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The Roost Podcast | Ep 85 – WKU, Charlotte and Conference USA with Eric Henry

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We wrap up our opponent previews this week with Eric Henry of Underdog Dynasty who joins us to talk WKU, Charlotte and Conference USA football.

Rice football opens fall camp this week and the Conference USA Football season is right around the corner. We close out our conference opponent previews this week, breaking down the Owls’ two cross-divisional opponents in 2021: Charlotte and Western Kentucky.

Eric Henry gives us his insight on both programs as well as some odds and ends throughout the conference. His reaction from media days and his takeaways from a busy offseason made for an interesting conversation.

Be sure to stick around for his conference champion picks and his run at the Lightning Round. You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 85.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping
    • Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice. Every little bit helps.
    • Please support us on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes updates from fall camp, practices and more.
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  • Eric Henry joins the show — Eric unpacks his Conference USA outlook, focusing on WKU and Charlotte, including:
    • The Bailey Zappe hype train
    • The ceiling for Western Kentucky in 2021
    • What to make of Chris Reynolds’ job security at Charlotte
    • Will Healy’s outlook in Year 3 after a tough 2020 season
    • Sleepers to contend for Conference USA offensive and defensive MVP
    • The Lightning Round

Where can you find us?

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Rice Baseball: 2021 Summer Ball end of season roundup

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Current, former and incoming Rice baseball players participated in Summer Ball leagues around the country. Here are the highlights from the summer.

Hitters

Austin Bulman stole the show in the Valley Baseball League this summer. He led the league in doubles, finished second in hits and RBI and was top five in runs and homers on his way to an all-star game nod. There’s not much more he could have done this summer to build momentum as he returns to Rice.

Nathan Becker was contending with Bulman for the batting title in the VBL early on in the summer, finishing the season with a more than respectable .291 clip. Guy Garibay flashed in limited action, driving six of his 10 hits for extra bases.

Perhaps the biggest surprise, in a very positive way, was catcher Cullen Hannigan. Owner of eight collegiate at bats at Rice, Hannigan exploded in his return to the Expedition League. A year removed from slashing .183/.385/.256 last summer, Hannigan elevated his play across the board, slashing .340/.401/.450 this time around.

Hitting Stats

Pitchers

Matthew Linskey only appeared in four games but had the most encouraging final line. His 0.96 ERA would have led the league had he pitched enough innings to qualify. Nevertheless, his 14.5 strikeouts per nine innings with only one earned run allowed served as a subtle reinforcement that his brief flashes during the 2021 season weren’t aberrations.

Micah Davis and Dalton Wood each had a couple of off outings that marred otherwise promising summer seasons. Both saw plenty of action with Davis leading all Owls this summer with 20 punchouts.

Pitching Stats

Final Thoughts

Summer ball isn’t the end all be all, but with Jose Cruz Jr. doing all he can to restock the talent pool at South Main, seeing so many encouraging performances is a positive sign. The depth that has been lacking in previous years might be on its way, and everyone is going to have to fight for their spot in the lineup.

Younger players like Linskey and Becker are continuing to develop and this summer served as an added reminder they’re got more to give Rice baseball in the coming years.

*All stats as of August 2 taken from league and team websites.
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Rice Football Burning Questions: How high is the team’s ceiling in 2021?

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Now in Year 4, Mike Bloomgren and Rice football will face the highest expectations they’ve encountered to this point. How far can they realistically go?

Things were never expected to get better for Rice football overnight. The roster needed retooling. New schemes needed to be put in place and other adjustments were necessary in the name of program-building. With three years* (two, plus whatever the COVID-19 season counts as) to tinker, the expectations are starting to mount.

Which brings us to the third installment in our Burning Questions series this offseason. What are fair expectations for Rice football in 2021 and more importantly, can they reach them?

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2022 Safety Reece Sylvester commits to Owls

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The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class closed the summer on a high note, adding safety Reece Sylvester to the fold as the calendar marches toward the fall.

Fall camp is right around the corner, but that hasn’t slowed the Owls down on the recruiting front. The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class has now added its sixth member to the fold, earning a commitment from Baytown Sterling safety Reece Sylvester.

Sylvester is the second defensive back among the Owls’ current 2022 commits and the fourth defensive player so far. The other safety in the class, Southwest Christian safety Tyson Flowers, was the most recent pledge prior to Sylvester.

Rice was the first to offer Sylvester, who had no other public offers when Rice made their push in mid-July. That was true on August 1 when Sylvester decided to pull the trigger.

Sylvester played a little on both sides of the ball in high school, but although he proved himself a capable wide receiver, he’ll primarily slide in at safety for the Owls. The proven versatility and knowledge of the game should give him a leg up in Brian Smith’s defense.

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When it comes to his prowess as a safety, Sylvester is an intriguing prospect. He reads the ball well coming out of the quarterback’s hand and closes the distance between himself and the pass catcher at a furious rate. When he gets there, he’s not afraid to deliver a punishing blow. His pursuit seems to have an extra gear and his drive has the makings of a difference maker at the next level.

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Ranking the Conference USA Football Quarterbacks: July 2021 Patreon Q&A

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The quarterback landscape is going to be interesting for Conference USA football teams this season. Where does Luke McCaffrey fit in among the league’s signal callers?

If you haven’t checked out any of our Conference USA team previews on The Roost Podcast yet, go ahead and subscribe to the show and put those episodes in your listening queue over the next few weeks. I bring that up because a recurring theme as we work through the Owls’ upcoming opponents is the lack of certainty at the quarterback position across the conference.

Among returning quarterbacks, at least from a purely statistical evaluation, it’s essentially Marshall’s Grant Wells and that’s about it. The list gets murky quickly with players like UTEP’s Gavin Hardison and UTSA’s Frank Harris showing up frequently in the Top 5 of major statistical categories like completion percentage, yards per attempt and touchdowns. That means, in all likelihood, the best quarterback that will play in Conference USA in 2021 wasn’t in the conference last season.

Which brings us to the question at hand? Who is the best quarterback in Conference USA and where does prospective Rice signal caller Luke McCaffrey fit into the mix?

Here’s my best projection of the conference quarterbacks, ranked from the best to worst:

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