
Mario Easterly is Old Dominion’s tone-setting playmaker in the secondary
In the 2025 season, Mario Easterly led Old Dominion with 80 tackles, starting all 13 games at safety, and also added 4 pass breakups, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery—classic all-around impact from the back end. He’s now on the Jim Thorpe Award watch list for 2026, which says the national folks see him as one of the sport’s better defensive backs. The fit is easy: if a team wants a tough, reliable, high-motor safety who shows up every snap and makes the secondary louder, he’s your guy.





