ODU Spring Football Practice Update

NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion has six spring football practices of the allotted 15 in the books with the 15th and final practice set to take place on Saturday, April 9 in the Priority Charity Bowl ODU Spring Game.
 
By rule, the first three practices of spring ball are in shorts, spider shoulder pads, jerseys and helmets, but the Monarchs have been able to wear full pads in two of the last three practices.
 
"We've had four really good practices, one pretty good one and one we'd like to have back," head coach Ricky Rahne said. "Overall, we have to work on being more consistent as a program, but I think I'll say that until the day I'm done coaching. We're playing more physical and we're doing some nice things as far as understanding the schemes."
 
Rahne returns 19 starters from a season ago, including 10 on the offensive side of the ball.
 
Quarterback Hayden Wolff started the final seven games of the year and completed 159-of-253 passes for 1,933 yards and 10 interceptions.
 
Blake Watson became the first ODU running back since Ray Lawry in 2016 to rush for more than 1,000 yards as he rushed for 1,112 on a school-record 215 carries. Elijah Davis toted the ball 105 times for 562 yards and six touchdowns. 
 
Nearly 90 percent of all receptions return for the Monarchs, including their top-two pass catchers in Zack Kuntz and Ali Jennings III. Kuntz was second among all tight ends in the country with 73 catches while Jennings caught 62 passes for 1,066 yards. Both Kuntz and Jennings caught five touchdowns.
 
Isiah Paige, Javon Harvey, Jordan Bly, Watson, Isaiah Spencer, Davis, Donta Anthony, Keshawn Wicks, Jon-Luke Peaker and Aaron Moore all caught passes last season and return.
 
ODU returns four starting offensive linemen from 2021 but graduates center Isaac Weaver. Khadere Kounta started eight games at left tackle while Tyran Hunt made 12 starts at left guard. Leroy Thomas and Nick Saldiveri started all 13 games at right guard and right tackle, respectively.
 
Santana Saunders played in 11 games and started three games at left tackle, while Gerrik Vollmer started three games at center. Stephon Dubose-Bourne, Talyn Hunter and Skylar Grant all redshirted but saw game action.
 
Next Week
Next week will be an overview of practices 7-9 and a look at the defensive side.