MINIUM: QUARTERBACK COLTON JOSEPH HAS EMERGED AS A STAR FOR THE ODU FOOTBALL TEAM

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – Ever since quarterback Colton Joseph took the reins of the Old Dominion offense in a late September game at Bowling Green, ODU has been a very different football team.

ODU began the season with three consecutive losses, and a fourth would have made garnering a bowl bid a difficult, uphill battle.

But early in the second half, Joseph came in to replace the injured Grant Wilson and led ODU to two late touchdowns in a come-from-behind, 30-27 victory over Bowling Green.

And the Monarchs have been red hot ever since.

ODU (4-4 overall, 3-1 Sun Belt) has won four of its last five games and enters Saturday’s game at Appalachian State (2:30 p.m., ESPN+) with sole control of the Sun Belt Conference East lead, and a huge head of steam.

ODU’s offensive line is blocking better, the running backs are healthy and running better and the receivers have been running better routes and catching the ball with more consistency. And ODU’s defense has stepped up in a big way.

But Georgia Southern coach Clay Helton, whose team was demolished by the Monarchs, 47-19, last week on national TV, said it is Joseph who makes this ODU offense click.

“They’re in a spread offense and they’re already attacking every inch of the field,” he said. “But then, all of a sudden, you put a guy in there with that type of athleticism, and it makes it extremely hard to defend.

“You think you’ve got everybody covered and he just takes off. He’s moving the chains and creating explosive plays.

“He creates so much with his legs. He gives them an extra runner.”

Joseph shredded Georgia Southern with the most complete performance by an ODU quarterback in recent memory. He completed 20 of 26 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 69 yards and another TD.

And he did all that before going to the bench late in the third quarter.

Joseph was named the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week and a Dave O’Brien Great 8 Award nominee and has been feted by numerous national football social media sites ever since.

That’s quite a contrast to where Joseph was in late September – third on the depth chart and mightily discouraged.

With Wilson out with an injury, Joseph started ODU’s third game, a 37-17 loss to Virginia Tech, but was benched after just two series. True freshman Quinn Henicle finished the game.

Joseph had two weeks to stew – the Monarchs had an open date sandwiched between the Tech and Bowling Green games – but Ricky Rahne, ODU’s head coach, said he didn’t whine, complain or sulk.

“He practiced really well after that game, and I think that’s a testament to him,” Rahne said. “He didn’t finish the game that he started, and I know that was hard on him. That can really tear some people down.

“But he went out there and practiced really well. He worked hard and he executed, and I think that’s what gave everybody confidence. He got better and better.”

Joseph said the experience just made him more determined to excel. He has an ego like anyone else and said it was pretty bruised.

“It was definitely tough, getting those two drives and then getting pulled out,” he said. “But there are some things in life you just can’t control, and all I can do is take care of what I can control.

“I knew I had to just put my head down and keep working. Rather than sitting around and saying, ‘Why me?,’ I used it as motivation.

“I just came in the next day, and worked hard and just waited for my opportunity again.”

And did he ever take advantage of that opportunity.

Since he began starting four weeks ago, Joseph has passed for 837 yards (209.5 per game) and eight touchdowns and rushed for 346 yards (86.5 per game) and five touchdowns, including three in a 24-14, upset victory over Texas State.

He’s played, and celebrated touchdowns, with a flair that has quickly helped make him a fan favorite. After a recent touchdown, he did a baseball slide toward an ESPN2 camera.

“The thing I’ve come to admire about Colton is how he plays the game,” said Kevin Decker, ODU’s offensive coordinator.

“He plays with a chip on his shoulder. He kind of tows the line between cocky and confident. That baseball slide, it showed me he really enjoys playing the game.”

That confidence has earned him the nickname of “Cowboy Colton.”

“I don’t know where it comes from,” Colton said with a laugh. “But I’m OK with it.”

Wide receiver Isiah Paige said Colton is a natural leader who shows amazing confidence on the field, and takes control of the offense verbally.

“That’s Cowboy Colton,” he said. “Man, we love Colton.

“He’s got a different kind of confidence and a different kind of swag to him. You know when you go out there, Colton is going to give you everything he’s got.

“When you watch him work, it just pushes you to another level.”

Joseph’s strength of character, and his athletic prowess, come from a nomadic like upbringing in a family of five that is extremely close.

His parents, David and Christine, moved around a lot. They’ve lived in Charleston, South Carolina, Atlanta (where Joseph was born) and all over Southern California. They’ve always rented and Colton said he enjoyed moving all over the Los Angeles area.

The Josephs moved into the home in Newport Beach, California where Colton lived as a senior for just one year. His parents have since moved to Austin, Texas, where David, a successful real estate developer, is vice president of land acquisitions and development for Berkshire Hathaway.

David played football at Central Missouri, a Division II school, and was a high school star in suburban Kansas City who still holds Raytown South High School single-season record for interceptions.

He was living in a house on the Pacific Ocean in Southern California after graduation when he saw Christine sunbathing. He invited her to a party that night and five years later, they were married.

They have three children who grew up with financially successful parents who nonetheless insisted on discipline. Christine was a working mom who runs a spa business in Newport Beach who nonetheless spent a great deal of time with all three kids.

All three are athletes who excelled academically.

Their oldest child, daughter Lindsey, was captain of the lacrosse team at San Clemente High, attended Alabama and is an emergency room nurse in Newport Beach.

Drayton, their middle child, was a football and golf star at San Clemente who won the Los Angeles Open Golf Tournament in 2023 and is a senior at Washington State, where he plays golf. He hopes to turn pro after he leaves Washington State.

