Passport required: Players from Australia, Hungary, Germany and Canada have landed on Old Dominion’s football roster
Ten thousand miles and a 21-hour flight away, Ethan Duane’s family watched his American football debut.
Duane, Old Dominion’s freshman punter, was a world away from home when the first seven punts of his life that counted averaged 37.4 yards at Wake Forest on Sept. 3.
A native of Melbourne, Australia, Duane hasn’t seen his family in about 21 months thanks to his native country’s strict COVID-19 travel restrictions.
It’s forced him to grow up in a hurry.
“It’s tough, but I think it’s a good character-building experience,” Duane said. “It sort of opens you up to the real world, like managing yourself and being able to pay bills on time. Stuff like that.”
Duane, though, is hardly alone as a visitor in a foreign land. Backup kicker and punter Dominik Soos is from Budapest, Hungary. Junior center Gerrik Vollmer, a transfer from Virginia, is from Hamburg, Germany. Redshirt freshman receiver Frederik Antoine is from Montreal.
Being around ODU’s players, who visit Liberty (2-0) on Saturday, practically requires a passport.
“It makes it fun, because we do have some different cultures, some guys who bring some different perspectives,” Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne said. “Right now, it also presents some challenges.”
Like Duane, Soos has had long gaps without seeing his family, which includes a brother and a sister. Soos, who moved to California to play high school soccer, visited his family in May, ending an 18-month stretch.
Soos agreed with Duane that the time without family helped him mature.
“It was character-building time,” Soos said.
After a recent practice, four of ODU’s tight-knit specialists gathered for a rare group interview. The variety of accents was striking, even if some of them are getting less so by the day.
Duane, who was taken in by the family of backup quarterback Hayden Wolff, said his Australian accent has softened since he came to the U.S. Soos’s English has become close to flawless. The accent of kicker Nick Rice, a Florida native, is pretty nondescript.
Meanwhile, injured long snapper B.R. Hatcher’s South Carolina drawl remains full and deep. It’s partially why the 6-foot-5, 232-pounder relates so well to the 6-1, 212-pound Duane.
“I always tell Ethan (that) Australia’s a little bit of redneck England, and South Carolina, we redneck,” Hatcher said. “That’s how it is. We understood each other pretty quickly the first night we met. But me and Dom, I think the first week, the only words we exchanged were, ‘Huh?’ "
Rice, who will become ODU’s career field goals leader when he makes his next one, accuses Duane of linguistic sandbagging.
“I’ve always said it was fake,” Rice said of Duane’s accent. “I’ve heard him talk perfect English before.”
The model U.N. that is the Monarchs’ special teams mix was not exactly by design. Rahne, who came to ODU after a stint as Penn State’s offensive coordinator, said most of his players will come from between North Carolina and eastern Pennsylvania, with a few notable exceptions.
“Quarterback and specialists are things you’ve got to go across the country and make sure you get the best ones,” Rahne said. “So we’re always going to make sure that we do that.”
The domestic players empathize with the ones who have come overseas. Hatcher’s home in Jefferson, South Carolina, is a 5½-hour drive away.
Hatcher used to dread the drive.
“And then I met Ethan,” he said. “Definitely eye-opening considering that this man hasn’t been able to lay eyes on his sister and family for going on, what? Two years now? I feel for him.
“It really is eye-opening, and reminds me to be grateful every day that I am able to do that.”
Rice, whose family has scheduled flights for all of ODU’s games, agreed, citing the ways teammates have helped the foreign players feel at home.
“It definitely makes me feel more grateful to see the support system I have,” Rice said. “Not that they don’t have support, but the bans aren’t allowing them to come over.”
Offensive tackle Nick Saldiveri, a sophomore from Waxhaw, North Carolina, said he’s grown especially close with the foreign players. He appreciates that they come from all over.
“They have completely different perspectives on some things,” Saldiveri said. “It kind of opens up your mind, and you realize that not everybody’s the same, and they come from a completely different background than myself and my other teammates, so it’s really cool.”
Rahne, who mentions his wife and children at practically every opportunity, said Duane’s inability to reconnect with his family in person is “a big deal.”
“I get to see my family right after the game on the field,” Rahne said. “So I can’t imagine how it would be to not see them for as long as he hasn’t seen them.
“That’s where you’ve got to have a strong sense of family within the team that can take care of guys and let them know that they’ve got a family right here as well. It never will replace your actual family, but we certainly would like to be there to be able to support them.”
David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com
Old Dominion (1-1) at Liberty (2-0), 6 p.m.
On the air: ESPN3, 94.1FM
The Monarchs: ODU is coming off a 47-7 rout of Hampton, a game that was the polar opposite of the previous week’s 42-10 loss at Wake Forest. QB D.J. Mack struggled with accuracy and decision-making in the opener but acquitted himself nicely against Hampton. If the Monarchs, 27-point underdogs, can avoid being dominated at the line of scrimmage as they have in their first two games, they’ll have a chance.
The Flames: Liberty is led by junior QB Malik Willis, an NFL draft candidate. The dual-threat Willis has averaged 185.5 passing yards and 74 rushing yards in wins over Campbell and Troy. ODU will focus on keeping Willis in the pocket and forcing him to throw the ball. The Flames have won their games by an average score of 34.5 to 10, racking up an average of 441 yards of total offense.
