Old Dominion Preview, Best Players, Top Transfers, Season Prediction, Win Total 2024

Old Dominion Monarchs Preview 2024

Ricky Rahne is doing one of the better under-the-radar coaching jobs.

It’s not like Old Dominion football is on the map. Since joining the FBS in 2014 the team has had its moments, but there’s only one winning season so far - 10-3 in 2016 - and there hasn’t been much of a threat over the decade in Conference USA and Sun Belt races.

Rahne came in needed to rebuild everything. ODU was coming off a 1-11 season, the school didn’t play in 2020, and he and his staff were able to get to two bowl games in the last three years.

It hasn’t been easy, and it’s taken several nail-biters to get through most wins, but the Monarchs play hard, they’ve managed to beat most of the teams they’re supposed to, and last season they came up with a better run than the record would suggest.

They went 6-7 with a painful bowl loss to WKU. The 38-35 defeat meant that five of the seven losses - including to Wake Forest, Coastal Carolina, and James Madison - were by a touchdown or less.

Pay attention. The schedule might be too tough to do anything massive, but Old Dominion will be a pain in every opponent’s butt.

NOTE: The previews were published early this summer. We tried to catch the changes, but if we missed anything, please let us know at @ColFootballNews and we'll fix it right away.

Old Dominion Preview 2024: Offense

- The offense didn’t control the clock, the line allowed way too many plays in the backfield, and it was hardly consistent. But the team was 4-0 when the O didn’t turn the ball over, there was decent balance, and enough talent returns to build on.

- The line has to be better. The Monarchs gave up tackles for loss in bunches and weren’t great in pass protection, but a few decent starters - primarily OT Santana Saunders - are back, and getting Zach Barlev from Illinois to step in at center or guard helps.

Rutgers transfer Aaron Young should add some pop and flash to the ground game with leading rusher Kadarius Calloway leaving for Cal. The overall running back depth, though, is lacking.

- Grant Wilson was the quarterback the offense needed. He wasn’t always perfect, but he threw for 2,149 yards and 17 touchdowns and ran enough to matter. He’s a big veteran who’ll be fine with a few deep threat playmakers to work with.

Top deep threat Reymello Murphy left for Arizona, but Kelby Williams and his 17.35 yard-par-catch average is back. Isiah Paige is a good, quick volume-grabbing speedster who led the team with 43 grabs, and in general, the ODU offense makes the receivers.

Old Dominion Preview 2024: Defense

- It’s a tad insane that Jason Henderson isn’t in the NFL, or Alabama or Ohio State. The tackling machine linebacker came up with 434 in his first three seasons, and added a little more of a pass rush to his ability last year. Michigan State took his running mate Wayne Matthews, but as long as 42 is in the middle, the rest of the parts will clean up.

- The pass rush could stand to be better, but the tackles for loss should be there again. Henderson was the killer with 19.5 - and Matthews helped out with 9.5 - and now the line has to be more disruptive. The combination of DT Denzel Lowry inside and Kris Trinidad and Amarie Morrison on the outside will be a plus.

- In this defense, the secondary can and will hit. Tahj Ra-El is gone to Memphis. and Terry Jones and Shawn Asbury left for Indiana - the safeties are a bit depleted - so this is where the transfer portal comes into play. USF transfer Will Jones will be asked to be a volume playmaker at the nickel, and Richmond transfer Angelo Rankin should be an instant standout at one corner.

Old Dominion Key To The Season

The offensive line has to keep defenses out of the backfield.
The Monarch skill guys are good enough. There’s deep threat ability out of the receivers, Grant Wilson is a good enough quarterback, and Aaron Young should be able to shine as the new top running back.

The line that allowed 105 tackles for loss and a whopping 62 sacks needs to be nastier. That’s why …

Old Dominion Key Player

OT Santana Saunders, Sr.
The Monarch line needs more from all five spots, but it’s Saunders who has the tenure combined with the talent at left tackle. Good as a freshman, he was part of the rotation in 2022 before working at both tackle jobs last year. As the tackles go, so goes the ODU O.

Old Dominion Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: RB Aaron Young
The sixth-year senior never got a ton of work at Rutgers, but he’ll get every opportunity to handle the full workload with the Monarchs. He has just 586 career yards and seven scores, but if the line is okay, he should push for at least 700 yards.

Top Transfer Out: LB Wayne Matthews
Jason Henderson might be the star of the show, but Matthews wasn’t too far behind last season with 135 tackles and 3.5 sacks with three forced fumbles and 9.5 sacks. Now he’ll be doing his thing at Michigan State.

Old Dominion Key Game

at Bowling Green, Sept. 28
It’s not a Sun Belt game and it’s hardly going to register on the national radar, but after starting the season with South Carolina, East Carolina, and Virginia Tech, and with the Sun Belt campaign kicking off with two straight road games, a loss at Bowling Green will almost certainly would be potentially devastating. The second half of the season doesn’t get much easier.

Old Dominion 10 Best Players

1. Jason Henderson, LB Sr.
2. Grant Wilson, QB Jr.
3. Kelby Williams, WR Jr.
4. Denzel Lowry, DT Jr.
5. Isiah Paige, WR Sr.
6. Amarie Morrison, DE Jr.
7. Aaron Young, RB Sr.
8. Kris Trinidad, DE Jr.
9. Mario Thompson, LB Soph.
10. Ethan Sanchez, PK Jr.

Old Dominion 2023 Fun Stats

- 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 14-of-27 (52%), Old Dominion 7-of-26 (27%)

- Tackles For Loss: Opponents 105 for 469 yards, Old Dominion 79 for 348 yards

- Fumbles: Opponents 23 (lost 10), Old Dominion 16 (lost 7)

Old Dominion 2024 Season Prediction, Win Total, What Will Happen

It’s not going to be easy.

Old Dominion got hammered a bit too much in the transfer portal, and it didn’t play even with the talent being brought in. That’s combined with a schedule that doesn’t have a slew of sure-thing wins.

It’s Old Dominion, though. It’ll come up with something interesting at home against East Carolina or, if everything breaks right, Virginia Tech. The Sun Belt schedule is the bigger problem.

The Monarchs miss Troy, but going to Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, and Appalachian State will be tough, and none of the home games - Texas State, Georgia Southern, James Madison, and Marshall - are tap-in putts.

It won’t be a bowl season, but there will be a whole bunch of good-fight close games again.

Set The Old Dominion Win Total At … 4.5

Likely Wins: No Sure Wins

50/50 Games: at Arkansas State, at Bowling Green, East Carolina, at Georgia State, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Marshall, Texas State

Likely Losses: at Appalachian State, at Coastal Carolina, at South Carolina, Virginia Tech

2024 Old Dominion Football Schedule

Aug 31 at South Carolina
Sept 7 East Carolina
Sept 14 Virginia Tech
Sept 21 OPEN DATE
Sept 28 at Bowling Green
Oct 5 at Coastal Carolina
Oct 12 at Georgia State
Oct 19 Texas State
Oct 24 Georgia Southern
Nov 2 at Appalachian State
Nov 9 OPEN DATE
Nov 16 James Madison
Nov 23 Marshall
Nov 30 at Arkansas State

Missing: Louisiana, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Troy, ULM