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Depth charts are coming and 5 Owl Fest Scrimmage Notes (8/11)

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Rice football had their second fall scrimmage to kick off Owl Fest on Saturday. Here are five things that stood out from the session.

A crowd of a few hundred turned out to get their first glimpses at the 2018 Rice football team on Saturday. As they cheered for every big play and their fellow freshman, the audience was treated to an inside peek at the Owls’ second scrimmage of fall camp, another positive session for this team as the season opener draws near.

1. First team is starting to solidify

With two full scrimmages under their belts, the coaching staff is starting to piece together a depth chart. Coach Bloomgren called the current status “less fluid” than the team entered fall camp and expects to have a fresh depth chart expected within the week.

For the most part, here’s what the first team has looked like this week:

1st team Offense
QB – Tyner
HB – Aston Walter
WR – Cephus, Trammell, Cardwell
TE – Bull
OL – Pierce, Dill, Baker, Greene, Osuji

1st team Defense
DL – Abercrumbia, Garcia, Wilkins, Schantz
LB – Silcox, Ekpe, Nwakamma
DB – Bickham, Douglas-Dotson, Nyakwol, Robert

2. Running backs remain focal point of offense

This team is going to run the football, a lot. And teams better not get caught flat-footed. The offensive line has been sturdy enough to open up gaps in the middle to keep the chains moving, but Aston and Austin Walter have done the majority of their damage on the outside. One cut and they’re into the second level, picking up chunk plays. Keeping those two inside will be a must for the Owls opponents this season.

3. Quarterback battle still progressing

Bloomgren said Jackson Tyner won the day, but competition between him and Shawn Stankavage remains open. Freshman quarterback Evan Marshman looked impressive with the third team, but Bloomgren still expects the starter to be one of either Tyner or Stankavage, calling the quarterback competition “shut at two unless [Marshman] forces the door open.”

It’s worth noting as well that both Tyner and Stankavage are being asked to use their legs to make plays. Although neither of them would be described as your traditional “dual-threat” quarterback, both have the requisite speed to steal first downs and keep the defense honest.

4. Position changes of note

It was mentioned early in the week that quarterback Sam Glaesmann has been moved to wide receiver. He lined up as the wildcat quarterback on a few plays Saturday, an interesting wrinkle for the Owls to have in their back pocket moving forward.

Depth issues in the secondary have opened opportunities for a pair of running backs. Freshman Juma Octoviano and sophomore Collin Whitaker saw time with the second team at corner and both guys played really well. Octoviano came up with an interception on his second series.

With the surplus of depth at the running back position, it’s possible that both of these guys stay primarily on the defensive side of the ball. Bloomgren said he “wouldn’t rule out” both guys becoming two-way players this season.

5. Jack Fox is going to be busy

The primary punter last season, Fox has seen time in practice with the field goal unit as well. Unless someone blows the coaching staff out of the water in the next two weeks it’s very possible Fox could be handling all of the kicking duties this season.

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14 Days: A receiving record Jarrett Dillard doesn’t hold

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A Rice football record which has surprisingly stood for more than four decades, can anyone break David Houser’s record 14 catch game in 1976?

The vast majority of Rice football receiving records belong to All-American Jarrett Dillard. As fantastic as he was, there is one meaningful mark he wasn’t able to break. In a 1976 defeat at the hands of the Florida Gators, David Houser hauled in 14 receptions for 196 yards.

The Owls were forced to play catch up and Houser’s strong effort wasn’t enough to earn the victory. But even in defeat, Houser’s array of catches were well beyond what any Rice receiver has managed in any era.

That isn’t to say that Dillard didn’t come close. In a win over SMU in 2007 Dillard snagged 13 receptions for 128 yards, one shy of Houser’s record. That came a week after he caught 11 passes against SMU. Those two games, plus an 11-catch, 171 yards and three touchdown performance against Army in 2006, marked the only double-digit receiving games of his career.

Part of what makes Houser’s still-standing record all the more impressive is the era in which he accomplished it. Before the spread offense took flight at the turn of the century there wasn’t nearly as much of an emphasis on throwing the ball frequently.

Case in point: Dillard caught 91 passes and 21 touchdowns in 2006. The high-water mark of Houser’s career came in 197 when he caught 55 balls for five scores. He might have been less productive than Dillard on the whole. but for one game, Houser brought it.

A different era, but still a tremendous effort to produce a record that has stood for 42 years. The Owls haven’t had a truly dominant receiver since Dillard left for the NFL and new head coach Mike Bloomgren is going to focus on establishing the run first. That means Houser’s record is probably safe for at least a few more seasons.

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2019 Cornerback Gabe Jeudy commits to Owls

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The 2019 Rice football recruiting class continues to keep rolling. Cornerback Gabe Jeudy became the newest member, committing to the Owls on Friday, August 10.

A little over a week removed from their last commitment, Rice football added another piece to their future on Friday. Joining Atlanta, Texas running back Jawan King in the fold is Charlotte, North Carolina defensive back Gabe Jeudy.

Jeudy received his offer to play at Rice on July 21, two weeks before he trimmed his finalists down to five. That says a lot about the impression the program made as the Owls vaulted to the top of his list in such a short time frame.

