Monarch nation. For a good today's episode. Odette asked me to share some. I'm important dates with you. On August 12th ticket packages will be mailed out. On the 15th. Many plant tickets become available as well as single game premium. Premium seat request. And a way ticket request. On the 24th is the line for basketball season ticket renewal. August 26th is the big one for Genentech single game tickets become available to donors. And August 29th. Virginia tech tickets are open to everybody.
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hi, I'm Isaac Weaver and you're listening to the Monarch
podcast
I'm Aaron
And I'm.
and you're listening to the monarch's podcast. Phil steel's college football preview is the magazine that every sport show host and college football fan waits for each year. If you're a serious fan of college football, you're already a fan of Phil. And if not, you will be after our chat. Phil's college. 22 football preview has recently hit the stands. And if you're in the 7 57, you'll see old dominions, very own Zach Koons grace in the. Welcome to the show, Phil.
being on guys. You know, I do a lot of radio shows during the course of the summer, but very rarely do we get to talk in depth about a team like ODU.
Phil again, thank you for joining us. You've been putting out arguably the best college football preview for almost three decades. Now, what led you to produce your first one in 1995?
That's a great question. Back then, there was probably 22 preseason magazines out there, and I was writing a, a football newsletter at the time. And what I would do all during the, the time would go out and buy every single magazine that was on the market. So I had a big pile on my desk. Got my notebook out, started writing down all the players on every team and who was coming back. When I got finished with all 22 magazines, I'd have about 22 players on my pages.
and some of the teams, the smaller teams would have. Three five players mentioned even in all 22 magazines combined. So I said, this is just not good enough for me. I need to have every player on the roster, on my pages. I need to have know the two deeps. So I started getting the rosters and going through the teams myself. And then about 1994, someone came, my office saw my notepad, which had every player on every team. And they're like, well, why don't you turn that into a magazine?
So we did that in 1995. The first year we only covered 88 teams. It was black and white. It was. Print. We had one block section with 12 players on the cover, but once somebody got their hands on a copy and noticed it three to four times, the amount of information in the other college football preview, they had to have that every year. And then I think it was about six, seven years later, we went to full color. And now here we are in the 28th edition of the magazine.
And it is by far that the leader on the market.
Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Obviously you can't see it right now, but I've got it open right now to the old amended section. It is a great magazine. Mike's got one, two. It's it's a must have during our research. Oh, go ahead.
You know, I, I do the same amount of writing and research on a team like old dominion that I do on Alabama and Ohio state. And we give all the teams two full pages. So if you follow ODU football and you wanna know about James Madison or Texas state, anybody, we give two full pages on everybody.
That's awesome. Well, Mike and I did a little bit of research and while we were doing that, we saw that you had a background in. Handicapping. Are you surprised with how many states have embraced sports recently?
No, I, you could probably see that coming even 10, 15 years ago is the fact that. Was becoming more and more mainstream. And even when I was working full time at ESPN for three years they went from being, you know, talking wink, wink about handicapping to just full blown throwing stats on ESPN every day. So you could pretty much see it coming.
Yeah, Phil. So I'm a gambler and. I'd love. Love to ask you as a handicapper when you're researching a game, what is the first thing you look for? Whether a line is one you should attack or not.
Well, to be honest with you, what I do before I look at the Vegas line is I break it, break the game down. I look at all the aspects of the game. I have nine different sets of power ratings. I let them line up a predicted line on the game. I look at the situation. I look at the series history. I look at all that and I come up with my line on the. And so I've got my line on all the games for the thing. Then I look at the Vegas line and the first thing I look at is the differences.
You know, where's the biggest difference. Is there a seven, 10 point difference somewhere that I could really go that's that's really how I do it. There's not just one factor in handicapping. I think you, you should use 'em all, but for me, it's doing the research prior to seeing the.
So I'm looking at 352 pages of awesomeness here in front of me. And I know that's gotta take a ton of time. Can you take us through the process for the production and planning of each.
Oh, absolutely. You know, it's a seven month process. So the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when some team season is complete, that's when we start full bore on the magazine and we do it in a three right through process. And I'll give you an example of USC from this year. The first right through process, I've just watched every game. All season long, you know, absorbed all the football information, but now we print off every article that was written about the team all year long.
We have a source that sends us all the articles we compile. 'em we, we get 'em into one file and then I get that printed off. So now I relive the season, go back through it. Game by game. And you go, go through the ebbs and flows of every single position, you know, where they were banged up. Midseason got healthier at the end of the year, sort of like last year, as an example, ode dominion on the offensive line, they started five different offensive line in the first offensive lines.
