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Rice Football: Owls give new life to the fullback position

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Rice football is daring to be different, employing a fullback in their offense as many of their peers have long since done away with the position.

In modern college football, you’re more likely to see five wide receivers on the field than you are to see a fullback. Even the most spread open offenses rarely leave the quarterback alone in the backfield with the exception of a late-game hail mary or a particularly intriguing matchup against an opposing linebacker or defensive back.

At Rice, the fullback is more than just a novelty, it’s a core building block of the Owls’ offense. The fullback is responsible for knowing not just his blocking assignment, but how everyone in front of him is supposed to execute before he reaches the line of scrimmage. It’s a complicated task, one that few are groomed for in today’s game.

Those intricacies, combined with the Rice offense, making finding fullbacks a challenging task. Last season Rice went to the transfer wire, scooping up Giovanni Gentosi from UCLA. This season the new addition comes by way of Stanford, Bloomgren’s old stomping grounds. Reagan Williams traded Palo Alto for South Main for his final season of college ball.

The other players at the position, Brendan Suckley and Luke Armstrong, are learning the position for the first time. Suckley is a converted tight end. Armstrong is a converted offensive lineman. (Read more about each of the fullbacks will impact the offense this fall in our 2019 Rice Football Season Preview.)

Rice will be one of the few programs to recruit a fullback in 2020. The Owls currently have a commitment from Baton Rouge native Brian Hibbard. He should be the first of several fullbacks who make their way to Rice in the coming years. Rice is in the fullback business. And they’re just getting started.

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Rice Football: Owls draw toughest schedule in Conference USA

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The Rice football team has a rigorous schedule this fall, one more strenuous than any other team in Conference USA. Are the Owls up to the challenge?

It doesn’t take more than the eye test for an average fan to accurately assess the challenge looming in front of Rice football before it plays its first game of the 2019 season. The Owls schedule is daunting, highlighted by four potent non-conference opponents in the first four weeks of the regular season.

The full schedule and detailed previews of every team Rice will face this season is available in our 2019 Rice Football Preseason Preview. Those non-conference games, combined with a tough draw from Conference USA East featuring Marshall and Middle Tennessee, gives Rice an ignominious claim. The Owls own the hardest schedule in Conference USA — check out our CUSA Preview for more insight on each team.

ESPN’s Strength of Schedule metrics are reflective of that assumption:

  • Rice –  74
  • Middle Tennessee – 76
  • Southern Miss – 92
  • Old Dominion – 96
  • UTSA – 101
  • FAU – 104
  • Western Kentucky – 106
  • Charlotte – 110
  • Marshall – 115
  • Florida International – 120
  • UTEP – 122
  • North Texas – 125
  • Louisiana Tech – 126
  • UAB – 129

Three teams from the West Division have a top 100 strength of schedule and Rice is right at the top. But even those with similar strength of schedule marks are separated by a wide margin. Rice plays three Power 5 teams and Army. Southern Miss plays two (Alabama and Mississippi State) and UTSA plays one (Texas Tech).

More: Offseason transfers add up favorably for the Owls

After factoring in a game against Rice (2-11 last season), Middle Tennessee is the only other CUSA team in the same tier of difficulty. The Blue Raiders play Michigan, Duke and Iowa in non-conference play.

A hard road sets the Owls up with plenty of opportunities to make some noise, but it doesn’t guarantee the team anything. Rice has been tasked with continuing to make progress in Year 2 of a rebuild, regardless of opponent. Win or lose, Rice is going to be challenged every single week they take the field.

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Rice Football: Will there be one quarterback in 2019?

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As the 2019 Rice Football season approaches there remains one unspoken pressing question. Can the Owls ride one quarterback this year?

A rotten combination of poor performance, bad luck and injuries through the Rice football quarterback room into chaos for most of the 2018 season. The players themselves were as calm and collected as possible, but the lack of clarity at the position as a whole did the team no favors as they tried to win football games.

More: Mobility key for Owls quarterbacks in 2019

Three different quarterbacks started games for the Owls last season. Vanderbilt grad transfer Shawn Stankavage got the first shot, starting the first seven games until he was injured in the Owls loss to UAB. Evan Marshman, who took over in the second half of the UAB game, didn’t make it through his start the following week either. He went down against FIU, opening up the door to Wiley Green.

