Old Dominion Monarchs 2026 Season Preview

Rahne's Deceptive Ten Wins

Ricky Rahne's 10-3 finish and 6-2 league mark look like a program on the rise, but the box score says otherwise. Old Dominion's offense actually needed more yards than the league median to produce points, and the defense let opponents cover extra ground before bending, both signs the results outran the process. With only 28% of production returning heading into 2026, Rahne is replacing most of what got him there without the built-in cover of that same generous bounce.

Henicle Takes Over a Ground Game

Old Dominion's identity was never the passing game (85th) and it will not be in 2026 either, but the 239 rushing yards per game that ranked 7th nationally is what Quinn Henicle inherits as he steps into the starting job. The bigger continuity is up front and on defense, where 39 sacks and a 18.6% havoc rate backed a unit that allowed just 18.5 points per game, giving Henicle margin to grow into the role without needing to air it out. If the line keeps producing at that rate, this offense wins the same way it did in going 10-3, on the ground and off short fields, not through a passing attack that finished 85th.

Colton Joseph's 2619 yards and 21 touchdowns walk out the door, but Old Dominion hands the offense to Quinn Henicle, who threw for just 184 yards last year in a backup role behind a run game that ranked 7th nationally in rushing yards per game. That ground-and-pound identity means Henicle does not have to replace Joseph's production so much as manage it, distributing to an offense built on efficiency rather than volume through the air, where ODU ranked just 85th in passing yards per game a year ago. The bigger swing factor is protection: Henicle needs the offensive line to hold up better than the 41st-ranked sack rate from 2025, because this offense's whole formula depends on staying ahead of the chains, not on him bailing it out with his arm.

Old Dominion loses its leading rusher in Trequan Jones (792 yards) and Ke'Travion Hargrove's 268 yards and 4 scores, but Devin Roche already banked 634 yards and 4 touchdowns as a complementary piece and now inherits the featured role behind a line that powered a rushing attack ranked 7th nationally in yards per game. Maurki James returns with 224 yards of his own, giving Rahne's staff a proven two-man rotation before newcomers Hunter Patterson and Trey Hall even factor in. The ground game carried this offense last season while the passing attack lagged at 85th in yards per game, and with Roche and James back that balance of run-first efficiency should hold even with Jones gone.

Old Dominion's passing game runs through a room that produced almost nothing last year, since the actual production (Tre' Brown III's 762 yards, Ja'Cory Thomas's 714, Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding's 667) all walked out the door. TJ Johnson and Sidney Mbanasor combined for just 10 catches between them, so the four incoming three-star signees, BJ Bedgood, Brayden Myovela, Zion Agnew and TaySean Jones, are being asked to contribute immediately rather than develop on the side. That gap matters because Old Dominion was already living off the ground game, ranking 7th nationally in rushing yards per game while its passing attack sat 85th, and unless someone in this rebuilt group forces defenses to respect the air raid, that same lopsided split carries into 2026.

Old Dominion's tight end room produced almost nothing on paper last season, and the two players who did catch passes, Jailen Butler and Dawson Johnson, are both gone. What's left is a group with essentially no proven receiving résumé, since Karl Peterson has a single tackle to his name and Nathan Hartman and Chris Warren carry no stats at all. Maryland transfer Leon Haughton Jr. arrives with modest but real production, 4 catches for 43 yards and a touchdown, making him the likeliest steady target in an offense that already leans run-heavy at 239 yards per game on the ground.

Sacks allowed sat at 20 and the ground game rolled for 239 yards a game, seventh nationally, but almost none of the group that built that push is back. Ten linemen left the room against ten returning, and Ricky Rahne is leaning on sophomores Carson Bradley, Connor Drake, Kainan Miller and Logan Cox alongside a five-man transfer haul headlined by Raykwon Goldthwaite and Bubba Craig to replace it. With no depth chart to lean on and that much turnover up front, Old Dominion's rushing identity is the thing most at risk of slipping in 2026.

Old Dominion loses its top edge production in Kris Trinidad (33 tackles, 4 sacks, 7 TFL) but the group that racked up 39 sacks (8th nationally) is largely intact behind Chris Forbes (9 TFL) and Javen Gibson (3.5 sacks). DeAndre Lynch and Fred Giles add proven depth, and App State transfer Bucci Farmer arrives with 6 tackles and 1.5 TFL already on his résumé, while high school signee Malachi Harris joins as an unproven building block for the future. With that much havoc-making returning up front, this line should keep pushing the pass rush even as it breaks in newcomers around the edges.

Old Dominion loses the bulk of a group that produced 39 sacks and 90 tackles for loss, with Jeremy Mack Jr. (75 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 10 TFL), Jahleel Culbreath (71 tackles, 9.5 TFL) and Seth Naotala (64 tackles, 5.5 TFL) all gone. What's left is a room of committee tacklers rather than proven playmakers: Jed Olotu-Judah (14 tackles), Dirrick Goodman (11 tackles) and AJ Ashworth (10 tackles) have to turn modest snap counts into every-down roles. Mississippi State transfer Montrell Chapman arrives with just 1 tackle on his ledger, meaning the pass-rush disruption that fueled a top-10 sack total nationally has to be rebuilt largely from scratch.

A back end that helped hold opponents to 18.5 points a game returns nearly intact, with Mario Easterly's 80 tackles anchoring the safety spot alongside Lucas Struck and Daevon Iles. Corner is the spot to watch: Brandon Crutchfield comes back with 35 tackles, but Old Dominion is banking on NC State transfer Jivan Baly to step in opposite him after losing Botros Alisandro's 35 tackles to departure. The safety room also gets reinforcements from a run of three-star signees, led by Shaq Leaks, though none arrive with prior stats, so the group's ceiling still runs through the tackle production Easterly and Crutchfield already bring back.

Old Dominion's kicking picture is muddled after Riley Callaghan, who made just 8 of 15 field goals but handled the bulk of the placekicking load, is gone. Nathanial Eichner returns off a 7-of-10 season with a long of 32, and Florida Atlantic transfer Andrew Nelms arrives to push for the job, leaving real doubt about who nails down anything beyond short range in 2026. Ian Brandt is the steady piece, back after a 47-punt season at a 41-yard average, giving the Monarchs at least one settled leg while the placekicking competition sorts itself out.

Henicle Inherits a Gutted Offense

Colton Joseph's 2,619 passing yards walk out the door along with Tre' Brown III, Ja'Cory Thomas and Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding, a trio that combined for well over 2,000 receiving yards last fall, leaving Quinn Henicle to run the 2026 offense on the strength of just 184 career passing yards. Old Dominion answered the losses by hitting the portal hard rather than the recruiting board, bringing in running backs Trey Hall and Hunter Patterson and tight end Leon Haughton Jr. to rebuild the skill spots around Henicle. With 22 outgoing transfers against 15 arrivals and a 96th-ranked class, this is a roster betting that Rahne's staff identified the right replacements rather than the most decorated ones.

Quinn Henicle

Old Dominion won 10 games last year on Colton Joseph's arm, and now the job passes to Quinn Henicle, who has thrown for 184 yards and zero touchdowns in his career. Washington State transfer Jaxon Potter arrives with only a punting résumé to his name, so there is no ready-made competition pushing Henicle. Devin Roche and Maurki James give him a run game to lean on, but how fast Henicle grows into the passing offense determines whether the Monarchs stay a Sun Belt contender or take a step back.

Old Dominion's Betting Edge

The market never caught up to Old Dominion last season. A 10-3 finish while covering 62% of the time overall points to a team that outplayed its number all year, especially on the road, where the Monarchs went 3-3 straight up but covered 67% of the time as bettors kept undervaluing them away from home. The soft spot was conference play, where the cover rate fell to an even 50%, suggesting Sun Belt oddsmakers adjusted faster to Ricky Rahne's team than nonconference books did. That gap between road value and conference-line accuracy is the number to track as the market recalibrates for 2026.