Today was a great day for the future of Old Dominion Football. Now, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We need to see how these guys work in the weight room, how they manage their different nutrition goals...
Behind the Shield: Center of Attention
I'm sure some of you are will get annoyed here but I need to remind you that the portal is a fluid process. Big DecisionYesterday we announced that Houston DT transfer Joshua Donald had committed to ODU. Well, that was...
Behind the Shield: First Looks
Starting on Sunday, ODU Football began to welcome their first visits on campus. The first group of visitors resulted in the following commitments: Lonnie Johnson, TE, 6'4, 230 lb., Fort Worth, Texas - Tyler Community CollegeIn his redshirt freshman year...
Behind the Shield: Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! Welcome to the 2026! The final day of 2025 was a productive one for ODU football and makes success more likely in the coming year. Just before the clock strikes midnightAs we mentioned in recent posts, negotiations were...
Behind The Shield: Countdown to the New Year
The portal process is a fluid one. Things that were true a week or even a day ago could change. It's why the more I talk with our staff the more I have to respect the time and effort that...
Behind the Shield: The meaning of OAMA
O.A.M.A. is an acronym we use when players enter the portal, it's our way of acknowledging their contributions to ODU Football and it means simply "Once a Monarch, Always". We do this because we want everyone to remember ODU fans,...
Behind the Shield: Patience is Tough
The transfer portal timing is weird and with student athlete exits being announced first, it can feel like a listing ship taking on water after the hull is breached. As fans, it really sucks because we just finished a phenomenal...
Behind the Shield: Rooms to Go
In our last edition of Behind The Shield, we talked about Coach Rahne naming Coach Cook and Coach Huettel co-offensive coordinators and we've received a couple questions from a lot of fans. We danced around the subject a bit by breaking...
Behind the Shield: The Carousel Continues
New commit:On Tuesday of this week, ODU Football staff got some good news as they were preparing for the Cure Bowl. Hunter Patterson called and let them know he wanted to be a Monarch. Hunter is a 5'11, 180 lb.,...
Behind The Shield: Fall Signing Day is Upon Us
Tomorrow, Dec. 3, 2025 starts the official signing period running until Dec. 5th. So you will see ODU Football introducing all the young men on social media and their website as their paperwork becomes official. But you'll be ready for...
Behind the Shield: Adaptability is Key
New Commit:Zion Agnew announced his commitment after the recruiting update was originally released on Tuesday. Agnew gives us an experienced talented receiver who has the size to play the slot and the speed to play on the outside, giving us...
Behind the Shield: Last Impression
This week's resounding win over Georgia Southern pushes the Monarchs to 8 wins on the year and that success on the gridiron has only helped lead a great impression on recruits. In our last update, we previewed some visitors for...
Behind the Shield: Home Sweet Home
This week's resounding win over Troy officially makes this our first winning season since 2016 and helped lead a great impression on recruits. Having one of the best ever turnouts for SportsCenter On Campus certainly doesn't hurt either. So be...
Behind the Shield: Bye Week MEGA Update
We're back! Last weekend's win over ULM officially got us bowl eligible, but the bye week offered us an opportunity to catch up with recruiting for the program. Buckle up, we got a lot of updates here. New JuCo CommitJJ...
We're back! Last weekend's home game against Liberty for Old Dominion Football brought a lot of rain and a number of key football recruits to The Castle. Gridiron FunNow, football had a lot of kids on campus this weekend, 35...
Behind The Shield: Rain or Shine!
This Saturday Old Dominion Football hosts the Liberty Flames in a game that should offer a good contest on the field, and Old Dominion Men's Basketball hosts two key targets in the class of 2026. AceAshton "Ace" Meeks is a 6'0,...
Behind The Shield: Fall is Here!
We're back! This weekend's home opener for Old Dominion Football offered great weather and a perfect opportunity to host valued recruits in a number of sports. Royal LineMen's basketball brought ODU Hoops legends Kent Bazemore, Cal Bowdler and Mike Byers back...
Behind The Shield - Gameday Information for 2025
Apologies for the break in Behind the Shields, but we've been busy trying to get as much football content out to you as possible. However, we return this week with some exciting information surrounding football gamedays for this season. Tunes...
Behind The Shield: August Heat
It's been a few weeks since our last update. However, we have been busy preparing some preseason content with the football team, so pardon the extended break in BTS articles. Recruiting UpdatesZialis Blackmon is a 6'4, 180 lb., athlete from...
Behind The Shield: Renewals and Western Expansion
It's been an interesting week thanks to Texas State's departure but we got some updates in a couple different areas for you. But before we get to those updates we'd like to...
Behind the Shield: Dog Days of Summer
It's not only getting hotter by the day as Mother Nature turns up the humidity in Virginia, but the Old Dominion recruiting trail is also getting hotter. In fact, it has been on fire lately, and we’re here to get...
Behind the Shield: Bouncing around the Map
Down SouthWhen it comes to recruiting under Coach Rahne, the Deep South hasn’t traditionally been a focus at Old Dominion. But thanks to the addition of Cornerbacks Coach Dwike Wilson, that may be changing. Coach Wilson has quickly become a...
Behind The Shield: ODU Mega Camp and Recruiting Update
Read about a couple of standouts from ODU's June 7th Mega Camp and the program's plans for the 2026 class.
Behind The Shield: Summer, Summer, Summer Time
Pardon the bigger breaks between the Behind The Shields updates we have this time of year. With school being out, there is less to discuss and share with our awesome members of The Pride of ODU. But we do have...