When the Monarchs (0-2) are visited Saturday by Virginia Tech, they might have to dip into their depth chart.

Grant Wilson, a junior who has started ODU’s first two games, spent the seconds immediately following last week’s 20-14 loss to East Carolina doubled over in pain while appearing to hold his left wrist.

Wilson was hurt on the game’s final play, a scramble up the middle that cost ODU the final seconds.

Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne, who rarely discusses specific injuries, wouldn’t say Monday whether Wilson would be available.

“He’s going to continue to be evaluated,” Rahne said. “Whoever gives us the best chance to win the game is going to be the starter. That’s how it is at every single position we have.”

If Wilson can’t go, the job would likely fall to Colton Joseph, a redshirt freshman who is second on the depth chart but has never played a college snap.

Senior receiver Diante Vines, a transfer from Iowa who caught six passes for 64 yards against ECU, described Joseph as mobile and accurate.

“He likes to run around,” Vines said. “He’s a fast dude, a little Johnny Manziel-esque sometimes when he tries to run out of the pocket and throw a nice little ball. Colton’s a great quarterback. If he’s out there, I know he’ll handle business how it’s supposed to be.”

In 12 games last season, including 11 starts, Wilson passed for 2,149 yards and 17 touchdowns with eight interceptions. So far this season, he has completed 42 of 72 passes for 389 yards, two touchdowns and three picks.

Wilson could join All-American linebacker Jason Henderson, who did not play last week, on the shelf. Rahne said Henderson’s status had not changed.

Speaking generally, Rahne said it’s the responsibility of him and his staff to make sure players are ready before they return from an injury.

Rahne said he avoids discussing injuries because it can endanger players if opponents are aware of a sore spot.

“If you’ve ever been at the bottom of a football pile, you know why I was so guarded on injuries,” he said.

Vines said it doesn’t matter who starts behind center.

“I’m confident in all our quarterbacks,” he said. “Those guys put in the work all the time. We catch balls from them all the time, too, so I’m confident in how we’ll jell in the field. Whoever’s out there, I know he’ll be able to make some plays for us.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

A successful two-minute drill would result in a win. An unsuccessful one would lead to another near-miss.

For a second straight Saturday, the Monarchs couldn’t pull it off.

Rahjai Harris rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns, and East Carolina’s defense made sure ODU ran out of time in a 20-14 non-conference win at sold-out S.B. Ballard Stadium.

The Monarchs (0-2), trailing by the final margin with no timeouts, failed to put together a go-ahead, 90-yard drive in the final 1:53.

ODU found itself facing a similar situation during last week’s 23-19 loss at South Carolina. That time, a Grant Wilson pass was tipped into the arms of a defender.

“We’ve got to get better on offense at two-minute drill,” Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne said. “We’ve done pretty well at it at times. We’ve done pretty well at it in practice at times.”

This one petered out unceremoniously. As the final seconds ticked away, Wilson scrambled to the ECU 35-yard line. The offense failed to line up in time for one more play.

The Pirates (2-0) held a 466-292 edge in yards of total offense and won despite turning the ball over four times.

ECU quarterback Jake Garcia passed for 283 yards, but his four picks helped keep the hosts in the game.

The Monarchs (0-2) lost for the third straight time, going back to last season’s Famous Toastery Bowl. It was ODU’s 14th one-score game in 16 contests.

Aaron Young rushed for 83 yards and a score for the Monarchs, who punted on nine occasions and committed 10 penalties for 95 yards — many of them at the worst possible time.

A 72-yard scoring punt return by ODU’s Isiah Paige was nullified by a pair of penalties with 3:57 to play. It could’ve given the Monarchs the elusive lead.

Instead, down 20-14, ODU got the ball back on its own 26 and went nowhere. Wilson was sacked on third-and-long, and the Pirates failed to run out the clock.

“Obviously, that’s frustrating,” linebacker Koa Naotala said, referring to the penalties. “But as a team, we can’t rely on penalties giving us yards or taking away yards from us.”

Wilson completed 20 of 34 passes for 192 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was sacked three times.

Andrew Conrad’s 50-yard field goal gave ECU a 20-14 lead with 9:09 left in the game.

Young’s 1-yard touchdown run pulled the Monarchs to within 17-14 with 4:11 to go in the third quarter. It completed a 13-play, 75-yard drive that consumed nearly five minutes.

Down by a point, the Pirates scored 11 in a minute-and-a-half.

Conrad’s 33-yard field goal gave ECU a 17-7 lead with 9:07 left in the third quarter.

It came after Harris broke free around the left side for a 63-yard touchdown run that gave ECU, after a successful two-point conversion, a 14-7 lead with 10:42 left in the third quarter. The Monarchs fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, which led to the field goal.

In a first half that was unsightly by any measure, the teams combined for 11 penalties and four turnovers. ECU outgained the Monarchs 278-128 in total yards.

