Engineering student and Monarchs' center, Josh Mann, with whom every play of ODU's quick-strike offense began, was named first-team All-Conference USA on Tuesday. Teammate Antonio Vaughan was also named to the team.
Fellow Engineering student, Monarchs quarterback Taylor Heinicke, ranks sixth among career Division I passers with 14,959 yards, but was not a first- or second-team pick in a league flush with quarterback talent. He was 1 of 6 ODU players named honorable mention.
ODU coach Bobby Wilder said he was pleased that Mann and Vaughan were honored and wasn't surprised that more Monarchs weren't. The Monarchs were 6-6 overall and 4-4 in C-USA in their first season in the FBS. ODU and Southern Mississippi (3-9) each had two players on the first or second team. Nine teams had four or more.
"We're the new kids on the block and we've got a lot to prove," he said.
"Generally, a majority of the kids on an all-conference team are going to be from the best teams. That's the way it should be. If you're a team like Marshall and were 12-1 and lost your only game in overtime, you should have the most players."
Wilder said he was also not surprised Heinicke, the most decorated player in ODU's six years of football, was honorable mention.
"The issue for Taylor was that the league was heavy with really good quarterbacks," he said. "If you look at Rakeem Cato, his career stats aren't that far off from Taylor's and he's done it all against FBS competition. Brandon Doughty had just a sensational season. There were probably four quarterbacks in the league deserving of first or second team."
Mann, a graduate of Ocean Lakes High in Virginia Beach, is a three-year starter who graduates this weekend with a degree in mechanical engineering. A 6-4, 302-pound senior, Mann called the blocking schemes for ODU's complicated spread offense.
The article was orginially printed in The Virginian-Pilot.