By Harry Minium

MIAMI - It's been difficult to find glimmers of hope in the carnage of a season that has been Old Dominion University's misfortune to experience this fall.

But hope emerged on a boiling Saturday afternoon. I was among the fortunate few who watched true freshman Hayden Wolff's first college football game.

Someday, that may be a claim to fame, for he has potential to become a special player for the Monarchs.

Wolff completed 19 of 36 passes for 169 yards and woke up an ODU an offense ranked worst in the nation heading into this game.

In spite of Wolff's encouraging debut, ODU fell to FIU, 24-17, and it was, like many other games this season, one the Monarchs could have won. Penalties, turnovers and the bounce of the ball all went FIU's way. It always seems to be that way when you're on a losing streak.

Hayden Wolff had an encouraging debut in his first college football game.

ODU has lost eight in a row, although with Wolff at the helm, I would expect the Monarchs will end that streak before the season ends.

Consider this: When ODU absolutely had to have a touchdown, Wolff and the Monarchs marched 76 yards in three plays to score a touchdown with 2:54 left that cut the margin to 7. Credit LaLa Davis for two runs for 41 total yards and Nigel Fitzgerald for a clutch pass reception on that drive.

Wolff appears to have exceptional quarterback instincts and ODU finally got its run-pass option game in gear in the second half because Wolff made decisions within a second or two as to whether to pass or run.

His passes were thrown so quickly that receivers found themselves at times unready to catch the ball.

“That's a timing piece,” ODU coach Bobby Wilder said. “In time, we'll get that corrected.”

I'm not saying Wolff will be a Taylor Heinicke or David Washington. He's not yet nearly as elusive as the best two quarterbacks to play at ODU. He has a long way to go before he can fill either's shoes.

Yet he has a chance to be very good, and anyone who's followed ODU's recruiting knew that more than a year ago when he committed to ODU quarterbacks coach Ron Whitcomb.

Wolff comes from an athletic family. His father, Jim, played minor league baseball with the Chicago Cubs' organization. His mother, Lori Emery, played volleyball at Central Florida. His brother, Wes, is a high school wide receiver.

Wolff was a 3-star recruit out of Venice, Fla., nearly three hours west on Miami on the Gulf Coast, and was recruited by a bunch of SEC schools. Kentucky offered him, and two weeks before signing day tried to convince him to renege on his commitment to the Monarchs.

Wolff said no. When I asked him why after Saturday's game, his answer showed that he had great maturity as a high school senior.

“I knew coming to a school like Old Dominion, where they had a good culture, a culture of having a good coaching staff, that it would be better than going to a big university like the University of Kentucky or Georgia," he said.

“I wanted to go to a school where I thought I could have a big impact.”

Coach Bobby Wilder exhorts his team in the first half

Wolff made mistakes. Some of his passes were off target. He was obviously a little rusty after not having played a real down of football in almost a year.

But when you consider where he was at the end of last season, it's amazing where he is now.

Wolff graduated from high school early to enroll at ODU in January. When he arrived on campus, he had recently undergone shoulder surgery on his rotator cuff.

People heal differently from that surgery. Wolff was a relatively quick healer, and that didn't happen by chance. He attacked rehabilitation like he does an opposing secondary.

Wolff began throwing late last spring and by ODU's home opener against Norfolk State, was almost physically ready to play.

However, Wilder decided he wasn't ready, and credit the coach for making the right call.

“I wasn't mentally ready,” Wolff said. “Playing college football is a lot different than playing in high school. You can't just go in and play. There's so much preparation, so much to learn.

“It's very rare to see a freshman quarterback do that. But I began to feel more confidence as the season went along, and as I continued to get more reps in practice.”

Wilder wisely waited until ODU's ninth game of the season to give Wolff a chance. Doing so guarantees that he won't play more than four games, and thus, under NCAA rules, 2019 will count as a redshirt season.

That means Wolff will have four full seasons to play beginning in 2020.

Wilder said Wolff will be ODU's starter in its final three games and the obvious leader heading into 2020.

Wide receiver Eric Kumah , the transfer from Virginia Tech, is also redshirting after playing in four games. Kumah was never at full strength coming off knee surgery, but showed he can be a go a go-to receiver in the mode of Jonathan Duhart .

Big Blue posed for selfies for dozens of ODU fans in Miami.

Kumah and Wolff should make quite a passing combination in 2020.

This game wasn't played by one guy. I have great admiration for this team. The Monarchs have had so many reasons to quit and haven't.

ODU's defense was without starting interior lineman Juwan Ross and Jeremy Meiser . Missing from the offensive line were Isaac Weaver and Andrew Lawson and Blake Watson , who has been the Monarchs' best breakaway threat on kickoff returns, was also out.

“I'm proud of this football team to under these conditions, in the heat and humidity and as short- handed as we were, to play with as much heart as they played with today,” Wilder said.

Other than the heat, FIU had no home-field advantage. ODU had perhaps 400 fans there, most of them relatives of players, and they made as much noise as the sparse home crowd.

Wolff had a contingent of about 25 fans there. His mother, step dad and father sat together cheering for him. Cornerback Tobias Moss , a Miami native, appeared to have between 40 and 50 relatives there. Nick Rice , ODU's junior placekicker from St. Petersburg, Fla, had 12 relatives there, some from as far away as Chicago, said Nick's Dad, Brian Rice.

Safety Calvin Brewton , a Miami native who transferred from Florida State; Bailey Cate , the punter from Orange Park, Fla., who boomed seven punts for an average of 44 yards; and Justinn Richardson , a safety from Hollywood, Fla., had families there, as did tight end Chris Cunningham (Miami) and Ross (Daytona Beach), who did not play.

As the teams stepped onto the field, ODU's contingent made as much noise as fans for the home team.

“Hayden told us he's going to play,” Emery, Wolff's mother, said just before the game. When I told her he was going to start, she smiled and said, "we're so excited.”

As should be every ODU fan looking toward the future.

Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu