ODU’s Rahne calling plenty of audibles
Coach credits early progress to young staff
NORFOLK — Like an Olympic hurdler, Ricky Rahne has had to navigate obstacle after obstacle in his new job.
Not only is he Old Dominion’s first-year coach, he’s recruiting players virtually to a program that’s coming off a disastrous 1-11 season and, like every other college football team, may or may not play this fall as the coronavirus pandemic runs its course.
But Rahne, a former offensive coordinator at Penn State, is clearing the jumps as best as he can. Tours of ODU’s campus and football facilities are mostly limited by the virus to videos sent to recruits, who have responded well despite the challenges.
When former Penn State running back and five-star prospect Ricky Slade committed to the Monarchs last week, he became the program’s highest-rated recruit since it was revived in 2009.
Slade joined three-star quarterback Billy Edwards Jr.,
running back Khian’Dre Harris and running back/receiver Tariq Sims among recent ODU commits.
Rahne, who moved from Pennsylvania into a home about a mile from campus last month, said the process has been a testament to his staff, the youngest in Division I.
The assistants came from places like Penn State, West Virginia and LSU, with many following Rahne south from Happy Valley.
“I think that people have been excited about where our coaches have been and what we’ve done at those places,” Rahne said. “I think there’s a new energy. Obviously, we wish we could get them on campus and show them everything that we have to offer and get them around our kids, which hasn’t been possible. But I also think that part of it’s been how creative our staff has been on making sure that everyone can get out there and see what we have to offer.”
Rahne has split the state of Virginia among all his staff members for recruiting purposes, with each of them also responsible for neighboring territories in other states. Edwards and Sims, both Virginians, plan to continue their careers in their home state.
Evaluating talent, though, has largely been limited to what coaches have seen on film, Slade aside. Few of the prospects have even been seen in person by Rahne or his staff.
“As a general rule, most of these guys you’re not going to get to see,” Rahne said. “And who knows when we will get to see them or if we’ll get to see them in person? That’s why watching the tape and watching as much as possible is really important.”
Meanwhile, the Monarchs’ existing players have been limited to voluntary workouts in groups of 10 or fewer, with each player and coach having his temperature taken every day, frequent hand-washing and wearing masks in common areas.
When full workouts might start remains up to the state government and NCAA. Whenever they do, everything will be magnified.
“Obviously, the one thing that they all know, and will be brought up again when we get going, is there’s not a whole lot of reps,” Rahne said. “So everything you do counts as a rep that we’re going to evaluate, from individual to stretch to a team rep or a group rep or whatever it is. I think that that’s a really great thing because it requires guys to stay focused throughout the entirety of practice.”
Thanks to the virus, the possibility remains that football season won’t kick off at all in the fall. The Ivy League, for one, announced this week that it is considering playing games in the spring instead.
Whether ODU’s season opener against Wake Forest happens on Sept. 4 as scheduled is anyone’s guess. But Rahne is doing all he can to get his team into top shape in case it does.
“I don’t mean to be coy when I say this: I don’t even think about that,” he said. “I’m preparing as if there’s going to be a year, and if they tell me the night before the game that we need to readjust and have a different plan, then that’s what we’ll do. But right now, I think the only thing that I can do or our team can do is go one day at a time, prepare one day at a time, prepare under the parameters that we currently have set and try to get this team ready to play against Wake Forest.”