ODU opens spring football practice: 5 questions on the Monarchs
NORFOLK — After a 6-7 season that likely devastated the local market for fingernail clippers, Old Dominion got to work this week on putting some needed space between itself and its opponents in 2024.
The Monarchs played in 11 one-score games last season, a record for any team since Division I football was formed in 1978. They went 6-5 in those games, perhaps an indication of just how close they were to being wildly successful.
But ODU returns eight offensive starters and just three on defense, leaving much to be figured out between now and the Aug. 31 opener at South Carolina.
When they opened spring practice on a mild, cloudless Tuesday afternoon, the Monarchs did so with a few key questions lingering.
1. How do they get over the hump?
Since he arrived at the school in 2020, coach Ricky Rahne has urged his players to “go 1-0” in everything they do, from the field to the weight room to the classroom.
He’s added a new twist after a season filled with close calls.
“One of the main focuses this year is just the relentless effort to have a dominating finish,” said Grant Wilson, ODU’s presumptive nominee at quarterback. “It’s kind of Coach Rahne’s ending to every single meeting we have.”
The Monarchs went 5-3 in the tough and balanced Sun Belt Conference, which sent a league-record 12 teams to bowl games last season.
“What last year proved to me is that in this league, every game’s going to be close,” Rahne said. “So if you don’t finish — you don’t finish blocks, you don’t finish runs, you don’t finish catches, you don’t finish games — you’re going to have a hard season.”
2. Could the Monarchs break their strange QB streak?
In 2023, Wilson became the ninth player in nine seasons to start the opener at quarterback for ODU, the longest such streak in the nation.
The 6-foot-3, 217-pound junior, though, isn’t guaranteed anything. That’s the way Rahne likes it.
Though Rahne, a former star quarterback at Cornell, declined to name Wilson the starter, he did admit that he “definitely has the leg up.”
“Sometimes you don’t have to name a starter,” Rahne said. “No one ever asks me who the starting right guard is. That one’s important, too.”
Future NFL star Taylor Heinicke was the opening day starter from 2012-14. A different player has been behind center for every opener since.
3. What’s the status of LB Jason Henderson?
Henderson, a two-time All-American who led the nation with 170 tackles last season, suffered a left knee injury during the Monarchs’ bowl-clinching 25-24 victory over Georgia State on Nov. 25, the final day of the regular season.
Henderson, a senior from Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, attended Tuesday’s practice but did not scrimmage. Wearing a cumbersome knee brace, he participated in some light agility drills on the sideline with other injured players.
No specific timeline for Henderson’s return is known, though Rahne is optimistic.
“He’s out here watching practice, and when he’s ready to go, he’ll be out there,” Rahne said.
“I expect him to work to be ready for (fall) camp. We all know the amazing things he can do with his body, so I’m not too concerned about that right now.”
4. How important is continuity at offensive coordinator?
For the first time in Rahne’s tenure, ODU has a returning offensive coordinator.
Kevin Decker, hired from Fordham before last season, is back after leading the Monarchs to 23.8 points per game, up from 19.5 the season before.
Decker’s office was moved next to Rahne’s in the offseason, which has brought the two closer in other ways.
“Him and I have been able to talk ball a lot more than we were in the past,” Rahne said. “I think it’s just helped overall his understanding of what I’m wanting when we’re out there and my understanding of some of the nuances of what he’s trying to get done, too. In general, I think it’s huge to have that.”
5. How will ODU handle its non-conference schedule?
After visiting South Carolina for the season opener, the Monarchs come home for games against East Carolina and Virginia Tech before visiting Bowling Green.
The challenging lead-up to the Sun Belt season is by design. So is its mostly regional nature.
“I would buy a season ticket if I were around,” Rahne said. “This is exactly the type of schedule that, when I first got here, everybody told me that we needed.”
The league portion of the schedule begins Oct. 5, at Coastal Carolina, and concludes with the regular-season finale at Arkansas State on Nov. 30.
Not that Rahne is thinking that far ahead. He said he looked at the schedule with athletic director Wood Selig “for, like, four minutes.”
“And then I forgot about it because I’ve got a lot of other things to worry about,” Rahne said.
David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.
