■ 31 August 2010 | 8:01 PM
Tuesday's workout
Jonathan Plisco got a few brush-up tips from an old friend Tuesday as ODU started preparing in earnest for its game Saturday against visiting Jacksonville.
Matt Felber, Plisco’s punting guru who lives in Falls Church, Va., stopped by practice. As it turns out, Felber’s parents own a beach house in Sandbridge and Felber was down for the week.
Plisco asked him to drop by and the two worked on Plisco’s technique. Felber also gave placekicker Drew Hareza a few pointers.
Felber said that Plisco is hitting the ball very well on his punts, but is trying to put a little too much “umph!” into it occasionally.
“He needs to treat the ball like an egg until the moment he hits it,” Felber said. “It’s a lot like a golf swing. It doesn’t pay to try to hit it as hard as you possibly can. There has to be balance combined with power.”
* Quarterback Tommy Reamon showed up at practice with a pair of receivers gloves and worked out with the tight ends Tuesday.
* Matt Carrillo, who was moved from tight end to right tackle while ODU deals with a shortage of offensive linemen, worked with the No. 1s Tuesday at right tackle.
* Running back Angus Harper was in pretty good spirits for someone who just had his knee operated on. He said he had a lateral tear of his left meniscus and is scheduled to get his stitches out Wednesday.
A red-shirt year for Harper, who is a true freshman?
“Maybe not,” Harper said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
* Dominique Blackman isn’t dealing very well with his role as the backup quarterback ... and that’s just fine with coach Bobby Wilder.
“I don’t want him to get comfortable with being No. 2,” Wilder said. “I want him coming to practice every day trying to be No. 1.”
The issue is that No. 1 is Thomas DeMarco, who is a Payton Award candidate heading into this season and threw 21 touchdown passes while running for 17 more TDs last season when ODU went 9-2 last season.
Wilder said he loves Blackman’s drive and the fact that he’s spending hour upon hour studying film and then applying what he sees on film to his practice routine.
Talking with Blackman on Tuesday, it was easy to measure his level of frustration.
“I played on the scout team today,” Blackman said. “I’ve never played on the scout team in my life. But the mentality here is that everyone needs to be a team player. I’m starting to get that.
“It used to be I played football to keep my sanity while dealing with my social life. Now I’m using my social life to keep my sanity with the football part of my life.
“... I feel this is a lesson, a life lesson. This is teaching me patience, which I’ve never had. I’ve always been the guy who goes to the mall to buy shoes and buys the first pair of shoes I see and like. I don’t walk around the mall looking at 40 different pairs.
“This is tough. I’m just going to take my scars and put some A+D ointment on ‘em.”
Hard not to have a belief in your skills when you are 6-foot-5, 250 pounds and you threw for 3,711 yards and 35 touchdowns last season at Harbor College.
Wilder hopes Blackman keeps that edge. Blackman hopes so as well.
“I plan on staying ready to play rather than getting ready to play if I get my shot,” Blackman said. “That way, whenever I get my shot I’ll be ready for it.”
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