Minium: Former ODU Football Quarterback Taylor Heinicke Finally Has His College Degree

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – Taylor Heinicke, the record setting former Old Dominion quarterback who is the most well-known and perhaps the most popular football player the University ever produced, has added another category to his impressive resume – college graduate.

More than a decade after leaving ODU for a career in the NFL, Heinicke finally completed his degree in mathematics in December.

He left ODU in 2014 needing seven courses to finish and completed the final class online. He expressed thanks to Dr. Gordon Melrose, an associate professor of mathematics and statistics with whom he took several courses, including the final one.

“He's a great professor who was flexible and so good to work with,” Taylor said. “I am very grateful for all of his help and the help of everyone at ODU who made this possible.

“I’m really proud to say I’m an ODU graduate. It took a long time but I’m so glad it finally happened.”

Heinicke had hoped to walk in December’s graduation ceremony at Chartway Arena, but his schedule would not allow it.

“I would love to be able to walk during spring commencement if the University will allow me to do that," he said. 

Spring commencement is held at S.B. Ballard Stadium, the ODU football stadium known as Foreman Field when Heinicke played there. The stadium received a massive, $76.5 million renovation in 2019. 

"It would be awesome to receive my diploma in the stadium where I have so many fond memories," he said. 

By then, Heinicke expects to have moved from his native Atlanta to the Pungo section of Virginia Beach, where he and his fiancée, Valerie, are building a house. They plan to be married in June.

Heinicke said he and Valerie decided to make Hampton Roads their home based partially on the quality of life here – including mild weather, beaches and golf courses – but also because they have so many connections to the area, especially with people associated with ODU.

“I didn’t want to live in Georgia the rest of my life,” he said. “I have so many good connections here. I have so many good friends. I always enjoy it when I go back here. The summers are great. There are so many cool concerts, great restaurants, so much to do.”

Valerie is a Michigan native “and Virginia Beach is kind of the middle point between Georgia and Michigan,” he added.

Heinicke met Valerie at an Atlanta Braves game nearly two years ago, and they quickly became a couple.

They planned to be married in a wedding to be officiated by Thomas DeMarco, who was ODU's first starting quarterback when the University began playing football in 2009. After DeMarco was injured early in the 2011 season, Heinicke came off the bench and replaced him as the starter.

An honorable mention All-American at ODU, DeMarco went on to play in the Canadian Football League. He now heads the DeMarco Financial Group in Vancouver, Washington, and is Heinicke's financial planner.

“We’re very close,” Heinicke said of DeMarco. “We always have been. Thomas really cares about all of his clients. He doesn’t just check on them once a year. We talk at least once a week. Finances, investments, all of that, is a completely different language to me. He breaks it down into elementary language which I can understand.”

Tim Kovacs, a major gifts officer for the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation who was formerly the director of football operations for ODU, has long been close with Heinicke. Kovacs helped Heinicke handle the logistics of getting enrolled in classes that would fit his busy schedule.

"Valerie was a big proponent of Taylor getting his degree," Kovacs said. She told him, ‘You really need to do this.’ And he understood why. Everything is a team effort with them. He understands the value of having a degree for the next chapter in his life. What that next chapter is, he’s still figuring out.”

Although he has not announced his retirement, Heinicke’s NFL career could be over. In August, he was cut by the LA Chargers, for whom he was the backup quarterback in 2024. He continued to work out throughout 2025, but said “the right opportunity” to return to the NFL did not materialize.

Now 32, Heinicke left ODU with 33 school records, including his 14,959 career passing yards, the ninth-most ever thrown by an FBS quarterback. He threw for 132 touchdowns and his 730 passing yards and 791 yards of total offense against New Hampshire in 2012 are still FCS records.

He was named the FCS Player of the Year, a consensus All-American and claimed the Walter Payton Award, the so-called Heisman Trophy of FCS, as a sophomore in 2012. The Monarchs finished 11-2 and ranked sixth nationally in 2012, their final seasons in FCS.

Heinicke then led ODU through two transitions seasons to FBS. The Monarchs finished 8-4 in 2013, and were 6-6 playing a full Conference USA schedule in 2014. 

Because of his relatively small size, experts gave him little chance of playing in the NFL. He signed a free agent contract with the Minesota Vikings in 2014 and would struggle for playing time for years, even in the XFL, where he was the backup for the St. Louis Battlehawks in 2020.

Then came a big break – the Washington Commanders, then known as the Washington Football Club, needed a backup and signed him as a free agent in 2021. He then commanded a ton of national attention when he nearly led Washington to an NFL playoff upset of Tampa Bay, which was then led by Tom Brady, who won seven Super Bowl rings.

Heinicke completed 26 of 44 passes for 306 yards and ran six more times for 46 yards and a touchdown in the 31-23 defeat.

Click Here to read 2021 story on Heinicke's stellar performance against Tom Brady

He played three seasons in Washington where he was a part-time starter. In 42 NFL appearances, including 29 starts, he passed for 6,663 yards and 39 touchdowns – not a bad career for a guy most NFL experts said was too small.

Heinicke has maintained a close relationship with ODU, including Head Coach Ricky Rahne. He did not play for Rahne, but said Rahne “has welcomed me with open arms.”

Heinicke has participated in media campaigns to help ODU sell season tickets – including dressing up as Big Blue for a TV and online advertisement in 2021 – and made a $250,000 donation to ODAF in 2022 that led to the Monarchs naming their new football locker room at the L.R Hill Sports Complex for him.

He also remains close to former ODU Head Coach Bobby Wilder, now the head coach at Tennessee Tech, and former quarterbacks coach Ron Whitbcomb, an offensive analyst at the University of Buffalo.

“Taylor embodies everything that we stand for at ODU,” Kovacs said. “Maybe he was a little under recruited. Maybe he didn’t have the hype. He maybe wasn’t the biggest guy on the field. But he got the absolutely most out of himself.

“He loves coming back to the area. He loves ODU. And he loves what the Hampton Roads area did for him and what it can do for him in the future.”

Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram

To see past stories from Minium, CLICK HERE