Next up for Rice football, a road trip to Navy. 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 the Charlotte game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with Navy.
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:
Press Conference Quotes
I think the unique part of this would be I know their staff. I know coach [Brian] Newberry well. We’ve crossed paths many times in our life as friends, as coaches, comparing notes. There’s certainly some things we all don’t know about each other, but there’s probably a lot we do know about each other’s programs that makes this probably a little more unique. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on his relationship with Navy head coach Brian Newberry
I think it’s incredibly special… I’m honored to be part of such a game and I’m honored to be playing there. There’s a lot of history there. What are men and women do in service, I’ve talked about this before in my interviews, I’m incredibly grateful. It’s people like that that allow all of us to do the things we dearly love to do. I am grateful I’m honored to be in this game and this rivalry. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the meaning of playing against the Naval Academy
It’s going to give me an opportunity to talk about two things. One, an offense I incredibly respect. I think they’re talented. I think they’re coached incredibly well, in all phases. Offense, defense, and as a team. They have a very veteran group on offense. You have a senior quarterback that’s probably able to make adjustments as quick as his offensive coordinator. He’s incredibly intelligent, and he’s really athletic. He doesn’t get enough credit for the type of athlete, the type of quarterback he is. People see him in that system, they think, oh, he’s a good athlete. He’s a triple option guy. I think he’s a really good quarterback. He’s a kid I remember watching coming out of high school. I had my eye on him from Davidson, obviously he went bigger. I think they’ll give us a lot to defend. There’s a lot in there. They’re older. They’ve been in their system now some time and they’re comfortable.–Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the Navy offense and quarterback Blake Horvath
I see the progression every single day. At practice, we’re ready to work. We have high energy. One thing we need to work at is being consistent and finishing drives. It’s really hard coming in, learning a new offense. But once we learn how to finish drive and be consistent, I think we’ll be a really dangerous offense. I see improvement every single day. People are willing to learn and just like coach mentioned, the next man up mentality. Everybody from ones, to twos to threes, everybody’s working on trying to improve on their craft. I think we’re improving every single day. – Running back Quinton Jackson on the progression of the offense
There are very high expectations. I feel like there’s definitely still room to improve; there’s always going to be room for that. I feel like we’ve gotten off to a good start, but like coach [Jon] Kay always says, there’s always things we can do better, little things we can do better, really just focusing on the minor details of our defense. No complacency around here. We’re continuing to focus on getting better every week.- Defensive lineman Blake Boenisch on the play of the defense to this point
Full Press Conference
Depth Chart
Depth Chart Notes
There were two notable changes to the depth chart this week, both injury related. Landon Ransom, who left the Charlotte game with an injury is not listed. Neither is safety Jack Kane, who also did not finish the game on Thursday. I’ve have updates on their timetables in the weekly practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon, which should be published shortly.
Outside of those injuries, there was some shuffling in the secondary as a result. Peyton Stevenson, who had been listed at viper has moved back to free safety with Jo Chavez taking his spot and elevating Plae Wyatt onto the two-deep for the first time this season.
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