The Pirates, who trailed 7-6 at halftime, had a chance to take a lead before the horn. Out of timeouts with just more than a minute to go, they quickly marched to the ODU 6. But with five seconds left, they failed to come set before a snap, and the remaining time was run off.

Wilson hit Kelby Williams on a crossing pattern for a 44-yard touchdown, giving ODU a 7-6 lead with 9:24 left in the first half. The score was set up by Jahron Manning’s 45-yard interception return.

Harris capped ECU’s opening possession with a 22-yard touchdown run to give the Pirates a 6-0 lead just more than three minutes into the game. The run, which preceded a missed PAT, finished off a 10-play, 80-yard drive.

Early in the game, thanks to a strong gust of wind, the top of the left upright in the stadium’s north end zone got caught in the netting behind it, bending the upright outward. The Monarchs’ lone PAT of the half, by Ethan Sanchez, was therefore kicked at the field’s south end after they scored going northward.

A cherry picker was brought out as ODU’s band marched at halftime, and the crowd roared when a worker untangled the mess.

Old Dominion played without All-American linebacker Jason Henderson because of an undisclosed injury. Henderson, a senior, led the nation in tackles per game last season.

Asked about Henderson, Rahne said, “We’ll continue to evaluate.”

Rahne, a former Cornell quarterback, understood Wilson’s thinking in the final seconds to a point.

“With no timeouts — and this is really hard for a quarterback — but you can’t scramble there,” Rahne said. “You’ve got to throw that one away, spike it, do whatever you’re going to do. And that’s a really difficult thing. You see that same problem happen in the NFL. You see it happen everywhere. I’ve watched 12-year NFL quarterbacks make the same mistake.”

The offense in general could be better, Young said.

“Our details are just a slight bit off,” he said. “Once we correct that, I think we’re going to like the results we get.”

Things don’t get any easier for the Monarchs, who will be visited by Virginia Tech next week. First, though, they’ll nurse the wounds left by another one that got away.

“One of the key stats, I knew, was going to be field position,” Rahne said. “When you take the ball away four times, you’re going to have an opportunity to have good field position. And we didn’t take advantage of it. That’s unfortunate, to say the least.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

Latorya Credit and her parents and siblings all log in to ESPN+ in the Houston area and watch the games separately, communicating via an eight-person group text that includes her son, Monarchs wide receiver Kelby Williams, in real time.

“Did you see that?” one might write to another.

“How did that slip through your fingers?” one might say to Williams, or “What was your coach thinking?”

Williams doesn’t see the texts until after each game, but the virtual gathering is an anecdotal testament to the power of technology. It’s also partially indicative of the immense value of ODU’s two years as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.

The Monarchs’ football “media value” — a figure calculated by the conference to determine what it would cost to acquire the exposure teams receive by playing on ESPN platforms — went from $46.1 million in 2022 to $52.2 million last year.

To be clear, that’s not money the school receives; it’s money it doesn’t have to pay in exchange for that national footprint.

Additionally, 104 ODU games across all sports aired on ESPN platforms last year, part of the New Orleans-based Sun Belt’s ongoing deal with the network.

It’s a benefit that trickles down to recruiting in every sport, from football to field hockey and men’s and women’s soccer.

College athletes want to play on TV. Fans want to watch them play. Parents around the world, who often wield substantial influence over where their children go to college, really want to watch them play.

Williams had offers from Tulsa, Rice and Ball State, none of which could offer his mother, a former high school track and basketball athlete, a chance to easily see him play every week.

“For him to go to ODU, which is two plane rides away, it’s a big deal for us to stay connected with him,” said Credit, a math coach at an elementary school. “That way, he doesn’t feel like he’s alone, like he’s just there all by himself and his family is not able to see him. Because that was a big deal for Kelby selecting ODU, was that we would be able to at least watch him on television.”

Williams chose the Monarchs when he left Trinity Valley Junior College after the 2022 season.

“It means a lot to be able to have television time,” Williams said. “It kind of makes me feel like a celebrity, one of those people that I watched growing up.”

Men’s soccer games at ODU now trigger a similar scene in Wayne, New Jersey, where freshman midfielder and defender Jett Aktan’s family members gather around their respective TVs.

“They’ll be back home watching the team and me, supporting us from states away,” Aktan said.

“The Sun Belt’s great. ESPN+ is a great way for people around the country to watch.”

But it’s not just athletes’ families watching. According to the conference, a league-record 35.17 million viewers saw Sun Belt football games on TV last season, up from 29.82 million the year before.

It’s a far cry from when the Monarchs were in Conference USA, a vast league that spanned into West Texas and had no such deal with ESPN.

On top of that, the Sun Belt is successful on the fields. It’s one of the country’s best men’s and women’s soccer conferences, and sent a nation-leading 12 of its 14 football teams to bowl games last season.

