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Rice Football 2021: Spring Practice Week 1 Notebook

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Rice football returned to the practice field this week. Here are a few initial reactions from the first week of spring ball.

For the first time in three months, Rice football put on the pads and hit the practice field. It was a refreshing sight that seemed almost normal after a winter that was anything but conventional.

There were a few new faces this time, including quarterback Jake Constantine. But there were things to be learned from players head coach Mike Bloomgren would dub “the old heads” as well. We dug into some initial thoughts on the depth charts earlier this week. This edition will focus on what transpired on the grass itself.

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Rice Football: 2021 Spring Practice Depth Chart takeaways

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The first Rice football practices are in the books. This is the first of several updates of how the Owls are looking on the grass.

Rice football announced its spring roster in mid-February. Two new coaches, including new offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo, were introduced on Tuesday. In between those events, the Owls kicked off spring practice.

The 15 sessions are scheduled to run throughout the month of March with the spring game set for April 2. Last year’s practices were halted abrupted when COVID-19 restrictions thrust all sports into an unexpected halt. With precautions in place, Rice expects to not only finish but continue to improve during this year’s spring practices.

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2021 Rice Football initial spring depth chart

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There’s a lot to unpack here. How those players look on the field and what sort of movement we could see over the next few weeks will be covered in the next post. On this occasion, we’ll dive into the most important takeaways from the initial layout of the depth chart.

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Rice Women’s Basketball Preview: Owls vs North Texas

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The Rice women’s basketball wraps up the regular season with a two-game set with North Texas. Here’s how the Owls stack up with the Mean Green.

Rice Women's Basketball

Time: Thursday, Mar. 4 at 7:00 p.m. CT and Saturday, Mar. 6 at 4:00 p.m.
Venue: Thursday – The Super Pit / Saturday – Tudor Fieldhouse
Radio: Stretch Internet Portal
TV: Thursday – CUSAtv / Saturday – CUSAtv

North Texas 12-5 (9-3), Last 5 (4-1)

  • 63-58 (W) at Louisiana Tech
  • 76-55 (W) vs Southern Miss
  • 72-64 (W) vs Southern Miss
  • 52-51 (W) vs Marshall
  • 56-55 (L) vs Marshall

North Texas statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Quincy Noble – 18.0 per game
  • Rebounds | Madison Townley – 8.2 per game
  • Assists | N’Yah Boyd – 3.6 per game
  • Steals | N’Yah Boyd – 1.5 per game
  • Blocks | Rochelle Lee – 0.6 per game

Rice 15-2 (11-1), Last 5 (4-1)

  • 77-74 (W) vs Western Kentucky
  • 54-48 (W) at Marshall
  • 56-68 (L) at Marshall
  • 73-50 (W) vs Louisiana Tech
  • 64-53 (W) vs Louisiana Tech

Rice statistical leaders

  • Scoring | Nancy Mulkey – 16.1 per game
  • Rebounds | Nancy Mulkey – 8.2 per game
  • Assists | Jasmine Smith – 4.1 per game
  • Steals | Jasmine Smith and Sydne Wiggins – 1.2 per game
  • Blocks | Nancy Mulkey – 2.9 per game

Whats’s at stake

Rice women’s basketball can clinch the best regular season record in Conference USA for the third straight season with a win over North Texas in either scheduled contest this weekend. The Owls were handed some extra breathing room when North Texas lost to Marshall last weekend. As things currently stand, Rice has a two-game lead in the West and can only lose the divisional race by dropping both games this weekend.

A closer look at the Mean Green

North Texas is one of the most well-rounded teams in Conference USA. They aren’t particularly elite in any single phase of the game, but they’re above average to great in just about every aspect. Their efficiency and poise stands out the most. North Texas is second in C-USA in turnover margin. They don’t give the ball away and they create extra opportunities consistently.

Rice is going to have to contain Quincy Noble and force the remainder of the North Texas roster to execute at a high level. On the other side of the court, the Mean Green will work to keep Rice out of a rhythm on offense, something Marshall was able to do to the Owls in their most recent defeat.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Surveying the Owls’ initial 2022 offers

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The Rice football offseason calendar is moving along. National Signing Day is done, spring ball is here and the 2022 recruiting class is ramping up.

Ever since recruiting director Alex Brown was hired, National Signing Day has signaled a turning of the page to the next recruiting cycle. Over the past two years, Rice football recruiting has issued more offers to the upcoming class during the week of National Signing Day than it has received commitments from the immediate class.

