Rahne plans to raise TE profiles
Sets numbers goals for ‘big part of our offense’
NORFOLK — Not much is clear yet a few weeks into Old Dominion’s spring practice, but one thing is.Tight end will be an important position for the Monarchs.
Second-year coach Ricky Rahne, who has yet to coach a game at the school, said he expects his tight ends to average in the neighborhood of 50 catches, 650 yards and nine touchdowns, as they did when he was the offensive coordinator at Penn State.
“That’s something that’s important for us because, quite frankly, our tight end is a big part of our offense,” Rahne said. “The matchups, but also the ability to create different RPOs and things like that is absolutely critical for us. So yeah, we expect our tight ends to be key contributors to the offense.”
ODU, which opted out of the 2020 season to avoid playing during the COVID-19 pandemic, last played a game on Nov. 30, 2019.
Rahne and his staff have spent the spring focusing on fundamentals such as blocking and tackling while trying to identify which players are most reliable.
They have four tight ends in camp, led by 6-foot-6, 241-pound junior Donta Anthony and 6-5, 215-pound sophomore Isaiah Spencer, who have gotten the bulk of the spring reps.
Anthony has 17 career receptions for 169 yards. Spencer has eight catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, but all those receptions came under former coach Bobby Wilder in a system that mostly used tight ends for blocking.
The importance of the position in Rahne’s scheme is why he brought in veteran tight ends coach Fontel Mines, a former NFL and University of Virginia receiver
who most recently coached tight ends at East Carolina.
Mines, a Richmond native who spent two years on the staff at James Madison and five at the University of Richmond, was enamored with the idea of returning to his home state. But he was also attracted to the job by how Rahne plans to use tight ends.
“I’m a little biased in my opinion, but I do believe tight end is probably one of the most versatile positions on the field,” Mines said. “We ask a lot of those guys.
“It’s kind of one of those positions: If you recruit one and you’ve got a good one, you better hold on to him because they’re hard to find, and they’re even hard to keep and develop.”
All about the basics
In keeping with the fundamentals theme, special teams coach Kevin Smith said he’s not yet worried about X’s and O’s.
A former defensive graduate assistant at Penn State, Smith is keeping things simple.
“I think some special teams coaches get hung up on different schematic advantages and things along those lines, which obviously have their place,” said Smith, who also coaches outside linebackers. “But at this point in the year, you want to make sure that guys are able to block and tackle, which is the reason why football teams have been winning games over the past 50 years.”
A leg up
It’s too early in the gettingto-know-you process for Rahne to start naming starters, but the Monarchs appear to at least have a front-runner at kicker.
Nick Rice, a senior who has converted 44 of 58 field-goal tries and 85 of 86 PATs in his career, is a proven commodity.
Rice made 15 of 20 field goals and was perfect on 18 PAT tries in 2019. He’s competing with junior Dominik Soos, who hasn’t appeared in a game.
“I have a pretty proven track record throughout my career, so I think it’s up to me to set the standard,” Rice said, adding that Soos is making him earn it. “And if I don’t meet the standard, then I’m going to get my job taken.”
Setting an example
Sophomore receiver Darius Savedge got some good news over the summer.
A former walk-on from Surry, he was put on scholarship.
Savedge caught 11 passes for 144 yards in 2019 while leading the team with six tackles on special teams.
He was grateful when he got his news.
“It was more of a confidence booster that coaches believed in me,” Savedge said. “But I always had the confidence.
“I feel like I just gave other walkons on the team confidence that they can do it too.”