Head Coach: Ricky Rahne is entering his 5th season as the head coach of the Monarchs with a 20-30 record. What is most bizarre is this should technically be his 6th but he was hired after the 2019 season and then Old Dominion didn’t participate in the COVID season of 2020. Rahne has reached 2 bowl games but enters this season hoping to get his first winning record at the helm of the Monarchs.
Program Outlook: Old Dominion is located in a pretty advantageous location, they are in Norfolk which is in the heavily populated Hampton Roads region where there is a lot of talent. They are unique in being the only FBS program on the Eastern side of Virginia. The winning hasn’t come yet at the FBS level, but don’t forget this program is still new and it’s not like they’ve struggled immensely either. It’s an interesting program to monitor because it is brimming with potential.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: ODU ranks 103rd in the country returning 42.5% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Key players for the Monarchs starts with QB Colton Joseph who seems primed for a big year. He has a good arm and is a lethal runner, he will need to cut down on the turnovers to take the next step. The Monarchs have good back in Devin Roche who will help the run game remain one of the Sun Belt’s best, it is disappointing that Bryce Duke transferred out in spring because it would have been a great 1-2 punch. The other element that will help is an offensive line that returns two of the best tackles in the Sun Belt, there’s some replacements needed on the interior but this line should pave run lanes once again. The receivers need to be sorted out but they brought in some transfers to help, the most intriguing are a pair of Juco receivers in Tre Brown and Ja’Cory Thomas. The Monarchs defense absolutely starts at linebacker where they are ridiculously loaded. It starts with Jason Henderson who is normally one of the best LBs in the country, he was unfortunately hurt a lot of last year but if he’s fully healthy he’s a menace. Mario Thompson, Koa Naotala and Jahleel Culbreath all fill out this loaded unit. That shouldn’t take any attention away from the defensive line which is good in its own right. Kris Trinidad and Ricardo Williams Jr are both excellent players on the Dline they could both end up having big years. There’s experience back on the interior which should help the Monarchs against the run. The secondary will be made up from the portal mostly and this defense will be great if that group meshes well.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: Old Dominion will face a challenging schedule. The non-conference is headlined by an opening test against Indiana, Curt Cignetti has coached against ODU so they won’t catch him by surprise. The Monarchs of course the massive in-state battles against Virginia Tech and Liberty. Their FCS foe is NC Central, a typically tough FCS team that the Monarchs can’t take lightly. The Sun Belt schedule may not be too bad, most teams usually want to draw UL-Monroe but that program is improving, it remains to be seen but at least in the preseason Troy doesn’t seem to be the worst draw either. Back to back road games against Marshall and JMU before homecoming against Appalachian State is a stretch that will make or break the season.
Final Thoughts: There hasn’t been a ton of talk about Old Dominion this offseason but make no mistake this is a program primed for a breakout season. All of the pieces are in place for the Monarchs to contend for the Sun Belt East division. The major keys are the turnover battle and one score games, both go hand in hand of course but Old Dominion went 5-1 when they didn’t turn the ball over multiple times. I had to mention the one score games here too because ODU went 3-6 in one score games last year, and did better in 2023 when it was a manageable 6-5. You probably counted the total games there the last 2 years, if you want to see fascinating football make sure you catch this team because they play in a lot of close games!
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