It’s not lost on coaches when they recruit. In football, ODU competes on the field and in homes with so-called “Power Four” programs from the country’s major conferences.

The Sun Belt is considered a “Group of Five” league, with fewer advantages than programs from the ACC, the SEC and the Big Ten.

The disparities between the two levels can be striking. According to the latest data from Sportico, which tracks college sports finances, the University of Virginia generated nearly $141 million in total revenue in 2022-23. Virginia Tech generated nearly $130 million. Both play in the ACC, one of the country’s elite conferences.

ODU’s overall revenue came in at just under $51 million, far below that of the $160 million generated by South Carolina, the Monarchs’ season-opening football opponent. The Gamecocks play in the SEC, widely considered the nation’s top football league.

ODU fell 23-19 at South Carolina on Aug. 31 in a game that went down to the final seconds.

“It’s probably one of the first points that comes out of my mouth to these kids,” the football team’s offensive coordinator, Kevin Decker, said. “I say, ‘We play in the Sun Belt, and it’s the best (Group of) Five conference in the country.’ ”

The Sun Belt, which emphasizes regional rivalries, added ODU, James Madison, Southern Miss and Marshall to its then 10-team football membership in 2022. Conference USA, meanwhile, was bleeding members.

The fit, it turns out, was perfect.

“I think the move for ODU from Conference USA to the Sun Belt Conference could not have been any better timed than it was,” Monarchs athletic director Wood Selig said. “And it has been an absolute blessing for our athletic department and our entire university to become a Sun Belt Conference member institution, and I say that for a lot of reasons.”

Selig listed Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill, whom he called “an incredible leader,” as first among his reasons. Another is that the member schools, Selig said, are leaders academically in their states.

“And then you get the obvious ones,” Selig continued. “Gosh, geography: It’s better for our fans to travel to away games. It’s better for our student-athletes with less missed class time. It’s better on the budget.”

For men’s soccer coach Tennant McVea, whose team plays in one of the two toughest soccer conferences in the country, having games on TV is a selling point to potential players.

McVea’s roster includes players from all over the world and the country, like Aktan, who had only seen the Monarchs play on TV when he committed.

“Hey, get online,” McVea, a native of Northern Ireland, said he tells recruits. “You can see us live. Get online this weekend, 7 o’clock. We’re going to be on TV. Have a watch of the game. I want to know what you think about it on Saturday. So definitely a useful tool.”

Women’s soccer coach Angie Hind, a native of Scotland whose team has won three straight conference titles, has a roster that includes players from seven countries and various states around the U.S.

Not just having games on TV, but having them professionally produced, is helpful, she said.

“The first thing a European player will say is, ‘Where can I watch you play?’ ” Hind said. “And now with the technology that we have all over the world, they can tune in live. They can do that. They can get the opportunity to see us, and I think it’s huge.”

When ODU was in Conference USA, it had football games carried by Stadium, ASN, ESPN+, ESPN3, CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports Network, MASN and CUSA.tv.

Now, other than occasional games broadcast to NFL Network’s 51.5 million homes, all ODU football games are on ESPN platforms. From 2014-21, the Monarchs didn’t play a single home game on an ESPN linear network.

The Monarchs will have had three games on ESPN2 in three years, including a Thursday night home game against Georgia Southern on Oct. 24.

Head football coach Ricky Rahne said part of the Sun Belt’s appeal is its layout.

Trips to places like JMU in Harrisonburg; Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina; and Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina, simply make more sense while giving athletes “a little bit more of a traditional college experience, if you want to be honest, as opposed to really what’s going on across the country,” Rahne said.

There are also more personal benefits. Like Williams, his mom can see his games with little effort.

“She knows exactly where to find it,” Rahne said. “And it’s not hard for her to find, as opposed to before, where maybe she would call me and say, ‘I can’t find where to find it this week,’ and all that sort of stuff. I think that’s been great.”

Selig agreed.

“Forget what it means with the monetary or even the eyeballs; it’s just so much easier to find,” he said. “And fans are super creatures of habit. And if they’re in the habit of going to ESPN to look for and find you, they’ll continue that, and they’ll continue to find you. If you make them work hard and search and have to dig — Where is ODU playing? How can I get them? — they’re going to give up.”

Having games available on ESPN can be a fine introduction to an otherwise foreign program. High school athletes, or even those looking to change colleges, can catch a glimpse of what they might be getting into.

“They want to see something,” Hind said. “They want to be convinced before they come on campus. And just being able to see that has made a big difference.”

It certainly made a difference in Houston, where Williams wanted his family to be able to keep an eye on him every Saturday.

His mother accompanied Williams on his visit to ODU and helped persuade him to commit.

Credit plans to attend the Monarchs’ Sept. 14 game against Virginia Tech. Otherwise, it’s TV and group texts for her and her family.

That’s fine with her son.

