Minium: Young, Talented Quarterbacks Highlight ODU's Strengths Heading Into Spring Football Practice
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – As Old Dominion prepares for spring football practice, there is much reason for optimism.
For starters, the Monarchs recruited well, according to the major recruiting services.
NCAAF Nation, a recruiting service on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, rates ODU’s incoming class of 18 freshmen to be the best in school history. The 247Sports recruiting services ranks 15 of those 18 players as three-star recruits.
The Monarchs also recruited well in the transfer portal and especially among junior colleges. There are eight newcomers from other four-year schools and 12 Juco transfers and all will compete for playing time.
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The Monarchs also retained a good deal of talent and in the age of the transfer portal, re-recruiting your players has become a major part of college athletics.
But ODU Head Football Coach Ricky Rahne is optimistic for another reason – his formidable quarterback room.
This is the strongest and perhaps most talented ODU has been at quarterback entering spring practice since he came to ODU in 2019, Rahne said.
“Quarterback is the most important position in team sports,” Rahne said. “You’ve got to have good quarterback play to win games. That’s just the way it is.”
And ODU has two gems.
ODU’s likely starter is Colton Joseph, the 6-foot, 200-pound rising redshirt sophomore from Newport Beach, California.
Joseph, who started eight games last season, has signed a Name Image and Likeness deal with the Pride of ODU, the University’s collective.
Although he likely will start, he will face competition from Quinn Henicle, who like Joseph, is a dual-threat quarterback with quick feet and deft moves.
Henicle starred in ODU’s regular-season finale against Arkansas State when Joseph was out with an injury and played amazingly well for a teenager who had little playing time.
Henicle ran 92 yards for a touchdown on ODU’s first play from scrimmage against Arkansas State – it was the longest run by an FBS quarterback last season – and finished with 206 yards rushing. He also completed 9 of 12 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns.
Henicle, who was named the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week for the final week of the season, has also signed a contract with the Pride of ODU.
Joseph and Henicle give ODU the type of athleticism at quarterback the Monarchs haven’t had since David Washington, who led the Monarchs to a 10-3 season and a Bahamas Bowl victory over Eastern Michigan in 2016.
ODU also has two very good prospects on his roster, Holden Brown, a 6-1, 200-pound rising redshirt freshman from Greenwich, Connecticut, and true freshman Ryan Huff (6-3, 215), who played last season at Pensacola (Florida) Catholic.
A Kentucky native, Huff had offers from 10 schools, including Liberty and Western Kentucky. He completed 127 of 211 passes for 1,851 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior. He enrolled at ODU in January after signing in December.
Joseph at times was spectacular last season, and at other times, made mistakes you would expect from a young player.
After entering in the second half at Bowling Green and leading the Monarchs to a come-from-behind victory over a team that would go to a bowl game, Joseph became ODU's starter.
He started the next seven games and completed 133 of 222 passes for 1,627 yards and 11 touchdowns.
But it was with his feet that Joseph was at his best. He often frustrated defenders who thought they had him sacked, only to clasp empty air as he bolted from the pocket for large gains.
He rushed for 647 yards and 11 touchdowns. The 11 TDs ranked fourth in the Sun Belt.
“We’ve got athletic guys who have shown the ability to create dynamic plays in the passing game,” Rahne said. “Being able to play 11 on 11 helped us in the red zone.
“We were at 75 percent in red zone touchdowns last year, which was one of the best percentages in the country. We were third in the conference in third down conversions.
"We had a top 15 rushing attack, and I think this year our passing game is going to grow by leaps and bounds. So, I feel excited about our quarterbacks in general. They were still very young last year and it’s amazing what a whole offseason of growing and watching tape and another spring ball will allow them to feel more comfortable and grow and play even more naturally.”
ODU led the country in overall scoring percentage in the red zone, scoring at a 95 percent clip.
Huff likely won’t compete for playing time this fall, but Rahne says he’s making an early impression.
“He’s working hard and he’s going to get reps this spring that will be really valuable for him,” Rahne said. “He’s good a good frame on him and really throws the ball well.”
A former high school and college quarterback who was the offensive coordinator at Penn State, Rahne said quarterbacks face a ton of pressure, on and off the field.
“They always catch a little bit too much of the blame when things don’t go well and too much of the credit when things do go well,” he said.
“But you know, that’s part of what they have to do. You need to have a guy who’s going to shoulder more of the responsibility, even from a media and fan perspective, and allow some other guys to be successful without having those same burdens.
"That’s part of their job.”
Rahne said he loves having quarterbacks who can both run and throw.
“We had a couple of games where we rushed for a bunch of yards and had a couple of games where we threw for a bunch of yards. And I think that having that diversity is going to be big for us.”
Spring practice begins on Thursday, March 20 and ends on Saturday, April 19, with the annual spring game at S.B. Ballard Stadium.
Football season ticket renewals have begun, and tickets are also on sale for new ticket holders. Purchase season tickets by clicking here.
Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram