A former walk-on who never gave up, linebacker Awe became the heart and soul of the defense and our 2025 Rice Football Iron Man.
Over the past five seasons, Rice football has perpetually stacked some of it’s highest rated recruiting classes in program history, thinning out the opportunities for non-scholarship players to make significant impacts. That didn’t stop linebacker Andrew Awe, who persevered to become The Roost’s 2025 Rice Football Iron Man.
Awe arrived on campus prior to the 2020 season as a walk-on, devoid of a true position and did not see the field that year or the following. It wasn’t until the 2022 season that he was placed on scholarship and earned a spot on special teams. He earned his first start in the Owls’ opener against USC that season, but saw almost twice as many snaps on special teams that year as he did with the defense.
More: 2025 Rice Football Season Superlatives
To that point, Awe’s story resembled that of many walk-on players at the collegiate level. Getting on the field in any capacity was already beating the odds, and to earn a scholarship meant he’d done better than the vast majority of others in his position.
He’d become a bit more involved in the defense the following season, but it was the 2024 campaign when Awe truly made his mark, making the leap from contributor to a core member of the defense. He started the final 12 games of the season, finishing third on the team with 52 tackles. By the time the 2025 season arrived, Awe was arguably the face of the defense.
Although he wasn’t a captain in name, it was Awe who strode to the microphone prior to the team’s first game against Louisiana. Later in the season, it was Awe who was selected to speak at the announcement of The Gateway Project, playing a role in the introduction of the Owls’ new stadium renovation plans. No longer anonymous, Awe was a rock head coach Scott Abell relied on to build his program.
Before the season, Awe reflected on that journey. “I’ve been here for 16 years,” he joked.
“At the end of the day, what you put on tape is your resume, so we’re just going to focus on what we put on tape this week.”
Awe’s tape dazzled. He racked up 101 tackles across 12 regular season games, becoming the first Rice player to surpass the century mark in takedowns since 2019. With so much of the defense around him wrestling with injuries and inconsistency, Awe was as reliable as they come.
During the year, Awe was named to the Burlsworth Trophy Award watchlist, a honor given annually to the most outstanding college football player who began their career as a walk-on.
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“I don’t think you can put a price tag on what Awe has meant to our program through this season,” Abell said following the Owls’ final game against South Florida. “When you want to know who the best of us is, it’s Andrew Awe. He represents us in the classroom, in the community and certainly on the football field, day in and day out.”
Awe leaves Rice with 195 tackles, more than half of which he accrued in his final season. The redshirt senior stuck it out, battling through two early years without seeing a snap and a coaching change. And as it turned out, Rice football needed him more this year than either he or the program could have ever imagined as recently as two years ago.
“There’s just not enough words or the right words to really describe how special he is,” Abell said.
** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **
