Taylor Heinecke, who QB’d ODU Football through its transition from FCS to FBS, and passed for 14,959 passing yards along the way, will have his jersey retired by his alma mater at halftime of the Oct. 15 home game with Georgia Southern.
It occurs to me that if Heinicke were coming through today, he wouldn’t hold 33 program records, because he wouldn’t have lasted past his freshman year in 2011, when he passed for 2,385 yards, 25 TDs/1 INT, and completed 68.7 percent of his pass attempts.
Everybody in Power 4 would be lined up with seven-figure revenue-sharing/NIL deals after that.
Instead, Heinicke was back for a Year 2 that had him throwing for 5,076 yards, including a D1 single-game record 730 yards in a 64-61 win over New Hampshire, as he won the Walter Payton Award – the FCS Heisman – in 2012, ahead of the first year of the transition to FBS.
In 2013, ODU’s transition season to FBS, Heinicke passed 4,022 yards and 33 TDs, and in 2014, ODU’s first as a member of Conference USA, he passed for 3,476 yards and 30 TDs.
Heinicke signed as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Vikings in 2015, and held clipboards for a couple of years before making his regular-season NFL debut in 2017 with the Houston Texans.
He signed with the Washington Football Team in 2020 and started a playoff game against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went on to win the Super Bowl that year, passing for 306 yards and a TD in a 31-23 loss.
In 2021, Heinicke started all but one game for Washington, passing for 3,419 yards and 20 TDs.
In 2023, Heinicke signed with his hometown Atlanta Falcons, starting four games before playing his final season in 2024 with the LA Chargers.
“I can think of no other athlete in the history of ODU Football more deserving than Taylor Heinicke to be recognized by having his jersey retired,” Old Dominion Athletics Director Dr. Wood Selig said. “Taylor routinely electrified sold out home crowds during his ultra successful career at ODU. Taylor’s #14 is a number all ODU fans will always associate with Taylor Heinicke. It is fitting that Taylor will be our first ODU Football student-athlete to be recognized with the highest honor any athlete can receive from their school.”
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Chris Graham
