Old Dominion Monarchs College Football Pregame Quote, 09/13/2021

I’d like to open the day by passing on my condolences to the family of Eli Kessner, former offensive lineman here from 2013-2015, passed away on Friday. Obviously, we’re keeping the family in our prayers and thoughts right now. Old Dominion doesn’t have a huge football family so losing anybody from that is always a huge loss. I never was able to meet him, but I met a lot of people from that era, and I know how much they meant to him.

Moving on, I thought we played well in the game on both sides of the ball. Once again, we played well at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, which is probably always going to be the most important thing. If you can start there, that’s always a great way to start if you play well at the line of scrimmage. I thought we did on both sides, especially after looking at the tape. We cleaned up some of the things we wanted to clean up from the game before. Thought we tackled well, still think we can work on that. Certainly, better with our alignment and assignment on special teams. Still have a couple errors there but generally we were pretty clean. And our substitutions apparently were much improved across the board so those were the three things we were going to work on, and I thought we did a nice job on those so with that I’ll open it up.

How do you get ready for Malik Willis? Does Stone Smartt play scout team quarterback for Malik Willis? What’s the game plan there?

Malik Willis is a very rare talent. He is difficult to prepare for. I do think that we have some scout team quarterbacks that can emulate him but it’s about maintaining discipline and being in the right spot and those little things. You got to keep him in the pocket as much as possible knowing that he can extend plays and do those sorts of things. I’ve really been impressed with how he’s thrown the football from within the pocket this year. There’s a reason that he’s getting as much hype around being a possible first round pick as he is. Very, very good player.

So, the line for the game opens up between 24.5 points and 26.5 is that extra motivation for you guys or do you even care about that really?

I do not care about the line. They built a really big city in the desert for those sorts of things and then another one on the ocean up there in Jersey. I’m excluded from betting on any sports. I would never in a million years bet on sports even if I was allowed to. I think it’s a crazy thing to do. I would never ever do that it would make me sick to my stomach to lose money on something like that. I feel confident that our team is going to be prepared for this game. I feel confident that our team is going to go out there and play very, very well because we are going to prepare well, and we are going to prepare with some fight and fire under our belly.

You guys do swing from being heavy favorites to heavy underdogs. Is that something that you’re cognizant of the way you talk to the guys? Do you mention that? Do you try to temper expectations going into a game like this? How do you navigate that big swing?

I have a different message every week to the guys, and I always will have a different message that has nothing to do with whether we’re favorites or underdogs or its “an even fight” or whatever. My message is more about how we should be preparing, some of the thought processes that I think will go into the game. For example, last week a lot of my message dealt with keeping your focus on your own internal motivation and not letting the external factors get to you. Some external factors may be people questioning why we didn’t play better the week before. What I was really worried about was the hype of all the fans and that sort of thing. I deal more with those emotions opposed to the other ones that the guys may have.

Nick Rice is one field goal away from school history. Do you have something special planned for him? Special game ball? Special anything if he breaks the record.

Nope. Quite frankly I hope he never hits it because I hope we score touchdowns. I think he is one of the most accurate kickers that I could possibly imagine. I already told him, and he agreed, “Coach I hope I never get to kick another field goal again.” He wants to kick extra points, and I know when I put him out there for a field goal I pretty much chalk it up that that one is going to go through. He’s a tough-minded kid that can overcome some things and I love having him out there. But no. I do not have anything special planned I do not think he would want that because in his mind that’s his job. To go out there and make the kick. He’s ready for when that happens, and he will be privately excited but publicly I know he will be ready to make the next kick.

Ricky can you talk a little bit about Jon-Luke Peaker. He seems like an extraordinary talent for a true freshman.

Yeah. He goes by “Juke” which is probably the right name for a running back. He’s a great player. He’s got deceptive speed, great vision, terrific balance. Like most freshman he’s got to continue to work on the little things that make a running back great. Finding the extra yardage in situations, avoiding those big hits. That’s what really extends guys a lot. Pass protection and passing routes, a true freshman does not do that much in high school, but we have been really happy with him from day one. I love the way he runs; Coach Lucas has done a terrific job with developing him. Tough kid that doesn’t get bothered by a lot. We put him in there and he did his thing. It helps that our offensive line plays as well as they do. I try to tell people since I got here that our offensive line is extremely underrated. They continue to prove that over and over again.

Ricky a couple weeks ago we talked to the specialist, you guys travel to different parts of the world and different parts of the country. Do you like the notion of bringing that many cultures together on your roster?

That’s a great question. We don’t ever mean to do that; I think we recruit so much regionally for a lot of our other positions there is so much talent here in Virginia, from North Carolina up to Eastern Pennsylvania. We recruit really hard and spend a lot of time there. Most of our team is going to come from there and we are always going to fill in with some guys from the transfer portal. Like I talked about before a lot of guys are going to be coming home for that. Quarterback and specialist and those things you got to go across the country to make sure you get the best ones. We’re always going to make sure we do that. Coach Smith has done a great job with that and obviously they have done a great job with that before with the guys that we have. It makes it fun because we do have some different cultures here so guys can make some different perspectives. Right now, it also presents some challenges. Harry (Minium) did a terrific job of writing a story about Ethan not being able to see his family for a long time. That’s a big deal, you know. I get to see my family right after the game on the field, so I can’t imagine how it is not seeing them for as long as he hasn’t seen them. Obviously, that’s COVID related so there’s not much we can do about it. Having them far away creates some challenges as well. That’s where you got to have a strong sense of family within the team that can take care of guys that can let them know you have a family here as well. Never will replace your actual family but we certainly would like to be there to be able to support you.

Coach, you said last week you were going to make an improvement before you played Hampton. Offense defense and special teams. Which made the best improvement?

All three played really well. I would be hard pressed to pick one out, special teams is probably where I was most proud because it is where we come together and it shows real team culture. We almost blocked another punt; we came really close. Should’ve blocked a third one. We covered the kick they tried to run back; Terry Jones makes a heck of a play. Gets down there and really faces the guy up. That was an awesome job. It means a lot to me on touchbacks and things like that to run through the end zone. It shows what type of team you have. I’m always going to judge us as a team on special teams. That’s obviously a lot of pressure on coach Smith, but each of our coaches has a major responsibility on special teams so they know I hold them accountable for that as much or more so than they do their individual positions on offense and defense. That’s the area where in my mind I can really see who we are.

Coach I know it was before your time here a little bit but Taylor Heinicke getting the top spot for the Washington Football Team quarterback. What does that mean to a program in terms of building the brand and having that spotlight where Old Dominion is getting mentioned every week on that stage?

Guys like Taylor and Zach and all those guys, we could never in a million years get this much publicity from anything we do. Those guys are doing an unbelievable job and they’re earning everything they get. It is a true representation of what Old Dominion is, they are literally earning every opportunity they get and they’re taking advantage of it when they’re in there. It was pretty special that guys that never played here for me still hold this place in such high regard and that speaks volumes to what Coach Wilder and the staff did. Taylor writes me right after our game and he is preparing for his own game, and he writes me right after the game. Oshane (Ximines) and some of the other guys did too so that was pretty awesome to be able to get messages from those guys.