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Rice Football: Will the Owls find a bellcow running back in 2019?

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Run-first offenses often trust one primary rusher. That wasn’t quite the case last year, but could Rice football find a bell cow back in 2019?

Dating back to Mike Bloomgren’s days at Stanford, the current Rice head man has tended toward trusting one man to carry the brunt of the load in the backfield. The Owls didn’t have that one guy last year, or at least, they never settled on one back who was healthy enough and consistent enough to take on that role in this offense. Sort of.

Here’s what the distribution of carries looked among the top four Rice rushers in 2018:

By Raw Stats

Player Austin Walter Emmanuel Esukpa Juma Otoviano Aston Walter
Att 133 122 65 64
Yds 564 461 364 254
TD 4 3 3 0

By Percentage

Player Austin Walter Emmanuel Esukpa Juma Otoviano Aston Walter
% Att 27% 25% 13% 13%
% Yds 30% 25% 19% 14%
% TD 27% 20% 20% 0%

The apparent balance wasn’t really the case. One running back registered at least 50 percent of the Owls’ non-quarterback rushes in 10 of 13 games Rice played last year. In six of those games, the lead back was responsible for at least two-thirds of the attempts.

That distribution was largely a function of the roles each of those four backs played as the offense evolved. Emmanuel Esupka was the bruiser north-south runner who started the year as the primary ball carrier before falling out of the rotation with injuries. Splitting time with him initially was Austin Walter, who shifted out to receiver midway through the year.

Stat Pack: Analyzing the Owls against the spread

That left Juma Otoviano and Aston Walter as the remaining options. Otoviano took the lead back duties, increasing his role from the wildcat quarterback earlier in the year. Aston was the glue, filling in whenever the pieces moved around him, registering a career-high 23 carries against LSU.

As the 2019 season looms, Austin and Esukpa are gone. Aston and Otoviano remain with an interesting crop of talent behind them including Harvard transfer Charlie Booker and incoming freshman Jawan King. Will Bloomgren have a lead guy to trust for the duration of the 2019 season? We might just have to wait and see.

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Rice Football: 2020 Athlete Devin Gunter commits to Owls

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class is picking up steam, grabbing their second commitment of the week from potential two-way standout Devin Gunter.

The Adidas 3 Stripe camp gave Rice football an opportunity to showcase their facilities and their brand with some of the top recruits in college football. That busy day at South Main has already paid dividends. Camp attendee and 2020 athlete Devin Gunter has committed to Rice.

The Missouri City, Tx native had nothing but good things to say following his camp experience. He was impressed with the facilities and enjoyed his time working in person with the Rice coaches. Those relationships have continued to strengthen over the last few weeks.

Gunter has a lot of film at wide receiver, but where he’ll play in college remains up in the air. The tentative plan is to start him off at corner, but his athleticism and raw speed are going to have the offensive coaches chomping at the bit to get him the ball in space and watch him work. Another D’Angelo Ellis situation where he plays two ways could be possible in at least some capacity. He’s that talented.Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

Beyond his athleticism, Gunter has legitimate track star speed. He ran a 4.47 at camp and had that time confirmed with a laser timer later this summer. Rice needs speed on the edges and Gunter is undoubtedly one of the fastest guys they’ve landed thus far.

Whether he ends up on offense or defense, Gunter is a big play guy in the making. A 6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete, he has great hands and a knack for attacking the football in the air. He’s only to get better at the next level.

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Rice Football Stat Pack: Analyzing the Owls against the spread

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Rice football was a good bet for part of 2018, but a late-season surge had the Owls outperforming the expectations from those in Vegas.

For gamblers, not all teams are created equal. Last year’s 2018 Rice football squad went 2-11 in the regular season, making a bet against the Owls a lucrative one as the team underwent an extensive rebuild. Still, Rice made the oddsmakers in Vegas work. The Owls were 7-6 against the spread, covering in five of their last six games.

Let’s give Rice a pass through the first half of the season as they worked through a new scheme with new players and new coaches. The second half of the season provides evidence Rice began to outperform expectations of the oddsmakers who, supposedly, know the sport best.

