend plays and do those sorts of things.
"I've really been impressed with how he's thrown the football from within the pocket this year. There's a reason that he's getting as much hype around being a possible first round pick as he is. He's a very, very good player."
Liberty is a 25 1/2-point favorite. This is the third meeting between state's newest FBS schools with the series tied at 1-1.
The 6 p.m. game will be streamed by ESPN3.
Minium was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in his 39 years at The Virginian-Pilot and won 27 state and national writing awards. He covers ODU athletics for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu
Minium: Nick Rice is About to Break an ODU Kicking Record Set by His Good Friend Jarod Brown
