NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Old Dominion will be without one of its biggest offensive weapons for the remainder of the season.
Junior tight end Zack Kuntz will be out for the rest of the 2022 campaign with an undisclosed injury and will undergo surgery in the near future, Monarchs' head coach Ricky Rahne said on Monday during his weekly news conference.
"He tried to battle through some things, but he's going to get surgery," Rahne commented. "It won't be anything that's going to last very long or anything like that, but he was trying to see how long he could go and see if he could rehab it and get back and it just wasn't something that could happen."
Kuntz left ODU's October 1 game against Liberty just 1:22 into the contest with an apparent injury to his right leg. Rahne does not comment on, nor give details of, injuries to his players, but did offer the update on the tight end's status on Monday.
"Zack's my guy off the field so that was more what I was concerned about when I heard the news," said ODU offensive lineman Leroy Thomas. "I think he's handling it as good as he can and he's a leader of our team. He's going to continue to be."
"He's still a major part of our team and one of our leaders and I know that he's going to continue to help our guys prepare for each and every game," the head coach added.
In five games this year, Kuntz pulled in 12 catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns. He earned preseason All-Sun Belt honors and was expected to be a key contributor for the Monarch offense this season. 2021 saw the Penn State transfer pull in a team-high 73 catches for 692 yards and five scores.
As for Kuntz's return to the Monarchs in 2023 for his senior season, Rahne said that he would talk to the tight end and his family to determine what was best for his player and then go from there.
Old Dominion returns home and will welcome Marshall on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2:00 PM.