Colton is the youngest and he and his older brother were highly competitive. They went head-to-head in back yard and playground basketball and football games as children and the games often ended up with fisticuffs. Their father sometimes took part in those games.

“Drayton would always beat up on Colton,” David Joseph said. “Until Colton grew up to be bigger.”

Colton said losing fights to his brother motivated him “to get in the weight room and get bigger than him.

“It made me tougher. It helped make me competitive.”

David coached both sons in Pop Warner football, seven years each, until they were in high school and the closeness that developed with his sons is something he calls precious.

He knew early on that Colton was going to be a special player.

“If only I had Colton’s feet,” he said wistfully. “That first step of his has always been lightning.”

David says that Colton has always been “super chill, relaxed and calm, even under pressure.

“He’s always ready to go. He doesn’t get overly excited or overly down in any situation. He takes it all in stride.”

That was certainly the case at Bowling Green, where he played with poise and made big plays when the Monarchs most needed them on the game-winning drive in the final three minutes.

On fourth down from the ODU 40, he passed 15 yards to tight end Pat Conroy.

With 39 seconds left, he was rushed from the pocket, eluded two would-be tacklers and sprinted 21 yards for a first down. Tailback Aaron Young finished off the drive with a four-yard touchdown run.

When called in to replace Grant Wilson, Colton said he didn’t feel nervous.

“It was my opportunity to show what I have,” he said. “And you know, our team needed me. My teammates needed me. We needed to win. So, I just relied on the guys around me to make plays.

“I really had nothing to lose at that moment. So, I just thought, let’s play ball, and play free.”

Colton is a Californian through and through. He loved to surf in the Pacific Ocean and likes cars – he drives a 2019 Mustang in Norfolk. He loves sunning on the beach and playing video games in his spare time.

He’s a big guy (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) with movie star hair parted down the middle.

But he knew as a senior he would be moving out of the state along with his parents.

He was a three-star recruit at Newport Harbor High in Orange County, where he passed for 4,150 yards and a school record 41 touchdowns as a senior. He also rushed for 508 yards and five touchdowns.

However, he was injured and played sparingly as a junior, and when it comes to quarterbacks, that’s too late to draw much interest. Most FBS schools usually wrap up their quarterback commits before they are seniors.

He had offers from Army, Navy and Air Force – all could see his great potential to run their ground-oriented offenses – but none from any West Coast FBS schools.

ODU finally entered the picture in the winter of 2022-23, when the Monarchs lost a quarterback commit. Rahne began calling quarterback trainers around the country in search of a replacement.

Danny Hernandez, a California trainer, recommended Colton, and it was a whirlwind recruiting process. He visited ODU with his parents.

“I was surprised at how nice the area is,” David Joseph said. “When you’re on the water in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, it’s much like Newport Beach.”

Rahne and Decker both visited him in California.

“I remember having dinner with Colton in Virginia Beach,” Decker said. “I enjoyed hanging out with him. He has a great personality. He’s a smart kid and is funny.”

Colton strongly considered the military academies. “They told me, once you’ve graduated, you’re set for life,” he said.

“But I wanted to play at a school with a spread offense.”

He enrolled at ODU in June of 2023 and redshirted last season – something that wasn’t easy for a guy who’s always been a star.

“But that’s the way it can be in college,” he said. “The game is so much faster. I have so much to learn.”

Indeed he does. Colton is just 19 and in California, he could still be playing high school football.

“A lot of parents hold back their kids in school so that they will be more mature as seniors,” David said. “Christine and I, we did not want to do that.”

Yet in spite of his youth, Colton has made major strides in just four games as a starter.

He is accustomed to making big plays, and tried a little too hard at Coastal Carolina. He was being wrapped up by two defensive players, and should have taken the sack, but he attempted to pass, fumbled and the Chanticleers returned it for a touchdown.

“He’s really been taking care of the ball” ever since, Rahne said. “He’s learning so much every game.”

Asked at a recent press conference to define himself, Colton hesitated before answering. That's his nature. He is cautious and thoughtful during interviews, and careful not to denigrate opponents and to praise his coaches and teammates.

“I’m just a kid from California who loves football and wants to win games and help our team win a Sun Belt championship,” he said.

He left out how close he is with family. His brother and sister have both attended ODU home games and his parents go to most as well – they flew to Charlotte and drove to Boone, North Carolina on Friday.

As he continued to lead ODU to victories, he has gained a ton of national notoriety. In addition to the Sun Belt and Davey O’Brien honors, national football websites across the nation have flooded social media with photos and praise of ODU’s young quarterback.

Colton just shrugged. “A social media post is a social media post,” he said. “It means nothing.”

But his recent notoriety has resulted in old friends reaching out to him to congratulate him. “One of my buddies is coming to a game in a couple of weeks,” Colton said. “All of my friends back home are excited. And, you know, I just love hearing from them.”

His parents are also hearing from friends, and say they are psyched about his future at ODU.

“This is just the first chapter for Colton,” David said. “What you see on the field, everyone in our family, we’ve seen that for his entire life.

“I think the fans are going to be surprised by what they see from him in the future.”

Rahne surely hopes so.

“He hasn’t played his best football yet,” Rahne said. “And he’s led us to some wins.

“I mean, that’s a pretty awesome feat right there. All of these experiences, they are huge for him. Even in practice, he’s seeing things he’s never seen before because he didn’t get that many reps in practice last year.

“He’s so young. As he continues to play, we expect he will continue to play up to the potential we see in practice all the time. We expect him to continue to get better.”

Which is a very happy thought for ODU football fans everywhere.

Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram