Minium: ODU Footballl Quarterback Colton Joseph is Bigger, Faster and Wiser Than Last Season

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – As he stood before the media after Old Dominion’s first practice session, quarterback Colton Joseph was asked if he had seen all the offseason hype about him online.

That brought a smile from the 6-foot-2, 200-pound redshirt sophomore from Newport Beach, California. There's been a ton of hype, but he’s not the type to let his press clippings go to his head.

“I don’t look at the media too often, you know?” he said. “I like to just do me, get my work in without any kind of outside noise.

“I like to keep away from all of that outside stuff.”

If Joseph was looking at his Twitter feed, he would read things, such as, “Colton Joseph Ready to Explode on the National Scene!”

Or, “ODU’s Quarterback Will be a Household Name This Season!”

He’s made every list I’ve seen of the Top 10 quarterbacks in the Group of 6. The media named him to the preseason All-Sun Belt third team.

During last week’s Sun Belt Conference Media Days in New Orleans, he was the topic of conversation in nearly every interview done by ODU Head Coach Ricky Rahne and players Zach Barlev and Kris Trinidad.

“He’s just such a dynamic quarterback,” said ESPN+ sportscaster Rocky Boiman before asking Barlev, ODU’s left tackle, about hm.

“Colton is just amazing,” Barlev said during one interview. “You can be blocking your guy, pushing him back, and then all of a sudden Colton has run past you.

“He’s got amazing speed. He really puts a lot of pressure on a defense.”

Indeed, he does. I’ve seen few quarterbacks in recent years who can exit the pocket with his speed and finesse.

His presence in ODU’s lineup, behind an experienced and talented offensive line, is a major reason that expectations are so high for the Monarchs.

Joseph at times struggled, and at times showed immense potential, last season as a redshirt freshman. He completed 133 of 222 passes for 1,627 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 647 more and 11 TDs.

His best game came on a Thursday night game on ESPN2 against Georgia Southern, when he completed 20 of 26 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for 69 yards and another TD. ODU thoroughly dominated the Eagles that night, winning 47-19, against a team that finished 8-5.

But he also made rookie mistakes. There were times when he reacted instinctively to try to force a pass that was intercepted or tried to bull his way for a few more rushing yards and fumbled. He had five turnovers in a 28-20 loss at App State.

Asked where he’s grown the most since last season, Joseph said it is recognizing when he tries to do too much.

“Not going outside the playbook, not just making stuff up on my own,” he said when asked where he’s made the most improvement. “I’ve really been focused on, you know, finding read one, read two, read three. Finding where my check downs are, that has been the major improvement I’ve made.”

“He’s a playmaker,” said Kevin Decker, ODU’s offensive coordinator. “So, you don’t want to handcuff the kid. You want him to make plays, and he made a bunch last season.

“But there’s a fine line. You’ve got to know when to fight that urge, when you’ve got to tuck it.

“There are situations where he should have just run with the ball. I’ve told him his biggest asset as a quarterback are his legs.”

Bad news for ODU opponents:  Joseph gained about 10 pounds of muscle and improved his already rabbit-like speed.

Also, he’s more seasoned.

“It’s my third year now,” he said. “Knowing the plays coming into this year, it’s a lot easier for me to process things and get through the plays better than last year. I’m getting into the swing of things a lot faster.”

ODU led the Sun Belt and was 14^th nationally in rushing last season. But the big question mark for the Monarchs is who will Joseph throw to?

Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding, a 6-foot, 198-pound sophomore, had two receptions in eight games last season is by far the most experienced returner. ODU's two receptions by a returning wide receiver are the fewest in the country behind Utah State (zero) and Stanford (one). But ODU has a ton of newcomers who are tall and talented.

Freshman wide receiver Josh Rodriguez (6-1, 195), who had 27 receptions for 478 yards last season at Somerville High in New Jersey, will likely play right away. So will a pair of transfers from Hutchinson College in Kansas – Tre’ Brown III (6-2, 185) and Ja’Cory Thomas (6-3, 195).

Brown had 30 receptions for 566 yards and 10 touchdowns while Thomas had 28 receptions for 477 yards and four TDs for Hutchinson, which finished 11-1 and won the junior college national title.

Titus Myers (6-1, 175) had 49 receptions for 809 yards and seven TDs at Iowa Western and TJ Johnson (6-3, 180) caught 29 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns at Southwest Mississippi junior college.

Sidney Mbanasor (6-4, 209), a redshirt junior from Pflugerville, Texas, is a transfer from Tulane also expected to see playing time.

Joseph said he was curious about the newcomers, most of whom arrived on campus this summer.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” he said. “But you know, seeing all of their grit and how much they want to come out here and compete, that’s the main thing you want to see as a quarterback.

“They’ll be 50 yards down the field and will be like, ‘Hey, throw me the ball.’

“That’s what you want to see out of your wideouts, that they are hungry. They’ve been grinding super hard.”

Decker said Joseph is being pushed by Quinn Henicle, who started in Joseph’s absence in the regular-season finale against Arkansas State and led the Monarchs to a 40-32 upset victory.

“It’s good to have those guys pushing each other,” Decker said.

It’s also good, Decker said, that third-string quarterback Ryan Huff, a true freshman from Pensacola, Florida, “is also pushing both of them.

“That’s want you want in your quarterback room. I feel like for the first time we have that.

“At times, last year I felt like our offense was unstoppable. But we were running the ball and teams knew that. We just didn’t really have the ability to win on the outside.

“I think we’ve done a great job really flipping that receiver room on its head in terms of talent and speed.

“If we do our jobs right, we can have a very good offense this season."

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