The first five games struggled a little bit early, and then they started the same seven, the last seven. And that's when the offense took off. So things like that are captured through that reading process. Anyway at that. You write the position you say what kinda shape are they heading into last year? What happened last year? What kinda shape are they heading into this year?
Well, at that point of the magazine, after the first right through process, I had USC middle of the road in the PAC 12 south this year. Now the second right through process is pre springing. We get the rosters from the schools. Yeah, the. Adjust the power ratings. Like I said, I have nine different sets of power ratings. And then at that point, USC started making a little bit of a move up. And then the third one is after I talked to the head coaches.
Now this year I talked to 120 of the 131 head coaches. So I'm on the phone with coach Lincoln Riley and ironically it's the day they signed Jordan. Add. Now all of a sudden, my USC roster has Caleb Williams as a quarterback. My number one quarterback outta high school last year, who started Oklahoma in the second half of the year, Mario Williams, a wide receiver, my number two rated wide receiver outta high school who had 30 catches, 30 plus catches at Oklahoma. Last year.
They bring in the Biletnikoff winner, winter and Jordan Addison. They bring in a thousand yard rusher from Oregon and Travis dye. Plus another transfer in Austin Jones from Stanford. And when I talked to coach Riley going over the offensive line, which was one of my concerns, he told me he really liked the top end experience that he inherited.
And didn't expect to have this much talent defensively brought in 12 to 13 transfers, including Shane Lee, who started 13 games as a true freshman at Alabama. Now, all of a sudden USC was my number one most improved team in the magazine. And I have him number two in the PAC 12 south, right behind a very strong Utah team. So it's really a three right through process. The first one is the post-season right through the pre springing.
And then after I talked to the head coach and they really helped me get my three deeps and four deeps in line
That's great. So speaking of old dominion, one of the biggest changes in this season will be the move to the Sunbelt. The common refr, we keep hearing is how good the Sunbelt east is. And how much of a step up this will be for ODU. What from your research is the biggest difference in the two league leading to that?
Well, I think that the east is stacked. I think the two leagues were I'd give the Sunbelt an edge. A slight edge over C USA. I don't think it was a drastic edge. But the Sunbelt had the top end teams teams like Appalachian state, coastal Carolina, and even an up and coming Georgia state. And you look at the division that old dominion got placed in. Unfortunately got placed in the east, along with Marshall, who is one of the top teams in C USA, James Madison, one of the top FCS teams out there.
And Now all of a sudden they're playing at a very stacked east conference. I think overall the Sunbelt does have an edge on C USA, but I don't think it's a dramatic edge. And I, frankly, I was a little surprised that old dominion was picked seventh in the Sunbelt east this year. I had them coming in fifth.
Yeah, we, we agree. I don't think Ricky, Ronnie cares too much about the, what. Preseason poll things come out based upon our interactions with Ricky, but we agree a hundred percent that seventh, especially, we've got a little bit of history with JMU. But they'll, you know, they're more ready than most folks coming from FCS, but I think there will be some, some growing pains a little bit there.
Yeah, I think James Madison, having, having 85 scholarship players is a big plus for them. This.
Yeah, that certainly is. So ODU has an exciting non-conference schedule this year. We've got Virginia tech, UVA, Liberty and east Carolina. I mean, fans are really excited about this. Both UVA and Virginia tech have new coaching staffs. What do you think will be the biggest change that ODU fans will see from these two programs?
Well and you know, Virginia tech and Virginia are, are two different teams this year as well. In the fact that if you look at Virginia, their strengths are clearly in the skill player positions. They've got Brennan Armstrong back at quarterback. He rip practically willed that team to six wins last year. They're also very strong of. I rate their receiving cord number three in the country. And I like their running backs. They bring in Cody brown from Miami of Florida, Mike Collins, a running back.
So Virginia has got the skill personnel. Now, what I don't like about Virginia is the offensive line, which loses all five starters and the defense while improved. I mean, last year they gave a 466 yards per game. 32 points per game. I see 'em getting better, but I don't see 'em being dominant defensively. So skilled players I'll take Virginia now, Virginia tech. When I look at them, their strengths are the opposite. I'm not overwhelmed with their skilled players.
Grant Wells was but just slightly above average quarterback at Marshall, the running back cores. Basically unproven the receivers basically unproven. They lose their top two guys now where their strengths are definitely on the defensive side of the ball. Brent pry, inherits a very talented defense. He's going back to the bud foster principles. It's a unit that has tons of talent throughout it. I think Virginia tech defensively this year allows something like 347 yards per game.
