By golly, it’s that time of year folks. Pads are about to pop, and Lane Stadium is about to come alive. As far as previewing ODU goes, the headline is that the Monarchs have lost a lot of players on both sides of the ball. Top RB Blake Watson transferred to Memphis. Starting tackles Nick Saldiveri (pretty good) and Khadere Kounta (kinda average) are with the New Orleans Saints and UCLA, respectively. The Hokies stole top receiver Ali Jennings. Quarterback Hayden Wolff transferred to Western Michigan. Tight end Zack Kuntz is with the NY Jets. And guard Tyran Hunt is in the USFL. That’s basically all their good players on offense.

The defense held up a little better, but not by much. The top three corner/nickel guys went to the CFL (Tobias Harris, Ottawa), transferred (Robert Kennedy, NCST), or landed in the NFL (Tre Hawkins, NYG.) Anchor safety R’Terriun Johnson is gone—he wasn’t great, but he was consistent. Disruptive defensive tackle Alonzo Ford Jr. is a Nittany Lion, and two DL further down the ladder, Chazz Wallace and D’Vion Harris, took a package deal to Colorado.

As for replacements, they nabbed a bunch, though unlike the Hokies, I don’t think they got better anywhere. For a moment I thought they got a former starting OT from Georgia, but then I looked closer and realized it was Grambling. And even there, he was more of a big obstacle than he was a blocker. The new QB is Grant Wilson, who came in with likewise new offensive coordinator Kevin Decker. Wilson played for Decker at Fordham, where he got about fifty snaps as a backup the past two seasons.

That’s rough. There are so many new, inexperienced parts, it makes for a patchwork and very theoretical preview.

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