“Now I’m one of those people that my little cousin and them watch, and they think I’m a superstar every time they turn on the TV and see me,” Williams said. “Yeah, it just means a lot to be able to have ESPN record our games and have us out there on television.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

Both blamed themselves.

The interception, which came with ODU down four points with 1:29 left to play, sealed the Gamecocks’ 23-19 season-opening win.

Minutes later, Wilson was sitting at a table in the bowels of Williams-Brice Stadium, telling the media how he planned to identify his mistakes “so they won’t happen again.”

It’s the kind of accountability Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne likes to see from his players. And he’s starting to see it more often as the team prepares to play host to East Carolina at 6 p.m. Saturday in ODU’s home opener.

“Both guys took responsibility for it,” Rahne said of the late pick in Columbia, Wilson’s second of the game. “Myles was like, ‘I’ve got to catch it,’ and Grant was like, ‘I’ve got to make a better throw.’ I think that that was something that says a lot about the character of those guys. They’re both putting that on them, and they both think that they should’ve done it.”

Back in Ballard… it’s GAME WEEK

: East Carolina
: 6pm ET
: ESPN+
: Norfolk, VA#ReignOn | #RFG pic.twitter.com/5Tfaoy4d7k

— ODU Football (@ODUFootball) September 2, 2024

Senior receiver Isiah Paige caught eight passes for a career-high 115 yards at South Carolina, including a juke-filled 72-yard touchdown reception that landed him on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

The play already had received hundreds of thousands of views on social media by the time the team plane landed in Norfolk.

But Paige, a Richmond native, had no idea. He was consumed with something else as the plane’s descent began.

“I really didn’t look at my phone,” Paige said. “I was kind of disappointed in some of the plays I didn’t make. It’s a good feeling now, though. But the plays I didn’t make kind of overwhelmed me in the moment.”

The Monarchs surrendered five sacks Saturday, which recalled a consistent problem from last season.

The issue, Rahne said, wasn’t schematic; rather, it was a lack of technique in terms of standing too upright when blocking. That, too, was to be addressed this week.

When Rahne sat down to face the press after Saturday’s game, the first thing out of his mouth was that he and his players had expected to win the game. That’s despite the major disparities between ODU’s Sun Belt Conference and the Gamecocks’ vaunted Southeastern Conference.

The expectations — and the accountability — led to a set of postgame emotions that Rahne found important to distinguish.

“I think our guys have owned their mistakes,” Rahne said.

“No one was sad,” he said. “Guys have their jaws set, and they’re ready to go and prove that we can play better as a team and that they’re ready to go out there and earn the right to win this one. That was one thing that I noticed very quickly, is guys weren’t hanging their heads. You could see anger and determination in their face, but I wouldn’t say there was necessarily sadness.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

East Carolina (1-0) at Old Dominion (0-1)

When: 6 p.m.

On the air: ESPN+, 94.1FM

The Pirates: ECU, on the heels of a dismal 2-10 season, opened with a 42-3 home win over FCS school Norfolk State. But all was not pretty for the Pirates. They won handily despite throwing three interceptions and losing three of four fumbles, something ODU’s coaching staff has identified as a potential weakness. QB Jake Garcia, a transfer from Missouri who won the job in mid-August, passed for 308 yards and four TDs against the Spartans. Ten players caught passes from Garcia last week.

The Monarchs: ODU surprised many around the nation last week when, as a 21-point underdog, it took South Carolina down to the wire in a 23-19 road loss. But the Monarchs, with nearly half their roster comprised of new faces, didn’t surprise themselves. They thought the Gamecocks were beatable, and they nearly pulled it off. QB Grant Wilson, ODU’s first returning starter at the position in a decade, showed his experience by generally managing the game well in a hostile environment. He showed some aggressiveness when he tried to force a couple of passes that ended up in the wrong hands.

It had nothing to do with what play to call, when to punt or whether to call a timeout.

It was a grass decision.

For nearly 20 years, the Old Dominion coach has made a habit of collecting turf of various painted colors from each stadium he’s visited.

On Saturday at South Carolina’s cavernous venue, Rahne pondered whether to take black grass from the Gamecocks’ logo or to grab it from the field’s SEC identifier.

He chose the latter, which came with an apology to conference boss Greg Sankey.

“I know how much pride people take in their logo, and I don’t ever want it to be like I’m disrespecting things,” Rahne said.

“I didn’t know which one was more disrespectful, so I went with the (SEC) logo. So Commissioner Sankey, sorry about that. It’s just something I’ve done.”

Rahne puts the turf into a plastic bag before each game with plans for its destination.

Years ago, Rahne’s late father-in-law built him a wooden display case to show off the turf and identify from which stadium each sample was harvested.

The display case is currently in storage, Rahne said, but he has plans for that, too.

