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Rice Football: Blaze Alldredge and Antonio Montero shine in spring practices

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Rice football might have found a position of strength on their defense after another strong showing from the linebackers in spring practice.

Spring practices continued on a windy Thursday afternoon at Rice Stadium. We’ve already hit on the lack of bodies available earlier in the week, but the guys who are on the field continue to make strides. Special teams and linebackers stood out on Thursday.

Linebackers

If there’s an early contender for strong position unit of the spring it might be the linebackers, at least the healthy ones. Ja’Quez Battley, Dylan James and Dylan Silcox have been sidelined with some seeing limited walkthroughs. The main rotation has consisted of Antonio Montero, Blaze Alldredge and Garrett Grammer.

Montero is instinctive and seeks out contact. He’s ready and willing to lay a blow on anyone with the football. The same goes for Alldredge who blew up a toss play six yards behind the line of scrimmage today, smothering the running back before he could turn and look up field. Grammer saw less playing time last fall, but has already made a strong case to see more of the field.

Position coach Scott Vestal called it “as good of a position as I’ve ever coached… through seven spring practices.” The caveat is his, but he might be on to something. Don’t be surprised if this trio becomes the backbone of a defense retooling the line and rotating in several new bodies in the secondary.

Special Teams

As it’s been throughout the duration of Mike Bloomgren’s time at Rice, special teams is woven through every practice. There hasn’t been much in the way of kickoff work yet, but the punt team got plenty of run on Thursday.

Beyond individual specialists, the punt coverage and return units look as crisp as ever. Special teams coordinator Drew  Svoboda said the team was “lightyears ahead of where we were a year ago,” praising the foundation laid by Pete Lembo in the fall.

Chris Barnes has a tall task, taking over for CUSA Special Team’s Player of the Year and Ray Guy Award Semifinalist Jack Fox, but early returns have been solid. He hasn’t booted the cover off the ball just yet, but he’s working on a variety of kicks and has the potential to keep the legacy of great kicking going at South Main.

Kickers Will Harrison and Nick McQuarry haven’t had the strongest spring, yet. They’ll be pushed in the fall by incoming 2019 signee Zach Hoban. For now, the kicking job remains up for grabs. Through it all, Svoboda credits snapper Cam Riddle as “the glue” that holds these units together.

Scattershooting

  • Quarterback Wiley Green had a few nice progressions during drills today where you could tell he worked his reads until he found the open man. The mental capacity he has for the offense will play a significant role in how well it functions. This was a good day for him.
  • Blaze Alldredge is tough as nails. He walked off the field for a breather, noticed he had a cut on his leg that was bleeding a bit, smirked and kept on walking.
  • D’Angelo Ellis was back at corner today. Once the receiving corps gets healthy that’s probably where he’ll stay.
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Rice Baseball: Previewing the Old Dominion series

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Rice baseball is looking for their first conference series win this season. They’ll look to get it done on the road this weekend against Old Dominion.

Listen online // Watch Friday (ESPN+) // Watch Saturday (CUSA TV) // Watch Sunday (CUSA TV)

Both Rice and Old Dominion sport equally unsatisfying 1-5 records through two weeks of Conference USA action. The Monarchs took the series finale against Charlotte in mid-March before they were blasted by Southern Miss last weekend where they were outscored 34-4. Rice dropped a midweek bout with Texas State but broke a five-game CUSA losing streak with a Sunday win over UTSA in the previous game.

Although it’s been a bumpy last few weeks for Old Dominion, their 16 wins ties them with Southern Miss and FAU for the most wins among CUSA teams. Rice has been less fortunate and needs a strong weekend to propel themselves back into the hunt. Here’s everything you need to know for the weekend:

Projected Pitching Matchups

Friday – 5:00 pm: Matt Canterino (1-4, 2.79) vs Nick Pantos (3-1, 2.80)
Saturday – 2:00 pm: Addison Moss (1-1, 6.75)  vs Ryne Moore (4-1, 3.27)
Sunday – 10:00 am: Evan Kravetz (1-1, 5.52) vs Morgan Maguire (1-2, 7.28)

Old Dominion Pitching

The Monarchs will try and ride their starting pitching as long as they can this weekend. Like Rice, their bullpen has been a mixed back. Nick Pantos will look to start things off on the right foot on Friday. A JUCO transfer who was expected to compete for a rotation spot, Pantos has become the most trustworthy hurler on the team. His start against Matt Canterino should shape up into quite the pitcher’s duel. Behind him, things get sparse quickly.

Hunter Gregory is the most reliable option out of the pen. He leads the team with 36 strikeouts and has worked a hefty 26 innings so far, three and a third fewer than Maguire who’s made seven starts. Outside of Gregory, Matt Busher can be dangerous when he throws strikes, but his 14 walks make him hard to trust too much in high leverage situations.

Isaiah Nelson and Aaron Holiday have been hard to hit (.200 and .163 batting averages against, respectively). After that, most everyone has had at least a few bad outings. The top end is fairly strong, but this is far from the most dominant relief corps Rice will face in conference play.

Old Dominion Hitting

The pitching staff might be top heavy but the lineup is not. Eight regulars have batting averages of .265 or better. Infielder Bryce Windham leads the way, slashing .367/.495/.418. While his bat is dangerous, what he and the rest of the roster excel at the most is having good at bats. He’s had 79 at bats and struck out just six times. As a team, the Monarchs have the fewest strikeouts in CUSA (143), well below league leader Rice (264).

That’s part of what makes this lineup so intriguing. They don’t have any obvious power hitters — Windham, Vinnie Pasquantino and Andy Garriola are tied with three apiece. Their .281 collective batting average ranks sixth in the conference, as does their 149 runs scored. From outfielder Kyle Battle and infielder Matt Burch at the top of the order to whoever is in the nine-hole on that particular day, the Monarchs can hit.

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Rice Baseball: Owls fall in extras to Texas State

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Extra innings weren’t enough for Rice baseball to steal a win away from Texas State in San Marcos on Tuesday night.

The third time wasn’t the charm for Rice against Texas State this season. The Owls dropped the San Marcos leg of the three-game season series, following a 1-0 defeat at the Shriner’s College Classic and a 5-0 loss at Reckling Park.

Texas State opened the scoring on a sac fly following a Trei Cruz fielding error in the first. The home team would break things open further with a four-run fourth inning, highlighted by a two run blast to left field by Chase Evans.

Trailing 5-0 on the road, Rice fought back. The Owls outscored the Bobcats 6-1 over the next four frames, tying the game at 6-6 entering the ninth inning. Texas State would go on to win in extras on a two-out RBI single by cleanup hitter Jaylen Hubbard. Here are three big picture takeaways from the loss.

The bullpen struggles don’t stem from lack of trying

Rice has all but run out of reliable bullpen pieces. Kendall Jeffries and Garrett Gayle can’t throw every night, so head coach Matt Bragga chose Tuesday to test out a few lesser used arms. That decision came with high risk and might have been the Owls’ undoing in the end.

Blake Brogdon, Brandon Deskins and Benjamin Content have thrown 14 innings between them this season, combined. All three of them were called to pitch and each of them had their struggles. That trio would ultimately account for five of the six earned runs allowed, four walks and three of the four extra base hits allowed.

It would be short-sighted to pin this loss solely on any of those three guys. Brogdon, who will sport the official L on his stat sheet, had 1.1 innings under his belt this season prior to coming in to relief starter Kel Bordwine. Rice was out of options so they rolled the dice. Some of their other bullpen pieces still have so work to do.

Rice might have found a centerfielder

Aaron Beaulaurier has a strong argument to be made as the top defender on this roster. His problems have come at the plate where he’s hitting a ghastly .148. His at bats haven’t looked particularly encouraging, so finding someone else to man center and hit at the back end of the order has become a necessity.

Dominic Cox doesn’t have the same caliber of instincts as Beaulaurier in the field, but he’s been solid and is hitting better of late than he has all season. His four hits in the past three games match his season total in the Owls’ previous 23 contests. If he can prove he can maintain this kind of production he’ll be able to claim the spot for good.

Fielding lapses not in the rearview mirror yet

Headed into the ninth inning against UTSA on Sunday Rice had committed no errors in the three game series. Braden Comeaux misplayed a ball in the ninth inning, snapping the opportunity for the first error-free weekend of the season. Rather than bouncing back, Tuesday was worse. Rice committed four errors, starting with a run-producing gaffe by Trei Cruz in the first inning.

