Happy Hump Day Monarchs! The office may be a little emptier this week and work loads a little lighter, so we’d thought we’d keep things a little light-hearted today as well.

Nothing brings out the smiles like team media day and the football fellas did exactly that this week!

With kickoff less than 60 days away, kick back and enjoy some scenes from media day, Monarchs make big noise in the Bigs, and much more!

What else is stirring in today’s edition of the Brew?

📸 Behind the Curtains
⚾️ Young Love
🏈 Countdown to Kickoff
👑 And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Lights, Camera, Action. With kickoff less than 60 days away, it’s team media day time, which means plenty of time spent behind the camera.

Be sure to get ready for the fall with some fun with the fellas.

🔼 Young Love. ODU’s own Jared Young is back making noise with the Cubs again this year after getting his second MLB stint in as many years.

Last season, Young got his first taste of the bigs and just last week, he got the call yet again after tearing up Triple-A to start the 2023 campaign.

The former Monarch got off to a torrid start for the Cubbies, hitting safe in his first three games, including his first big league HR and two triples.

In his first six games, he’s had four hits, four RBIs, four runs scored and an OPS of .997.

🔼 Country Roads, Take Me Home. While we are celebrating USA patriotism this week, one of ODU’s own is celebrating patriotism of her own as she plays for her home country this week.

Brenda Fontana, from the Monarchs women’s hoops program, is playing in this week’s FIBA Women’s AmeriCup Tournament for her home country of Argentina, being hosted in Leon, Mexico. 

Hailing from Moreno, Argentina, the rising junior scored 85 points (2.7 ppg) with 58 rebounds (1.8 rpg), nine assists, six steals and two blocks in 32 games for the Monarchs this past season.

Fontana and her teammates are 0-3 so far in group play, losing to perennial powers USA and Brazil, as well as Cuba, but a combined 13 points. In the three games so far, she has played 38 minutes for her senior tournament debut, scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Argentina wraps up group play with a must-win showdown with Venezuela on Wednesday at 7:40 p.m. EST.

The entire tournament will be streamed on Courtside 1891.

⏰ SET THOSE ALARMS!

Beware The Monarchs: Tickets Are Coming. Set the alarms, save those dates, block off your calendars.

Mini ticket plans and single game tickets are coming soon. Stay tuned to upcoming Monarch Brews and ODUSports.com for more details!

🏈 COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 59 DAYS

The Date: September 12
The Year: 2015
The Opponent: Norfolk State

Battling through three weather delays, the ODU football team pushed their record to 2-0 in a 24-10 home win over local rival Norfolk State.

The Monarchs did so behind a plethora of running backs and a dominant offensive line that set a single-game record with 59 carries on the evening.

It’s a record that still stands today with five different players all having three carries or more on the night, led by Ray Lawry’s 31 for 215 yards and two TDs.

🤔 MONARCH TRIVIA

The aforementioned Ray Lawry is the program’s all-time leader in pretty much anything rushing.

In his four years at ODU, Lawry piled up 4,080 yards of rushing on 660 carries with 45 rushing scores. All three are school records.

He leads one of four Monarchs to ever pile up 350+ carries in their careers.

How many of the other three can you name?

Think you’ve got it?

Scroll down to the bottom of this email and see if you had the right answer!

📬 STICK WITH US

Did someone send you the Monarch Brew? Subscribe here and get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Jeremy Cox, Blake Watson and Taylor Heinicke

How many of you got all three? If you do, well done!

Cox is the only other player to eclipse 400 carries (451), while Waston (398) and Heinicke (367) also reached 350+ in their careers.

Let’s have a great Wednesday!