“Everyone knows I don’t do anything else,” said Rahne, a 44-year-old father of two school-age sons. “I coach football and raise my family, so I figured (it’s) something cool to tell my grandkids. It will be, ‘Hey, look at this.’ They’ll hate it, but they’ll have to sit there and do it. I’ll give them, like, five bucks after, some chocolate or whatever. I don’t know what grandparents do.”

Rahne, a former quarterback for Cornell, admits he wishes he’d started the practice as a player. That way, he’d have some grass from, say, Harvard Stadium and other Ivy League locales.

A former offensive coordinator at Penn State, Rahne has turf and confetti from landmark wins in Indianapolis and Dublin, Ireland.

When the Nittany Lions played a bowl game at Yankee Stadium in 2014, Rahne chipped some yellow paint off a foul pole for his collection.

He acknowledges that some might find the hobby unusual.

“If you’re rich, you’re eccentric,” Rahne said. “If you’re not, you’re weird. When I’m not the head coach, it’ll go back to being weird. Now, it’s interesting.”

Senior receiver Isiah Paige, whose triple-juke move on a 72-yard touchdown catch at South Carolina drew national attention, shared his opinion on Rahne’s collection.

“I would say eccentric, man,” Paige said. “That’s my guy. Coach Rahne is eccentric. He’s not weird.”

Rahne collected a sample from ODU’s S.B. Ballard Stadium before his first game there in 2021. For artificial fields like The Steve’s, Rahne finds natural grass that has seeped through the turf.

An entire stadium, he figures, won’t miss a few blades of grass.

“It’s already out there,” Rahne said. “It’s already dead, so I just grab it. So it’s not a big deal.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

Those are the initial impressions of Samuel Basallo, a mountainous catching prospect with a violent swing that belies his youth.

The Norfolk Tides have ushered several elite prospects to the major leagues in recent years. Basallo, the second-ranked prospect in the Baltimore Orioles organization according to MLB.com, appears to be the next big thing in more ways than one.

At 6-feet-4 and 180 pounds, Basallo strikes an imposing figure. During his first batting practice at Harbor Park this week after joining the Tides on the road from Double-A Bowie, the lefty-swinging Basallo hit several balls that endangered the Tides’ $1.7 million video board in right-center field.

One ball landed with a thud about halfway up, prompting oohs and ahs from Basallo’s teammates.

“He’s a monster,” manager Buck Britton said. “The power is off the charts. When he gets ahold of it, my God. When he gets it, it’s incredible.”

Samuel Basallo blasts his first career Triple-A homer!
#DefendTheHarbor pic.twitter.com/GWNhUIU3Mk

— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) August 30, 2024

It only seems like Basallo, whose name is pronounced SOM-well bah-SIGH-yo, reached Triple-A in a hurry. Signed at 16 out of the Dominican Republic for what was then a club-record $1.2 million, he’s in his fourth season and sixth level of pro ball.

Before joining Norfolk, Basallo hit .289 with 16 home runs and 55 RBIs in 106 games this season at Double-A Bowie, putting up an .820 OPS.

His journey to the doorstep of the major leagues has not seemed like a whirlwind.

“It feels like normal time for me,” Basallo said through a translator. “It doesn’t feel like it’s been long. It feels right.”

Basallo’s impending arrival in Baltimore, which is highly unlikely to happen this season, brings up a potentially inevitable conundrum: The Orioles already have an All-Star catcher in Adley Rutschman, the former Tides star who was once the top prospect in all of baseball.

Britton, though, sees it as a good problem to have. Basallo, he said, plays a strong first base. Britton envisions Rutschman and Basallo someday splitting time behind the plate, with Basallo peeling off to play first or DH as needed.

Many major league catchers in recent years, including All-Star Carlos Santana and Hall of Famer Joe Mauer, have ended up at first base as catching has worn them down.

“I think there’s ways you could get them both in the lineup and a way to protect each other, not having to just carry the full load behind the plate,” Britton said. “You see what happens to these guys that catch. It’s changed. That spot gets you beat up.”

Few know that better than Maverick Handley, one of three catchers on Norfolk’s roster. Handley, a 26-year-old former Stanford star, is in his second season with the Tides.

He was drafted the same year, 2019, as Rutschman and Orioles All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Handley has played alongside younger players like Coby Mayo and Jackson Holliday, both now in the big leagues.

Handley is used to youth.

“You know, I feel like I’ve been playing with so many 20-year-olds up here that I can’t really tell what a 20-year-old is anymore,” Handley said. “(Basallo) is definitely more mature than his age says.

“He swings like a grown man.”

Talking with Basallo isn’t as intimidating as facing him from a mound. He’s soft-spoken, perhaps even a bit shy.

He was initially spotted by one of the Dominican’s many buscones, essentially freelance scouts who bring young players to the attention of major league organizations for a fee.

Basallo tried out for several teams before the Orioles offered.

“It was huge,” Basallo said when asked about his bonus. “It helped my family. It’s also easier to keep working and be where I need to be.