Green led the way for the next two games, losses to North Texas and UTEP. Stankavage returned, effectively allowing Green to keep his redshirt as the veteran started the final two road games of the year against Louisiana Tech and LSU. Finally, Green capped off the season with a win at home over Old Dominion.

Confusing? That’s because Rice changed starting quarterbacks four times in the final six weeks of the season before ultimately landing back on Green.

Green will battle for the starting job in 2019 with incoming Harvard grad transfer Tom Stewart. (Read more about that battle and what to expect from each player in the fall in our 2019 Rice Football Season Preview). Regardless of who wins the job, sticking with one guy would be a much-needed change of pace. Barring injuries, the Owls look to be on the right track.

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Conference USA Football: Debunking the returning starters stat

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Returning starters are important, but don’t let that be the only indicator of success in Conference USA football this season.

Conference USA football media days are right around the corner. Every coach will stand in front of the media and offer some clarity into some of the narratives that have been surrounding their programs for the last few months. 2018 will be put to bed as everyone turns their collective focus to 2019, the season to come.

With the new year comes a familiar stat thrown out with increasing regularity: returning starters. Fans and media alike would love to boil down their expectations of next season into a digestible number. Returning starters has become a placeholder of sorts for that aggregate view. But it might be one of the more troubling data points to process.

For example, FIU and Western Kentucky sit atop Conference USA with 19 returning starters apiece. FIU won nine games last year and came close to playing for the conference championship. Western Kentucky won three games, finishing 2-6 in conference play.

The Hilltoppers have a new coach in the mix, but is it reasonable to assume they’ll be on par with FIU because the same number of guys will be taking the majority of the snaps? Not likely.

Likewise, Rice and Marshall each have six returning starters on defense but the Thundering Herd allowed 100 yards fewer per game than the Owls did last season. And for that matter, it’s entirely within the realm of possibility some of the Owls newcomers who will be starters in 2019 will be better than those who left the program last fall.

Team Offense Defense Special Teams Total
FIU 8 8 3 19
WKU 10 6 3 19
Southern Miss 9 6 3 18
North Texas 8 6 3 17
Marshall 8 6 2 16
UAB 8 5 3 16
Charlotte 5 7 3 15
Florida Atlantic 7 6 2 15
Louisiana Tech 8 5 2 15
Rice 7 6 1 14
UTEP 7 4 3 14
Middle Tennessee 4 6 3 13
Old Dominion 4 5 3 12
UTSA 6 4 2 12

If there is any commonality between the returning starters across Conference USA and the rest of college football, it’s the lack of consistency. Returning starters doesn’t matter as much as returning high-caliber players. That’s more difficult to measure, and thus we’re stuck with a more vague, less helpful statistic. Returning starters are good; returning playmakers are better.

Find out more about the top returning playmakers in Conference USA by grabbing a copy of our 2019 Conference USA Preview.

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Rice Football Recruiting: How the Owls are hacking the 2020 rankings

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The 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class is finding top-flight players before major services discover them. How the Owls’ are winning recruiting.

In the world of college football recruiting, stars matter. The rating assigned by 247 Sports and other ratings services are talking points for fans around the country whenever a new player commits (or thinks about committing) to their school of choice. While recruiting players with higher star ratings is generally a positive sign, Rice football has found a loophole in the process.

247 can’t rate every recruit in the country. There are tens of thousands of aspiring college football recruits and only so many hours in the day. Some larger programs can throw their conference affiliation or national brand at the blue-chip players to lure them to school. Rice has found a hack of their own.

The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class features 14 commits including 11 three-star players. Of those 11, six of them were unranked at the time they chose to commit to the Owls. That means the coaching staff was able to identify premium talent before the recruiting services.

Prior to his commitment, cornerback Sean Fresch was unrated. Now he’s the highest-rated recruit in the Owls’ 2020 class. Cornerback Devon Gunter didn’t have a star rating either. He’s the fourth-highest ranked recruit in the class. Lineman Matt Latos, tight end Nate Kamper, offensive lineman Trey Phillippi and wide receiver Andrew Mason have similar stories. From zero stars to three stars, overnight.

Available Now: 2019 Rice Football Season Preview 

At the end of the day, stars don’t win football games, players do. But the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class is stocked with high-level talent, largely because the coaching staff is ahead of the curve. When you know the answer before the rest of the nation does, you’re probably on the right track.

That’s why Rice has a top-three class in Conference USA. And they’re not done yet.

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