That trend proved true this year as well, albeit with somewhat of a more narrow scope. Rice has offered 15 players in the 2022 class prior to the month of March, down from 27 players offered at this time last year.

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The lack of any sort of in-person meetings with these players has to account for some of the gap. The NCAA announced they were extending the dead period again, this time through May 31.

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Rice Baseball 2021: Owls swept by Louisiana in first road series

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Rice baseball (2-4) fell in three straight games to Louisiana. The Owls had good moments on the mound, but couldn’t keep up with the Cajun’s bats.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Louisiana wins series 3-0

1. The Bullpen posts another strong showing

The season hasn’t been long, but we’ve seen the same narrative play out more than once. Rice baseball starting pitching surrenders the lead. The offense doesn’t have the juice to catch back up, but the bullpen keeps the team within striking distance until the innings run their course.

That same scenario manifested itself on Friday and Saturday against Louisiana. Dalton Wood and Reed Gallant were terrific. Wood allowed no hits and struck out three in 2.1 innings on Friday. Gallant allowed two hits with one strikeout in 4.1 innings on Saturday. But despite their best efforts, neither factored in a decision on the weekend because the lead had already been lost before they got their chance on the mound.

Sunday’s collective wasn’t as strong, but it did include several faces seeing their first action of the season in a situation where Rice was already trailing.

2. More offense, please

Rice scored three runs in each of their three games against Louisiana. Justin Dunlap, the Owls’ most productive hitter against Houston Baptist, did not play in the series. Among the Owls that did, only four — Braden Comeaux (.364), Justin Long (.333), Cade Edwards (.304) and Bradley Gneiting (.238) — are hitting better than .220 on the season.

Guy Garibay, who made his Rice debut on Friday night, drew three walks and hit a home run. He’s fifth among all Owls with a .385 on-base percentage. Rice is going to need more from incoming transfer Connor Walsh and Hal Hughes at the plate, too.

3. Flipped rotation not working for the Owls

We’ve seen a lot of tremendous pitching performances from the Rice staff so far this season. Unfortunately, that hasn’t extended to their unexpected series-starting pitcher Mitchell Holcomb. Entering the season, Roel Garcia and Blake Brogdon were the sure-fire top two arms in the rotation. Holcomb was the likeliest candidate to pitch on Sundays. He wasn’t supposed to be a Friday night guy.

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But the storm and limited availability of others have made Holcomb the man tasked with opening series thus far. By head coach Matt Bragga’s own admission, he hasn’t been at his best. That’s put Rice in early holes.

If everything had gone according to plan, Holcomb still would have been in the rotation, so his struggles so far still would have impacted the team. But there’s something to be said from falling behind in a series so quickly. It changes how pitchers are deployed and how a team responds. Getting Garcia back into the No. 1 spot is a must.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | Louisiana 7 – Rice 3

Louisiana struck early in the opener. A leadoff home run sparked a three-run, eight-batter first inning against Mitchell Holcomb that put Rice into comeback mode from the start. The Owls were able to equalize with a Connor Walsh home run, but the offense was quiet from that point onward.

Holcomb would allow another two runs before exiting after three innings. Alex DeLeon allowed two more runs in 2.2 innings before Dalton Wood came on and blanked the Cajuns for the final 2.1 innings. By then, it was too late. Rice had just four hits total after the second inning.

SATURDAY | Louisiana 5 – Rice 3

After trading zeroes in the first, Louisiana scratched across a run in the second and the third innings to take a 2-0 lead. Rice had their best opportunity in the fourth, striking for three runs and driving starting pitcher David Christie from the game.

The Owls did not hold the lead for more than a few minutes. A pair of RBI doubles against Rice starter Blake Brogdon put Louisiana in front in the bottom half of the inning. Brogdon would be chased before recording the third out. He was charged with all three runs in the inning as well as the 5-3 loss.

SUNDAY | Louisiana 6 – Rice 3

Rice struck first on Sunday, sneaking a run across on an error in the third inning. That 1-0 lead would hold until Garcia was lifted in the fifth inning for Brandon Deskins. The sophomore didn’t exhibit the same amount of control that he did against Houston Baptist. He was charged with three runs and saddled with the loss.

Including the three allowed by Deskins, the bullpen would collectively concede six runs before Rice baseball found a way back onto the scoreboard.

Garibay came through with his first collegiate home run in the eighth, but the celebration was somewhat muted with teammate Comeaux having been just escorted from the field after being hit by a pitch.

ON DECK | Rice Baseball vs Prairie View A&M (Wed) and Shriner’s College Classic at Minute Maid Park: Sam Houston (Fri), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Sat), Texas State (Sun).

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