On August 3 Jeudy announced his final five: Air Force, Army, James Madison, Rice and Richmond. Those were a select few of his wide-reaching offer list that included more than 25 schools at the time of his commitment. For a player without a star ranking assigned to him by any of the major recruiting outlets, that’s an impressive number of offers.

A week after narrowing things down, Jeudy made his announcement, committing to the Owls in the form of a video posted on his Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/GabeJeudy/status/1027994200783114243?s=19

In addition to those five, Jeudy also had offers from Harvard, Princeton, Navy, Villanova and Marshall, among others.

Jeudy is the 10th commit of the 2019 Rice football recruiting class and the fourth commitment from outside the state of Texas. Despite his many offers, Jeudy has yet to be given a star ranking, meaning his commitment did not impact the Owls’ standings in the Conference USA recruiting ranks. Rice currently has the No. 9 class in the conference.

At 6-foot-1, 172-pounds, Jeudy is not afraid to lower his shoulder and make tackles in the open field:

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15 Days: Bruce Henley the gold standard for Owls’ defensive backs

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Rice football hasn’t seen a defensive back as dominant as Bruce Henley was with the Owls in the 1970s. His interception record likely won’t ever be broken.

Bruce Henley will forever be remembered as one of the most dominant defensive backs to ever play football at Rice University. A two-sport star, Henley was also a starting pitcher for the Owls baseball team during his time at South Main. It’s what he accomplished on the football field that he’s most well-known for to this day.

Over the span of three seasons, Henley never missed a game. He started 33 consecutive times with the varsity squad where he tallied 15 interceptions, a record which still stands to this day. And that’s not the full story.

Henley’s career spanned from 1971 to 1974. Following his freshman season in 1971, the NCAA modified their rules, ending the limitations on freshman-specific teams a year following Henley’s freshman season. His four interceptions as a freshman are not included in the official records, making his true career total 19 interceptions over four seasons. Had those four been included he’d have ended his career as the SWC leader in career interceptions.

A handful of four-year players have come close to the official number, most recently Dan Dawson who picked off 13 passes from 1998 to 2001. Huey Keeney, whose career ended in 1948 with 13 interceptions, held the record prior to Henley’s emergence. Henley remains one of just six Owls to reach double-digit interceptions in his career. As it stands, Henley’s 15 picks are tied for 12th in SWC history.

Takeaways were not a strong-suit of the Owls’ defense in 2017, putting further into perspective just how dominant Henley was in his time. The Owls three total interceptions were fewer than Henley averaged per season by himself in his time at Rice.

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Quarterbacks, offensive line updates from practice (8/9)

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Rice football continues to solidify the depth chart, thinning out the quarterback and offensive line positions midway through fall camp.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren spent the majority of the practice with the offensive line. A former offensive line coach at Stanford, Bloomgren got down and dirty teaching techniques first hand. At one point he had his hands on turf instructing one of the younger players in a one-on-one drill.

In addition to focusing on the offensive line, Bloomgren appears to have trimmed the quarterback competition down from three players to two. With that, here are a few tidbits from Thursday’s practice:

Movement in the quarterback battle

The most pressing news first: the quarterback position is down to two. As many of you saw late Thursday evening, I broke the news that Sam Glaesmann has moved to wide receiver. Coach Bloomgren wouldn’t say the move was permanent, but he did mention the need for additional reps for Jackson Tyner and Shawn Stankavage moving forward.

Offensive line is beginning to take shape

The first team is beginning to solidify. Tackles Uzoma Osuji and Sam Pierce have been consistent fixtures at left tackle and right tackle, respectively. Shea Baker appears to have locked down the job at center as well.

Jack Greene and Joseph Dill have the lead at the left and right guard positions, but redshirt freshman Corbin Smith is challenging for time in the interior as well. A notable omission from the first team is Florida transfer Andrew Mike. Despite joining the Owls from the SEC it doesn’t appear Mike has done enough in practice to vie for a starting job just yet.

Backup center Cole Elms went down with a leg injury during Oklahoma drills and had to be helped off the field. He was able to return to practice for goal line work later on.

Offensive line tests in short-yardage drills

It’s been no secret that the defensive line is one of the deepest units on the team. The offensive line has struggled to keep up with the power rushers opposite them, but Thursday was a huge step in the right direction.

Thursday’s practice was all about winning in the trenches. The team pitted the offense and the defense against each other in three drills: Oklahoma, short yardage and goal line. The defense, by and large, won the Oklahoma drill but the full team drills were dominated by the offense.

Both units met at midfield with one-yard to go for the first down in a series of reps. Play action, bootlegs and runs straight up the middle resulted in a series of first downs. Bloomgren preaches that everything is a competition, so the defense had to do push-ups as a result of their defeat.

Offense wins goal line drills

The same theme rang true on the goal line. Both quarterbacks beat the edge to the pylon and scored touchdowns with their feet. The real stars were the running backs and the offensive line. Boosted by enough space in front of them to operate, several tailbacks lept over both lines and landed in the endzone. When freshman tailback Antonio Faaeteete sailed through the air and into the endzone the entire offense went berserk, celebrating the head-to-head win over their teammates.

The offensive line wasn’t perfect. A few players were blown up in the backfield and they registered a sack at the goal line. On the whole, though, the efficiency of the quarterbacks and running backs proved that this starting group has enough umph to get the important yards when they need to.

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