Now that we know what this team is capable in the field they’re going to be held to a higher standard.

UP NEXT | at Old Dominion (Fri – Sun)
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Rice Baseball: Owls hope third time’s the charm against Texas State

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Rice baseball has yet to top Texas State in two matchups this season. Can the Owls get over the hump on Tuesday?

It’s been relatively close, but Texas State has gotten the better of Rice in each of their first two matchups of the 2019 season. The Bobcats won 1-0 in a pitcher’s duel at the Shiner’s College Classic. They followed that up with 5-0 shutout over the Owls at Reckling Park. Rice left 11 men on base in defeat.

With the season series lost, Rice will look to salvage one game and secure another winning streak on the heels of a Sunday victory over UTSA.

When and Where

Pitching matchups

Garrett Gayle has risen in his consistency over the last month. He came in quickly to relieve Kel Bordwine against Texas State in their second matchup and starter last week’s midweek affair against Texas A&M. If Addison Moss is destined for the weekend rotation, Gayle or Bordwine are the best guesses to see significant run.

For Texas State, there’s little reason to doubt Garrett Hermann as the probable starter once again. He threw 5.2 innings against Rice in the second meeting, allowing six hits and no runs. He also started their most recent midweek tilt, a 6-1 loss to Incarnate Word in which he allowed five runs (four earned) in 3.1 innings.

Names to know from the plate

Will Hollis, drove in the game-winning run in the first matchup with  Rice this year and currently holds an impressive 1.081 OPS. Not letting him beat you at the plate will be a primary objective for the Owls’ pitching staff.

Jaxon Williams and Jaylen Hubbard have cooled off slightly since their last meeting, but both infielders have maintained a .300+ batting average and rank first and second, respectively, on the team in runs scored.

ON DECK | at Old Dominion (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Football: It’s all hands on deck for Owls during spring practices

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Rice football is pulling every able body into action during 2019 spring practice. Injuries and a thinned roster have given all players ample opportunity to shine.

The spring is supposed to be the time when everyone is healthy. Rice has had no such luck. The attrition, combined with an early dose of Texas heat, saw Monday’s practice cut a few minutes short to provide a respite from a busy day for both staff (Rice held their Pro Day on Monday, too) and players.

Dylan Silcox, Myles Adams and Aaron Cephus all wore red no-contact jerseys. Receivers Austin Trammell, August Pitre, Brendan Harmon and Sam Glaesmann all remain out of practice for at least the short term. That left only a handful of able-bodied receivers available for practice.

“Right now there are no reinforcements, you better be ready to play,” said Mike Bloomgren, almost jokingly, but with a twinge of truth. Like last spring, the Owls need more bodies. Fall camp will bring a much-needed inject of fresh legs. For now, everyone is getting plenty of work.

The good and bad on the offensive line

The offensive line remains a mixed bag. The talent level has been increased significantly since this time last year. Beyond that, the guys who are there have more experience and game action. Cole Garcia and Clay Servin have the potential to be special, and expectations remain high for Shea Baker and incoming graduate transfer Nick Leverett.

All that potential is going to take some time to gel. Monday saw bursts of individual success, but the collective product leaves something to be desired. Coach Joe Ashfield said the line is “at the point right now where we have to really become masters of our scheme so we can stop thinking so much about scheme and just get really good at how to do our craft.” In the most simplistic terms, they need less thinking and more doing up front.

Given the numbers crunch and the desire to have flexibility long term, centers Cole Elms and Shea Baker both have seen time at guard this spring. Baker should be considered the starting center at this point, but keeping him fresh at guard is wise considering the incoming arrival of Stanford transfer Brian Chaffin who will play somewhere along the interior of the line.

Scattershooting

  • While Wiley Green is the leader in the quarterback battle, the staff seems to have confidence in Evan Marshman and Parker Towns. All three have taken strides in their understanding of the offense and have said seeing game action last year was crucial to their development.
  • Tight ends figure to play a more prominent role in the offense in 2019. A guy to keep an eye on is Robert French. He blasted Antonio Montero in Oklahoma on Monday, not an easy task. He followed it up with a breakaway 50+ yard touchdown reception later in the afternoon.
  • Matthew Sams is another name to know in the secondary. The young corner has had his ups and downs this spring, but his good plays continue to outnumber the bad.
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