“The organization is moving me up the way they feel that I’m going to be good. I feel good about it.”

Handley has admired the way Basallo has handled himself behind the plate. Because he’s so big, Basallo often has to catch on one knee, but his length helps him move laterally.

The size was apparent right away.

“You shake his hand and you’re like, ‘This guy’s got some bear paws,’ ” Handley said. “He’s about as uber-talented as you’re going to get in terms of build.

“I think the O’s are confident that he’s going to be able to handle what’s asked of him up here.”

Joining Holliday, Basallo is the second 20-year-old the Tides have had on their roster this season. Basallo became one of the International League’s youngest active players.

As such, there are adjustments to be made. Britton described Basallo as “super-aggressive” at the plate, something he’ll have to tone down against experienced Triple-A pitchers moving forward.

“At this level, pitchers start to be able to command the baseball a little bit,” Britton said. “You can get yourself into some trouble. But he’s done a nice job. His at-bats are super-competitive.

“It’s a fast swing, it’s a big swing and it’s a big man. But he’s been good. They did a nice job in Double-A and A-ball getting him ready for this.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

The move Old Dominion wide receiver Isiah Paige put on a defender during the first quarter of Saturday’s 23-19 season-opening loss at South Carolina was, outside of the thin final margin, the talk of the game.

Just 31 seconds after the Gamecocks capitalized on an early turnover for a gifted touchdown, ODU quarterback Grant Wilson hit Paige with a bomb he hauled in at the 30-yard line.

With South Carolina defensive back DQ Smith closing in from behind, Paige paused at the 8 to let Smith pass him before turning it into a one-on-one basketball play.

Paige juked left, right and left again, the last move causing Smith to tumble to his side as Paige crossed the goal line and the crowd of nearly 80,000 went into stunned silence.

Smith-Young, a sophomore safety, didn’t see the play from the sideline. But he watched it that night on the flight home.

“I was like, ‘Goodness gracious, man,’ ” Smith-Young said. “Finally, he’s doing it to somebody that’s not us. We’ve been handling that all camp.”

ODU WR JUST BROKE ANKLES pic.twitter.com/qRkB8uDXiG

— College Football Headlines (@CFBHeadlines) August 31, 2024

The touchdown, which went for 72 yards, served a few purposes. In addition to answering the Gamecocks quickly, it showed that after a dreadful start to the game, the Monarchs (0-1) weren’t going to just roll over.

It also showed that the Southeastern Conference, despite its many clear advantages, doesn’t hold a monopoly on athleticism.

Paige’s football version of the crossover dribble has received millions of views on social media. It was No. 6 on Sunday’s “SportsCenter” Top 10 plays.

But it’s not anything the senior from Richmond’s Varina High drew up.

“Just instinct,” Paige said. “Just trying to make a play, provide a spark for the team. I didn’t really put much thought into it. My body just reacted. It’s a nice move, though.”

The Monarchs led 19-16 with just more than six minutes to play before South Carolina took advantage of another untimely fumble to pull ahead.

ODU’s final possession, which began with 2:50 remaining, ended when a Wilson pass was tipped into the arms of the defense with 1:29 to go.

“I know I expected to win that game,” Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne said Monday. “I know our players expected to win that game. We gave ourselves an opportunity to do that, but in the end, we didn’t make enough plays. And probably, we just made too many mistakes in order to win that game.”

In one moment, at least, Paige reignited the team’s high hopes at a critical time.

His teammates were left impressed, even if they’d seen it before.

“That was a great move,” Smith-Young said. “Isiah’s a pretty good player, a great player. So that was fun to see.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

The Old Dominion quarterback could only watch as South Carolina’s defense celebrated another manufactured gift.

Minutes later, the Gamecocks made Wilson and ODU pay.

Raheim Sanders rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown, and South Carolina capitalized on several key mistakes in a 23-19 win over upset-minded ODU.

The Monarchs (0-1) fell to 2-15 against Group of Five or Group of Four power conferences, having beaten Virginia Tech twice since 2018 but having lost three straight such games since.

Still, scaring the Gamecocks didn’t amount to a moral victory.

”I expected to win the game, and we didn’t play well enough from a fundamental standpoint, which is on me in order to do that,” Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne said.

An announced crowd of 78,496 — the largest to see the Monarchs play — braved a program-record game-time temperature of 94 degrees and a heat index north of 100 to watch ODU squander chance after chance.

The Monarchs fumbled four times and lost two, threw a pair of interceptions and allowed Wilson, under pressure all evening, to be sacked five times.

At least half the crowd left during a 44-minute lightning delay that halted the second quarter, putting a damper on what had been a palpable home-field advantage.

The Gamecocks (1-0) couldn’t exhale until Wilson threw a tipped interception with 1:29 to play to put an end to his team’s last chance.

