ODU football report: LB Jason Henderson keeps making tackles, RB Blake Watson’s status unclear as Liberty looms

Jason Henderson wants all the tackles. Not some of them. All of them.

And the Old Dominion linebacker has gotten his fair share so far.

With 65 tackles through four games, Henderson — and not anyone from elite programs like Georgia, Alabama or Clemson — has more than any other Division I player in the nation.

A 6-foot-1, 225-pound sophomore from Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, Henderson set a school record with 21 tackles in Saturday’s 29-26 Sun Belt win over Arkansas State.

As he prepares his team to play a home non-conference game against Liberty this week, Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne continues to marvel at Henderson’s prolific output.

“He prepares the right way, and he plays the right way,” Rahne said. “He’s where he’s supposed to be, and then he makes the play.”

It really is that simple. Henderson said he takes it personally when he doesn’t make a play he could’ve made.

He applies Rahne’s constant encouragement to “go 1-0″ in all of life’s pursuits to each individual play.

“I sit back, think about it and then I just go out on the next play.,” he said. … “[Go] 1-0 and just keep moving, keep going.”

Rahne pointed out that not all of Henderson’s 21 tackles Saturday were easy ones.

“He found ways to get guys down in this game,” Rahne said. “He had some space tackles and some things like that. Sometimes, it’s not about running through a guy. A lot of the time, it’s just about making sure he gets on the ground.”

Kyle Soelle of Arizona State ranks second in the nation with 51 tackles. No other player in the Sun Belt has more than 36.

Henderson’s teammates appreciate his production.

“It’s really amazing,” defensive tackle Alonzo Ford said. “In the game, from my perspective, I don’t really realize that he’s making that many tackles from behind me. But then after the game, you look up and you’re like, ‘Man, you were all over the place.’ And it’s really shocking. To see a young guy go out there and do that, it’s amazing.”

No word

Rahne declined to provide an update on star running back Blake Watson, who sat out last week’s game with an undisclosed injury.

Watson, a junior who led the team in carries, yards and touchdown runs last season, had averaged 58.3 rushing yards through the first three games.

Rahne cited a personal policy against discussing injuries publicly.

“I don’t talk about injuries, mainly because I don’t have to,” he said. “I get very few things on this planet that I get to decide on what I have to or have to not do. I don’t have to do that, so it kind of gives me a little bit of internal joy to not talk about it. But the other thing is I don’t want to put the kids in any jeopardy with any diagnosis on what they have.”

A stable of backups combined for 51 rushing yards and a touchdown in Watson’s absence last week.

A key kick

When ODU needed him most, Ethan Duane came up huge.

With the Monarchs leading Saturday by the final margin, they had the ball on the Arkansas State 40-yard line with just over a minute to go.

Facing fourth-and-10, Rahne called a timeout to talk things over with Duane. The Australian sophomore told Rahne not to take a penalty for delay of game. Instead, he’d place the ball where cornerback LaMareon James could down it.

James downed it at the Red Wolves’ 2-yard line, putting them in a nearly impossible situation.

“I can’t do an Australian accent, so I’m not going to try,” Rahne said. “But he said he wanted to punt it from right there and that he would drop it to LaMareon. That’s what he told us. We were like, ‘All right.’ He did it.’ "

The right direction

Rahne said Saturday’s win provided growth for offensive coordinator Kevin Reihner, who is in his first season calling plays at any level.

The Monarchs didn’t score a first-half point, and Rahne said Reihner trusted the scheme and himself in a successful second half.

“I think one thing that is the hardest for all play-callers is the first time a play doesn’t work,” Rahne said. ‘OK, was that because it’s a bad scheme or we just executed poorly?’

“I thought we went back to some plays that didn’t work in the first half that worked incredibly well in the second half. That was a credit to trusting what he was seeing and what should’ve been being executed.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com