NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Grant Wilson enters Old Dominion's preseason football camp as the man to beat for the starting quarterback position, but he's also asserting himself as the man to follow among his Monarch teammates.
Wilson, who will sport a new No. 7 in 2024 (he was No. 13 last season), started 11 of ODU's 13 games a year ago, is the team's lead returning rusher and has a new comfort level within the program and system.
"I'll be the same Grant Wilson, but I'm and older, more mature Grant Wilson," the quarterback said of his new number.
Still, the junior from Arlington would not come right out and say that he views the starting signal-caller job as his to lose.
"I think everyone's fighting for it every day," he noted. "If you don't have that mentality, if you're satisfied or complacent, then someone can just come in there and take it, but if you work for it and you want it, then you can keep taking it."
"I think Grant has a great opportunity to win the job," head coach Ricky Rahne added. "If he continues on that trajectory, I feel confident in what he can do."
Rahne also gave credit to his other quarterbacks for progressing, as well, a QB room which includes redshirt freshman Colton Joseph and Boston College transfer Emmett Morehead.
In 12 games last season, Wilson competed 178 of his 312 pass attempts (57 percent) for 2,149 yards, throwing for 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He added 289 yards on the ground, including four additional scores, the most memorable which may have come as time expired in Old Dominion's regular season finale victory over Georgia State as time expired, sending the Monarchs to a bowl game.
Part of Wilson's maturation process has included building a strong relationship with his head coach. Rahne pointed out that his quarterback is quicker to listen in teaching moments now than he may have been last season.
"I'll make a correction to him and his first instinct is to listen and absorb it as opposed to maybe, because maybe he didn't trust me before, he didn't know me before and all those sort of things, his first instinct might have been to explain himself," the head coach noted. "Not an excuse, an explanation and so right now there's a lot of listening to me."
"I have confidence in his decisions, what he wants to do on fourth down, what he wants to do at the end of the game, stuff like that," added Wilson. "You just have trust in him and he has trust in us."
Wilson and his teammates have high hopes for their 2024 season and the junior quarterback seemed genuinely happy with his progress so far on the field. The same cannot be said for the digital version of him in the new EA Sports College Football '25 video game. He said he's played as himself before, but joked that it left a sour taste.
"It made me a little upset, so I stopped playing as myself," he smiled. "I'm a little slow, so that was kind of disrespectful, but that's fine."
If the trend continues, the real version of Wilson is getting set to put together a career year. Old Dominion has not experienced a winning season since 2016 and a strong showing by their leader behind center could elevate the program to new heights.
"We've put in a lot of work this past spring and the this summer," he said. "A lot of volunteer workouts after lifts and stuff like that, so we've done a lot of stuff as a team, as an offense, as a position group, so we're much more ahead this season."
The Monarchs kick off their 2024 schedule August 31 at South Carolina. That contest is slated for 4:15 PM.