The Monarchs, who left Conference USA for the more geographically sensible Sun Belt in 2022, hadn’t played a team from the venerable Southeastern Conference since a 42-38 loss at Vanderbilt in 2014.

With ODU’s offense spinning its wheels most of the day, the defense often provided a push. The unit held the Gamecocks to field goals on three occasions after promising chances were thwarted by a well-timed sack or stand at the line.

A 3-yard touchdown run by LaNorris Sellers came two plays after Wilson slapped the ground in frustration and self-disgust. It gave the Gamecocks the lead by the final margin with 6:11 to go.

“I thought I had a lane,” Wilson said of the backbreaking play. “It closed quick. The defensive end did a good job. I just didn’t have the ball secured like I should have. I’m going to work extremely hard so that won’t happen again.”

Isiah Paige caught eight passes for 115 yards and a touchdown for the Monarchs, who finished with 305 yards of total offense to South Carolina’s 288.

Wilson passed for 197 yards and a score.

Ethan Sanchez connected on a 33-yard field goal that was tipped but snuck through anyway, giving the Monarchs a 19-16 lead — their first of the game — with 9:54 left.

Sanchez kicked a 40-yard field goal to create a 16-16 tie in the waning seconds of the third quarter.

Wilson’s dazzling 36-yard touchdown run pulled the Monarchs to within 16-13, but Sanchez had his PAT try blocked with 4:57 left in the third quarter. Wilson’s touchdown gave ODU its first points since early in the first quarter.

Alex Herrera’s 32-yard field goal stretched the Gamecocks’ lead to 16-7 midway through the third quarter.

The Monarchs blew a break when Patrick Smith-Young returned a fumble 37 yards to the Gamecocks’ 9. But Wilson was intercepted at the goal line on the next play.

Wilson, a junior transfer from Fordham who started 11 games for ODU last season, was named the starter late in fall camp.

The Gamecocks had second-quarter points taken off the board when a successful fake field goal turned into an apparent touchdown pass that was nullified by a penalty. They settled for Herrera’s 45-yard field goal, which gave them a 13-7 lead with 4:02 left in the half.

Herrera’s 40-yard field goal gave the Gamecocks a 10-7 edge with 6:09 left in the first.

Wilson’s 72-yard touchdown bomb to Paige tied the game at 7 with 12:51 left in the first quarter. Paige caught the ball in stride, slowed on the left sideline and juked a defender to cross the goal line.

Sanders scored the game’s first points on a 1-yard run that came three plays after Wilson was sacked and fumbled at the ODU 3 to end the Monarchs’ opening drive after two snaps.

The sloppy start and the subsequent blunders had nothing to do with the crowd size or the noise, Rahne said.

“I thought we handled it pretty well,” he said. “In fact, I didn’t think that anything that happened was necessarily an impact of the crowd noise or anything like that. Even early, I didn’t feel that way.”

Added linebacker Mario Thompson: “What happened out there happened out there. We’ve got to move on. Next play.”

East Carolina visits the Monarchs on Saturday. By then, Wilson hopes to have worked out some of the kinks that led to a night filled with mixed results.

“I’ve just got to look at the film and see what I did wrong and see what I can improve on so they won’t happen again,” Wilson said.

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

Decker, Old Dominion’s second-year offensive coordinator, can now press that button and talk to the team’s quarterback through a headset via in-helmet speakers before a play.

As the Monarchs prepare to open the season Saturday at South Carolina in a 4:15 p.m. game, it remains to be seen how much the newly allowed communication will affect how the game is played.

Decker, for one, has spent fall camp figuring out how to use it. He wears a headset that connects him with the entire offensive staff. But the quarterback — in this case, starter Grant Wilson — can only hear him when Decker presses the button on his hip.

The problem: The rest of the staff can hear him talking to Wilson, which can cause confusion.

It’s been a work in progress throughout the summer.

“I’ve gotten pretty used to where that thing’s at,” Decker said, pretending to press the phantom button on his hip. “At first, I was hitting the wrong buttons, and that’s a bad deal because I’ve turned off my headset a couple of times, and then no one can hear me. It’s a tiny little button. I want them to make it bigger so I stop missing it. But it’s just one more added button.”

The NCAA allowed the system, in use by the NFL for decades, at the FBS level after a sign-stealing scandal at Michigan that’s still under investigation.

A defensive player, usually a middle linebacker, will also have access to a coach’s voice leading up to a play.

The audio shuts off when the play clock reaches 15 seconds or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first. Decker, therefore, might be cut off mid-sentence as he talks to Wilson.

Hearing a different voice in his head, Wilson said, could be especially valuable in the red zone.

Still, he said, it’s different.

“It is something that is very hard to get used to,” Wilson said.

How much fans will notice the difference is anybody’s guess. Monarchs head coach Ricky Rahne, whose team went 6-7 last season and reached a bowl game for the second time in three years, pointed out that coach-to-helmet communication in the NFL has long been widely accepted and barely discussed.