And in the front of the magazine, I have my computer project out the yard. For they've loud and yards gained these points as well. You'd be amazed when I go through in the postseason, write through process and I go, okay, what did, what did computer predict last year? And it's, it's always within two to three points and not that many yards. So I think Virginia tech will be strong defensively, and I think their offensive line has potential. I'm just not wild about their skill players.
So I think it's two completely different teams, a. Defensive unit with Virginia tech, with unproven skill players, and then a Virginia team. That's got the skill players, but I'm not wild about the old line and the defense.
So Phil. When it comes to UVA and run an Armstrong, I completely agree that, that can throw it. But in your research, speaking of ODU and their offense, what really jumped out to you as the strength and weakness?
Well, you start with Blake Watson, a running back. I mean, he's a guy that coach Ronnie told me last year was gonna be a big time factor and he rushed for a thousand yards. Did a great job. And then you take a look at that offensive line. I thought once they got the continuity in the second half of the year, they were much stronger. And then they've got two P five. Guys at the receiver spots, you know, you're talking about the West Virginia transfer Ali Jennings who led the team last year.
And then Zach Koons, who is huge hands. I mean, this guy is 6, 8, 2 56. He is clearly one of the best tight ends in the country. So. Great skill players. And I like the depth of quarterback. You know, Hayden Wolf is, is more of a thrower coming in like a, a pure pass quarterback. And he's gonna be pushed by Brandon Clark, I think. And DJ max still in the mix. So I like the depth old dominion has at the quarterback position.
Hey Phil. So obviously Jenning's that second half of the season last year. He really took a big jump and made a big difference. Do you see another receiver on the roster that you think is most likely to jump out as the number two?
Yeah, I'm gonna go with Jordan Bly. And I think when you look at Jordan Bly, he's a guy that could be one of the most talented wide receivers on the roster. He's still learning. But he made a lot of big strides this spring, and I think he's ready for a breakout performance this year.
Appreciate that. So let's move to the other side of the ball. The defense was much improved for ODU in 2021. I mean, Mike and I go back to the very beginning. ODU has never been known for a really strong. We were always one to score a lot of points back with Taylor Heineke and, and Thomas DeMarco and, and everybody there. Do you see the defense improvement from last year, continuing into 2022?
I do. And, you know, I think it starts, I, I always look, I think, you know, You always say most important player on the team's a quarterback, but what's the second most important position out there. Definitely the defensive line and the defensive line is one that I feel and coach Ronnie feels the same way that they've got like four defensive ends and five defensive tackles that can play.
And if you've got that kind of depth, you're able to rotate your players much like Georgia did last year, you know, Georgia would use three units on defense. If you can do that, you keep your defense fresh. You get a lot of guys in the. Then you're putting pressure on the opposing team in the fourth quarter, cuz you got fresh bodies on the field. So the depth at the defensive line, I think is gonna be one of the biggest parts here and really improve the team.
Then you got a guy like Ryan Henry at the linebacker spot. Henry's a NFL caliber linebacker, 6 2, 2 32. He's got everything you want. I'm I would really like to see how Steven Williams emerges. I mean, this guy's an athlete and he's a guy. Could be, you know, one of the best athletes on the team. It's his second year at the linebacker position. I'd like to see how he works out there and the secondary, they had the Wisconsin kid in Dante Burton. Trey Hawkins is a, a topnotch cornerback.
He's the most talented DB on the team. And he's gonna have a big season this year. And then at free safety Johnson is, looks pretty good as well. So this is a very, I think the talent is there for, and if they can run the football, that always helps the defense as.
Phil. One of the early reports at a camp is how good the
secondary looks.
So I'm expecting big things outta this defense, but one of the many things you highlighted for ODU was the improvement on special teams in how valuable do you see a great special teams unit being towards a success of.
You know, I'll bring up a team that's somewhat close to you guys in duke. You know, and Cutcliffe, I thought David Cutcliffe did tremendous job at duke. They got the, I think six bowls in seven years and Cutcliffe said, would always say at the start of the year, he felt the special teams unit would win him two to three games a year.
And they basically did duke didn't have the talent and the personnel to really get to six outta seven bowl games, but his outstanding, special teams that he had equalized the game and gave him that advantage. Take a team like Iowa, same thing. Not necessarily have the talent of teams like Iowa and Michigan, or excuse me, like Ohio state, Michigan. You look at the standings over the last five, 10 years. They're right there with Ohio state, Michigan it's because outstanding special teams play.