In Case You Missed It: The Roost is one-year-old

Rice won their final game of the season against Old Dominion outright, despite being 7.5-point dogs. Other than that, Rice stayed within large margins against FIU, North Texas, Louisiana Tech and LSU — and they did it with a revolving door at the quarterback position as their passers suffered from a myriad of unfortunate injuries.

Over the second half of the season, Rice went 1-5 on the field and 5-1 against the spread. On a high level, that means the Owls consistently beat the oddsmakers’ expectations. As the saying goes, they didn’t build the casinos in the desert by chance.

Vegas has proven to be pretty good at gauging the difference between two teams on any given Saturday. They’re not often wrong and when they are, it usually isn’t by all that much. Here’s how Rice faired down the stretch against the spread.

Date Opponent Spread Result Difference
10/20 Florida Intl 23 Rice -19 4
10/27 North Texas 30 Rice -24 6
11/3 TX El Paso 2 Rice -8 -6
11/10 LA Tech 24 Rice -15 9
11/17 LSU 41.5 Rice -32 9.5
11/24 Old Dominion 7.5 Rice 14 21.5

In 2019 Rice football will work on moving from covering the spread to winning on the field, but these trends should spur some optimism they’re heading in the right direction.

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Happy Birthday to The Roost

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Today marks The Roost’s 1-year birthday, something which wouldn’t have been possible without the support and engagement of the Rice Owls fanbase.

One year ago I met with an administrator from Rice. I asked for access, an open door, with the promise of telling compelling stories of the Owls from the football field to the baseball diamond and everywhere in between.

A myriad of new relationships, 450+ stories and 100+ sporting events later, The Roost is still here.

So before I write anything else, thank you.

Thank you for coming back. Thank you for engaging. And thank you for sharing The Roost with your families, friends and former classmates. As we grow, we’ll be able to do more for you, our readers (If you haven’t yet, please take 30 seconds to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and sign up for our free email newsletter). There are big plans in the works and the 2019-2020 school year, the first of which you’ll be hearing more about in the coming weeks.

If you’ve enjoyed the site, feel free to drop me a note on the forum. That’s your venue to interact with each other and me as we talk through all the comings and goings in Rice football, baseball, basketball and whatever else is on your mind.

It’s been a fun year. Let’s do it again. Go Owls.

A few personal favorites

For those who are at least a bit nostalgic, here are a few of the pieces I’ve most enjoyed working on this past athletic year.

Jack Fox ready for his next chapter and the NFL Draft

Rice WBB: Poise, pressure and trying to move on

Baseball: Coach Matt Bragga undeterred by his toughest test yet

Rice Football 2018 Postseason Awards

Gio Gentosi revitalizing the fullback position at Rice

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Rice Footbal: 2020 Wide receiver Andrew Mason commits to Owls

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class picked up another important addition. Wide receiver Andrew Mason has committed to the Owls.

Adding explosiveness has been near the top of the list in terms of priorities for Rice in the incoming recruiting classes. The Owls bolstered their receiving corps in 2019 with speedsters Jake Bailey and Zane Knipe.

The Owls knew they could never have too much speed, though. They continued on that theme with their first wide receiver commitment of the 2020 class, Andrew Mason.

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

Mason started drawing interest from Rice this spring right around the time his offer list began growing. The Brentwood, TN receiver has picked up a dozen offers over the past few months, adding Rice in May. It was clear from the start he was near the top of the pecking order for the Owls who fought off Army, Yale and others to earn his commitment.

He was on campus for a visit on Monday following a string of recruiting camps and visits that have made up a busy summer for the Owls. His interactions with the staff, the location of campus and the totality of the entire experience proved to be enough for him to make his pledge.

Mason is the first commitment for the Owls since running back Khalan Griffin came aboard in May. If things continue to track well on the recruiting trail there might be a few more additions before the summer is through.

Don’t let his star-rating fool you, Mason is a game-changer. He’ll be a dynamic playmaker for Rice as soon as he gets on the field. Incorporating someone with his brand of quickness and ability to extend plays will add a wrinkle the Owls have been missing.

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