The practice has been used in the NFL since 1994.

“I think it’s going to have an impact,” Rahne said. “I don’t think it’s going to have as big of an impact as maybe some people think, but it is going to have an impact just in some communication.”

Wilson, an incumbent who re-won the starting job late in camp, won’t be able to communicate with Decker. ODU will continue to use hand signals to call plays from the sideline.

Most of Decker’s on-mic communication with the quarterbacks over the summer came in the form of reassurance, he said.

“What I appreciate about it is my ability to try and calm them down in certain situations,” said Decker, a former star quarterback at New Hampshire.

“If they miss the wide-open guy, they can hear me on the headset just saying, ‘Hey man, next snap. Put it behind you.’ It’s nice to have that one-way conversation, I should say, with those guys.”

Wilson, a junior who passed for 2,149 yards last season, said Decker might encourage him to get the ball out quickly or remind him of protections and play calls.

But what he hears in his helmet is not all business.

“And then he makes some side jokes in there every once in a while,” Wilson said. “He’s just a goof. He’s super-calm. You’ve got to be like that as a quarterback.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

Old Dominion at South Carolina

When: 4:15 p.m. Saturday

TV: SEC Network

BetMGM line: South Carolina by 21

Series record: First meeting

What’s at stake?: South Carolina needs to get off to a fast start because its Southeastern Conference schedule the next few weeks is brutal. After playing ODU, the Gamecocks play Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Alabama and Oklahoma in five of its next six games. Old Dominion played in a Division-I record 11 one-score games last season, going 6-5 in those contests. The Monarchs will need to keep this close early if they hope to have a chance to defeat an SEC team.

Key matchup: South Carolina’s offensive line against Old Dominion linebacker Jason Henderson. The Gamecocks struggled on the line due to injuries and poor play in its 5-7 season last year. Henderson, who led the country in tackles the past two years, will surely expose any mistakes in trying to rattle the Gamecocks, who have several new starters among their skill positions on offense.

Players to watch: Old Dominion WR Isiah Paige led the Monarchs last season with 43 catches for 445 yards and two touchdowns. Paige will need to have a big game for Old Dominion to succeed. South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers is a sophomore who played late games behind starter Spencer Rattler, who’s currently with the New Orleans Saints. Sellers, at 6-foot-3, earned the job coming out of spring and held on to the position despite a push from ex-Auburn starter Robby Ashford.

Facts & figures: South Carolina went 5-7 last season, the first time in coach Shane Beamer’s three-year tenure it failed to make the postseason. … Old Dominion of the Sun Belt Conference went 6-6 in the regular season and played in a bowl game, losing to Western Kentucky 38-35 in the Famous Toastery Bowl in Charlotte, for the second time in three seasons. … The Gamecocks are 19-3 in games against current Sun Belt football teams. They last played conference member Georgia State 35-14 to open the 2022 season. … Henderson is 142 tackles away — he made 170 stops last year — from breaking the FBS mark held by Troy’s Carlton Martial. … Besides losing Rattler at quarterback, the Gamecocks are minus leading playmaking receiver Xavier Legette, who led the team with 71 catches for 1,255 yards and seven touchdowns. Legette was picked in the first round by the Carolina Panthers.

— Associated Press 

The former longtime Old Dominion basketball coach is back at work, this time as a mentor to the athletic program’s head and assistant coaches, the school announced Thursday.

Jones, who retired in February after facing some health issues, will help ODU’s coaches “in any capacity they may feel would be beneficial personally and professionally,” athletic director Wood Selig said in a statement.

A former point guard and head coach at the University of Virginia, Jones coached at American University before leading the Monarchs for 13 seasons. He compiled a 560-417 record in his 32-year career as a head coach.

ODU football preview: Jason Henderson just hopes to ‘be healthy’ after knee injury

Jones took 13 teams to the postseason, including his 1999 UVA team, which went to the Elite Eight. He was 203-131 at ODU and is second in career victories among Monarchs coaches.

Selig has been considering ways to help coaches deal with the added pressure that changing rules have forced upon them, according to a press release. Jones will help coaches navigate the issues of recruiting, practice, travel and raising money as well as the advent of name, image and likeness rules and the transfer portal.

Jones suffered a heart attack in Honolulu in December, when the Monarchs were there for a tournament. He missed the rest of the season while he continued treatment for prostate cancer.

When Jones announced his retirement, he said health was the primary reason.

“We all know coaching is a great profession, but it’s also a tough profession,” Jones said. “If I can somehow lift them up, support them, that’s what I hope to do. For the young coaches, if they need help in their career development, that’s exactly what my new role is designed to do.”

ODU replaced Jones in March with former Virginia Tech and Maryland assistant Mike Jones, a longtime head coach at DeMatha Catholic High in Maryland.

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.