So I think the special teams I'll, I'll go with, with what Cutcliffe used to say that they can win you two to three games a year. It's very important. And last year ODU actually finished number 17 in my special teams ranking. So that was a tremendous.
Yeah, Phil, can you give us a couple names that you think are real impact makers on the special teams units?
Yeah, well, I mean, you start with the punter as always, and you've got a guy that in Dwayne who had a net, a 37 point, oh, if he improves on that, all of a sudden it becomes a much bigger factor if you can pin him. And then, you know, last year he did only have two touch backs, which I like you have 13 kicks inside the 20. It shows you the placement. And that's really, to me, one of the key positions. And then of course, you know, the top punt returner, Isaiah page is back.
He's a fast kid and it's really started to come on late last year. He's a really good punt returner. And I think he's a guy that yeah, I mean the averaged 10.9 yards per return. And then James the, the kick returner averaged 29 yards per return last year. So that's, those are some pretty talented guys. They do need to find a kicker, but I think Truro, Ethan Sanchez has a really good chance of filling those needs.
Yeah, we're hoping that's the case. Nick rice is leaving big shoes to Phil. He he was a. For us.
Yeah, nothing like when he trots on the field, having the confidence that kick's gonna go through, it's tough to end a drive with zero points after you're driven down the field. And you kinda like the fact he had the range. He had two, two from 50 yards last year.
Yeah, nick was great for us. So we start out tough, right outta the bat. And we've got Virginia tech on the 2nd of September. It's a Friday night game and everybody here in Hampton roads is really looking forward to that. Well, what do you think? The biggest catalyst for old dominion, having a great year. In 2022 is.
I would think you know, you look at those first three games, all, you know, against Virginia tech, east Carolina, Virginia, those are all big games, but basically I, I gotta go to conference play and I think if they can knock off Liberty, Which I, I feel there's a really good chance you get Liberty at home. Liberty's got a new quarterback only have four returning starters on defense.
If ODU can pick that one up after beating Arkansas state and then do well in conference play the coastal Carolina game. I sort of rate as a toss up coastal looks to be, I mean, they've got their quarterback back at McCall, but other than that, it's an inexperienced team. Meanwhile, ODU is one of the most experienced teams in the country. I mean, last year, ODU only had nine seniors among the fewest in the country and they go this year.
From number 1 27 on the experience chart to number 20 coastal Carolina's in the exact opposite situation this year, where coastal Carolina was number 17 on my experience chart last year. And this year they're number one 14. So if they can steal that one, that would be ideal. I think the home game against Marshall is huge. Home game against James Madison is huge.
And then even the season final at south Alabama, that's a game where south Alabama is clearly improved, but there's a lot of toss up games on the schedule. I think how they do in conference play is gonna be the key.
Phil. So we know your time is valuable and you got to run, but
we thank you for joining us today. Tell everyone where they can find your magazine and tell us about your website.
Yeah, I appreciate that guys. And, and like I said, I appreciate you having me on, I, I, all the radio shows I do. We talk top 25 teams. It's always good to drill in deep on a team like ODU, but you get the magazine right now at Barnes and noble should be hitting a lot of other places as well. Places like Walgreens, Walmart, Publix and a books, a million of course has them as well. CVS. So do make sure you go out and get the magazine.
352 pages got three to four times the amount of information, any other magazine. We also have a digital version. If you wanna go to the website, it's Phil steele.com. That's S T E E L e.com. When you go to Phil steel.com, you can not only get the digital version or by the magazine. But I put up a daily blog each and every day. And during the season I have my inside the press box newsletter, where I give you my, my forecast on every game all year long.
Plus my computers forecast on every game all year long, which I don't make my forecast without looking at the computer forecast. So if you do handicap games or wanna look at that, Possibility I've been handicapping since 1982. So I've had a lot of ups or seen a lot of ups and downs in the handicapping industry, but you can get my newsletter inside the press box for just $149. So that's all@philsteele.com, S T E E L e.com.
Awesome, Phil. We really appreciate you coming on. We'll make sure that put a link in the show notes to to the website and make sure that people know how to get your stuff. And hopefully you had a good time and you'll. Coming on next year to talk a little bit of old dominion football,
Absolutely guys, like I said, it's always a pleasure talking about the teams that don't usually get to talk about. And I, I love what coach Ronnie is doing with ODU football. So appreciate you having me on and yeah, I'll definitely be back with you again next year. Thanks for talking old Monarch football with me today.
absolutely go monarchs.
Go monarchs.
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