NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Last Saturday's Old Dominion win over Texas A&M-Commerce did not come in the dominating fashion that many were expecting. It featured sacks, untimely turnovers and a change at quarterback.
That's why the signal caller was a hot topic during Ricky Rahne's media availability Monday afternoon at S.B. Ballard Stadium. Will Grant Wilson or Jack Shields take the first snap with the offense at Marshall on Saturday? The head coach said that remains to be seen.
"We're going to go through practice this week and continue to evaluate," Rahne said of the quarterback position. "You want consistency at that position obviously, but practice is going to be important for this week."
ODU made the quarterback change with 11:41 remaining in the second quarter, replacing Wilson, who has started all four games for the Monarchs so far, with the back-up Shields. Wilson threw three interceptions during his outing, two in the redzone as the silver and blue were threatening to score.
"Jack practiced well last week, which enabled him to earn the opportunity to go in that game when we were struggling a little bit," the head coach noted. "In the game, I thought he played pretty well. There's obviously some things he could've improved on, and I think he would say the same thing to you if he was here, but completing 70 percent of your passes, he did some good things."
Shields completed 14 of his 20 pass attempts for 258 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Dutton, in Saturday's win. Wilson has shown signs of ability during his young Old Dominion career so far. He's completed 42 of his 81 passes for 644 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions.
"Grant had played well for us in the past and done some good things," Rahne pointed out. "Did he play his best ball on Saturday? No, but it's not that we've lost confidence in him or his ability to help us win games."
The Monarchs travel to Marshall on Saturday, returning to Sun Belt play. They've played some close match-ups with the Thundering Herd in the past. Last season, Old Dominion fell to Marshall, 12-0, a game in which neither team scored a touchdown. 2021 saw the silver and blue close to a road victory in Huntington, only to fall in overtime, 20-13. No matter who starts at quarterback, the Monarchs will have their hands full and Rahne pointed out that, no matter what happens, there's always a microscope on that position.
"The quarterback gets way too much credit and way too much blame all the time," he said. "When he's got perfect protection and the wide receiver runs a great route and he throws to a wide open guy and they score a touchdown, everyone says how great the quarterback did. How much did he really do?
"When there's not very good protection and the wide receiver doesn't run a great route and he gets locked up and then the protection breaks down and he gets hit and sacked and maybe the ball goes up in the air and gets intercepted, how much more could he do there, too?"
Wilson beat out Shields for the starting job coming out of camp, especially excelling during the Monarchs' win over Louisiana on September 9. In his first home appearance, Wilson completed 13 of his 19 attempts for 247 yards and four touchdowns.
Old Dominion and Marshall kick off on Saturday at 3:30 PM.
