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NORFOLK — On Sept. 3, 2021, an hour before Ricky Rahne made his long-awaited debut as Old Dominion’s head coach at Wake Forest, he finally announced his starter at quarterback.
Rahne, whose team had sat out the 2020 season over COVID-19 concerns while becoming, perhaps, an afterthought to many, had been asked about the position countless times throughout fall camp, always declining to answer.
Before that Wake Forest game, Rahne announced on Twitter that D.J. Mack was his man, ending months of speculation and debate.
“I know the first year, I held it for a long time,” Rahne said this week after his team’s seventh practice of the spring. “And just bluntly, it was probably as much of a PR move as anything else to keep our name in the paper a little bit longer.”
Don’t expect such a move this season. Three quarterbacks — incumbent starter Hayden Wolff, Fordham junior transfer Grant Wilson and redshirt sophomore Jack Shields — are engaged in what Rahne described as an even battle to win the job before the Monarchs open Sept. 2 at Virginia Tech.
Rahne doesn’t expect to sit on the information this time.
“I’m sure we’ll announce it before our first game at some point,” he said. “I don’t really have a timetable set for it. When somebody grabs it, then we will. If somebody were to grab it here at the end of spring, then we would name it. If that happens during the first week or two of camp, then we would do it then.”
The three candidates are splitting reps evenly, with each of them working with the top three offensive groups.
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Rahne wouldn’t say whether Wolff, who passed for 2,908 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions in 12 starts last season after winning the job from Mack midway through the 2021 schedule, has an advantage.
The 6-foot-3 Wolff, a junior, led ODU to five straight wins to end the 2021 regular season, earning the team a berth in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
But behind Wolff last season, the Monarchs stumbled to a 3-9 finish that included losses in their final six games.
The 6-3 Wilson was a backup at Fordham, where he completed 10 of 13 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons.
Shields, a 6-1 Centreville, Virginia, native, has yet to appear in a college game.
A fourth quarterback, 6-4 redshirt freshman Tyler Stott, is a reserve right-hander on ODU’s baseball team.
The three who are in camp, Rahne said, have put in ample time to absorb the new spread offense being installed by first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Decker, who came with Wilson from Fordham. Under Decker’s guidance, the Rams led all FCS teams with 609 total yards per game.
ODU defensive coordinator Blake Seiler, a former assistant at Kansas State, said the offense has brought back memories.
“It’s the best,” Seiler said. “They’re high-octane, tempo. They spread you out. They throw it around. I feel like I’m back in the Big 12, in the old Big 12.
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“It’s taking me back. I know how dynamic those offenses were to defend, especially with good players like we’re bringing in here.”
Whoever wins the quarterback job could have a chance to help lead a prolific unit. Rahne likes what he’s seen so far.
“Not only have they done a nice job, but they’ve really competed,” he said. “But they’ve also supported each other, which has been awesome. They have a tight-knit group. And considering the type of competition they’re having right now, it’s what you want in all teammates. So I think those guys deserve a lot of credit for that.”
When the Monarchs visit Blacksburg to face a team they beat at home in last season’s opener, their offense should be a bit of a mystery to the Hokies.
It’s not likely that their quarterback’s identity will be.
“For me to think that I’m going to be able to keep something secret like that when we’re playing those type of people — I’ve been in enough instate rivalries before to know that nothing stays secret in those things,” Rahne said. “So it’s not like I’m gaining an advantage by keeping it a secret longer, right up until game day.”
David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com. Twitter @DavidHallVP.