Next up for Rice football, their home opener against Houston Christian. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.
Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped fall camp and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with Houston Christian.
More: Rice Football vs Houston Christian Game Preview
We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:
Get three months free when you purchase an annual subscription to The Roost with the code CFB26
Pay for the rest of the year, but get Rice Football season on us.
Press Conference Quotes
The quarterback certainly jumps out. He’s matured a lot. He was their starting quarterback two years ago and transferred, then transferred back in this year. And if you go back and watch film from [20]24, you see a more polished football player, you see a player with a lot more confidence and that showed up week one. The entire offense went through him. He was their leading rusher. He was their field general. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the Houston Christian offense
Defensively, they were very opportunistic. They turned the ball over, forced turnovers [and] capitalized on those. You do that by playing hard, eleven guys really buying into the scheme, and that’s what jumps off to me, defensively. When you watch them, they’re playing hard, they’re playing together and when that ball went on the ground or went in the air, they found a way to get to it. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the Houston Christian defense
The biggest thing I want to see accomplished is to continue to build our depth so that shows up on Saturday in Week 1… One of our goals was, how are we going to have a roster that was deeper? [We] prepared to play more guys and that’s the thing I’m most excited about to see Saturday. I think we’re there, but I won’t know until we get there. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what he hopes to accomplish on Saturday
We used the word toughness a lot. This team will be a tough football team. I can guarantee that Saturday. We’ll be physical. There’s a lot of things you can’t guarantee. You want to, but I can guarantee we’ll be tough. We’ll be physical. That’s something I’ve talked about all offseason and in camp and they’ve responded to that. I’m excited to see that happen. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the toughness of his team
It feels surreal, first time at the collegiate level playing at a different position, but I’m excited. I’ve embraced the role. Slot is completely different from running back, but it’s pretty much the same thing in this offense. Going out there, just doing my one-eleventh, doing my part for my team, trying to be as explosive as I can with the ball in my hands or without the ball in my hands, whether that’s getting my teammates open with route running or perimeter blocking. I’m just excited to get my feet wet at a new position. – Slot Quinton Jackson on playing slot rather than running back
It means a lot. This year five, my last year. I want to finish it the right way. Coming out, we haven’t been on the winning side in all my five years here, and that’s something I want to do, just go out the right way. I’m excited… Everybody is here for one common goal, and that’s to win football game. I just want to come here my last year, just win football games, try to try to win a championship. That’s the goal. – Slot Quinton Jackson on what this season means to him
It’s my fifth year here at Rice, as [Quinton Jackson] talked about, I came to Rice to change the culture and do something that’s never been here and I believe this is the year that we’re going to get that done, so I’m really excited for the season and just to set the tone for what Rice football will be in the future. – Defensive lineman Chibby Nwajuaku on what this season means to him
Full Press Conference
Depth Chart
Depth Chart Notes
The first Rice Football depth chart of the season featured several differences from our projections published on The Roost late last week, albeit only two notable among starters. The first is Quinton Jackson officially being moved to Slot on the depth chart for the first time. We’ll detail what that means for his usage expectations this season — not much has changed on that front — but right now, that means a starting running back job for Tyvonn Byars. Seems like a pretty good breakout pick!
Jo Chavez earned the starting Viper nod over AJ Brown, but expect to see both of them on the field a lot this season. Beyond that, the remaining differences are at second level, with names like Bailey Fletcher at corner and Robert Rooks at defensive end making their early marks.
We’ll have more on those adjustments, which other players not featured above could see action Saturday and plenty more on this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon, which should be out later this week.