By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Fifth-year senior is the college football equivalent of an endangered species.
Given the advent in recent years of the transfer portal, Name, Image and Likeness and other forms of revenue sharing, it has become far too prevalent for players to transfer and compete at two, three or sometimes even four schools.
Rarely does a player redshirt a season and play four more years at the same school.
Which is what makes five players who will be honored Saturday at Old Dominion’s Senior Day festivities a very special group.
ODU kicks off against Georgia State in its final home game of the season at 2 p.m. Half an hour earlier, 22 seniors will march onto the field with their families to be introduced to the crowd.
Each will be presented with a plaque that holds their jersey and will shake hands with ODU administrators, including President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D.
ODU Head Coach Ricky Rahne says he hopes a ton of fans are in the stands at S.B. Ballard Stadium.
Some seniors have been here for a short while, such as running back Ke’Travion Hargrove, who transferred from Grambling, offensive lineman Zach Barlev, who transferred from Illinois and became a star for the Monarchs; Nickendre Stiger, the transfer from Kansas State who transferred as a senior and became a key playmaker for ODU at safety; or linebacker Jeremy Mack Jr., who played three seasons for the Monarchs after transferring from Colorado and has 59 tackles and leads the team in sacks and tackles for loss.
But defensive lineman Kris Trinidad, All-American linebacker Jason Henderson and offensive linemen Stephon Dubose-Bourne, Elijah Hoskin and Skyler Grant signed with ODU in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. And they’ve remained ever since, through thick and thin.
Most had never been on campus – the pandemic restricted recruiting to Zoom-meetings only – and signed on to play with Rahne even though he was an unproven, first-year head coach who’d lost a number of key players after the University canceled the 2020 season.
“It was a huge leap of faith for them to come here,” Rahne said. “They had never seen me coach. They really knew nothing about me. They had nothing to look at that would tell them, this is how the program is going to be run.
“I owe these guys a lot.”
And he’s urging fans to turn out to say goodbye not just to the fifth-year guys, but all of ODU’s seniors.
College football games played over the Thanksgiving weekend often don’t draw well. Students are off campus, dormitories and closed and many people travel to be with families.
But after a long Thanksgiving Day and then Black Friday shopping, Rahne said that watching a football game, with a beer and hot dog, is just the break that most families need.
“You’re there all day Thursday,” Rahne said. “Like Benjamin Franklin once said, guests and fish will stink after two days.
“So, let’s get out, let’s be at the game and have some fun. It’s a great opportunity to see a bunch of kids who’ve invested in this University and invested in this program.
“If you’ve ever come to a game and enjoyed your experience, then come back to this one. And let’s support these guys. I think that would be awesome. It would be a great sendoff for them, but would also show the country the direction we’re moving in.”
Things haven’t always been easy for the five fifth-year guys, who have endured a bunch of ups and downs.
ODU won five games in a row to finish 6-6 and play against Tulsa in the Myrtle Beach Bowl in 2021. But ODU was 3-9 in 2023, was 6-7 in 2023 (losing to Western Kentucky in the Famous Toastery Bowl) and 5-7 in 2024.
Now, as seniors, they’re having the season they always dreamed of. ODU is 8-3, has won four in a row and is headed to a bowl game. There was a victory earlier this season at Virginia Tech and a near-miss at No. 2 Indiana.
A victory on Saturday would enhance ODU’s chances of going to a really good bowl destination.
“They have been through a lot,” Rahne said. “I do think, ultimately, it will help them be more successful in life, whether that’s in football or in life in general.”
Why did they stay?
One word seems to sum up most of their responses: loyalty.
Four of the five – with Henderson being the exception – are native Virginians and playing at an in-state school was important to them.
Trinidad, a 6-foot-5, 272-pound defensive lineman from Richmond, came to ODU as a gangly freshman and redshirted. By the end of his junior season, he was a third-team All-Sun Belt choice who turned down a couple of late offers from Power 4 programs and returned to ODU as a senior.
Now, after a season in which he has notched 32 tackles, and 6 ½ tackles for loss, he has a potential future in the NFL.
“If it was about the money, Kris Trinidad would not be at ODU,” said Bruce Stewart, ODU’s deputy director of athletics and chief operating officer. “There were some Power 4 schools who came in late and offered him a lot.”
“Why would I want to leave ODU?” Trinidad said when asked why he stayed. “I have everything here that I want.
“A lot of guys from that class are gone. But when we got here, we all said we’re going to come in and change this program for the better. It feels good that our hard work and efforts have paid off.”
Indeed, ODU has clinched its first winning season since 2016 and if the Monarchs win out, would have the program’s most victories since 2016, when the team went 10-3 and won the Bahamas bowl.
Henderson also turned down a boatload of money to remain at ODU. And although the Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania native saw his career ended early by an injury, he leaves having contributed much to ODU.
He led the country in total tackles in 2022 and in tackles per game in 2023. His 444 career tackles is an ODU record that won’t be broken anytime soon.
His loyalty to ODU is worth fans spending a couple of bucks and a couple of hours to give him a rousing sendoff.
Dubose-Bourne, who is 6-4 and 315 pounds, also turned down offers from bigger schools to remain at ODU. The Chesapeake native and graduate of Indian River High School started the entire 2023 season, most of 2024 and all of 2025.
Grant, a 6-3, 310-pound native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, has started all 11 games for ODU at left guard. Hoskin (6-2, 298 pounds, Culpepper, Virginia) has been a backup on the interior of the offensive line, played on special packages and the extra point/field goal team.
“We went through a lot of changes,” Dubose-Bourne said. “We built this thing from the ground up and I’m happy with where we are.”
ODU is 5-0 at home this season and Dubose-Bourne said that “going undefeated at home, that’s a big thing for all of us.”
ODU hasn’t gone unbeaten at home since, you guessed it, 2016.
“Doing it with my brothers, that would be so special,” he said.
“I’ve always been a loyal guy, even from high school to now. I trust coach Rahne. I trust all of our coaches. I believed in them just as hard as they believed in me.
“I mean, why go somewhere else? Why take the easy route? I feel like when you go through things, it helps you become a better man.
“I’m grateful that I stayed through the tough times. I feel like I came out a better person for going through all that we went through.”
Minium is ODU’s Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
To see past stories from Minium, CLICK HERE
