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NFL Draft: New wave of Owls hopes to join Rice’s list of NFL draftees

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The NFL Draft will get underway on Thursday night as Jack Fox and several former Rice football players wait to hear their name called.

Beginning with John Slyvester in 1936, there have been 140 Rice Football players selected in the NFL Draft. The Owls have had seven first round selections, most recently running back Earl Cooper, taken by the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980 NFL Draft.

Rice has nine former players active in the NFL right now. Four of them were drafted, Christian Covington (6th round), Luke Wilson (5th), Phillip Gaines (3rd), Vance McDonald (2nd). The other five earned their spot as undrafted free agents. It’s not the easy route, but several Owls have done it — and earned second contracts.

Although several Rice players hope to pursue an NFL future, Jack Fox presumably has the best chance to hear his name called with one of the 254 selections. If he is picked, Fox will become the first Rice football player drafted since Christian Covington was selected by the Houston Texans in 2015.

Other Owls like Aston Walter, Graysen Schantz and Giovanni Gentosi will most likely look to sign with a team as undrafted free agents. Each participated in Rice football’s 2019 Pro Day and have had various opportunities to work out in front on NFL teams. For now, though, the long wait begins.

TV schedule

  • Round 1 – Thursday, April 25, 8:00 p.m. ET
  • Round 2-3 – Friday, April 26: 7:00 p.m. ET
  • Round 4-7 – Saturday, April 27: 12:00 p.m. ET

All rounds are available to watch on ABC, ESPN, NFL Network.

Here’s every Rice football player drafted since the NFL Draft took on its current seven-round format in 1994.

RkYear▼LgRndPickTmPlayerPos
12015NFL6216HOUChristian CovingtonDT
22014NFL387KANPhillip GainesDB
32013NFL255SFOVance McDonaldTE
42013NFL5158SEALuke WillsonTE
52012NFL7211TENScott SolomonDE
62011NFL7254HOUCheta OzougwuDE
72009NFL5152HOUJames CaseyTE
82009NFL5144JAXJarett DillardWR
92003NFL5142CLERyan PontbriandC
102003NFL6176JAXBrandon GreenDE
111997NFL5152PHIN.D. KaluDE
121994NFL245ATLBert EmanuelWR
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Rice Baseball: Evan Kravetz seeks to end senior season on high note

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Rice baseball pitcher Evan Kravetz thought he’d be pitching out of the bullpen this year. Instead, he’s become a staple in the starting rotation.

The 2019 Rice baseball season was met by many with guarded optimism. The Owls had hired energetic coach Matt Bragga from Tennessee Tech and had seemed to have enough pitching to be competitive from game to game. The supposed pitching strength relied on the arms of Matt Canterino and Addison Moss, arguably the best one-two punch in Conference USA.

That duo never materialized as expected. Moss was scratched from opening weekend with injury concerns, opening up the door for someone else to make a start in the rotation. That someone would end up becoming senior southpaw Evan Kravetz.

“I found out like two days before the opener,” Kravetz recounted, following his career-best 13 strikeout performance against Middle Tennessee over the weekend. His seven-inning, one-hit gem helped secure a series win and would eventually lead to the first home sweep of the Matt Bragga era at Rice.

Win or lose, good or bad, Kravetz maintains he’s thankful for the opportunity. “Every Saturday I pitch like I don’t know if there’s going to be another Saturday to pitch on, so I’m just going to keep doing that and trying to win games,” he said.

Staying the course

It doesn’t look like Kravetz is in any danger of missing out on a start any time soon. He leads all Rice pitchers with 77 strikeouts, one more than staff ace Matt Canterino who entered the season as a consensus Top 5 round prospect in the upcoming MLB Draft.  Kravetz had made four starts at Rice prior to this season. He’ll come close to matching his previous total career innings pitched at Rice (90.1) this season if Rice makes it to the conference tournament.

Coach Bragga was effusive in his praise following Kravetz’s latest performance. “[He’s] been awesome,” Bragga declared. “It’s been phenomenal the year he’s had.” Rather than stop there, Bragga asserted Kravetz might not be done when his days at Rice are over. “I’ll be shocked if they (Kravetz and Matt Canterino) don’t both go in the top 10 rounds come [the MLB Draft]”

All Kravetz wanted was an opportunity. He got his chance and made the most of it.

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Rice Baseball sweeps MTSU, earns Matt Bragga’s first home sweep

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Rice baseball picked up their first home series sweep under head coach Matt Bragga, winning three games against Middle Tennessee State to improve to .500 in conference play.

Rice entered Easter weekend with a bad taste in their mouth. The Owls had blasted Charlotte in their series opener and outscored them by 10 runs over the course of three games only to drop the series. With no midweek game to take their mind off the tough blow, all efforts turned to Middle Tennessee.

Coach Bragga’s charge to his team this weekend was straightforward. “We need to start making a move if we’re going to make one.” Rice made their move, sweeping their second conference opponent this season. Here are some notes on an encouraging series at Reckling Park.

THURSDAY | Rice 10 – MTSU 4

Rice RBI leader Andrew Dunlap got things going in the series opener with an RBI single in the first inning. The Owls took the 1-0 lead into the third where they broke the game open, batting around and scoring eight runs on six hits and four walks. Justin Collins and Braden Comeaux picked up two RBI apiece, with four other Owls driving in one run during the big inning.

The nine-run cushion was more than enough for Matt Canterino, who put together what was arguably his best outing of the season. He struck out 10 in seven innings, earning his team-leading fifth win of the season. Middle Tennessee would tack on four against Rice reliever Drake Greenwood, but the sizable lead would hold for the Owls’ fourth-straight win in series openers.

FRIDAY | Rice 7 – MTSU 2

The Owls’ bats got off to a slightly slower start on Friday night, but once they woke up, they caught fire. Two home runs, one by Cade Edwards another Dominic Cox, put Rice ahead 2-0 in the fourth inning. Then the Owls exploded for five runs in the fifth.

Bradley Gneiting, Trei Cruz, and Andrew Dunlap strung together three consecutive RBI hits. Dunlap came around to score the seventh run on an error. The 7-0 lead would hold until the ninth inning where once more MTSU would collect a flurry of hits, scoring two, not enough to give the Owls much of a scare.

SATURDAY |Rice 7 – MTSU 5

For the first time in the weekend, Rice was forced to come from behind. Starting pitcher Jackson Parthasarathy wasn’t as sharp as his predecessors on the mound. He would have been serviceable had the defense not committed three errors on the day, two of which resulted in three unearned runs charged to Parthasarathy.

Trailing 4-0 after Parthasarathy was removed midway through the third inning, Rice began to chip away. Rice got two in the third, one in the fourth and one in the fifth before tying the game in the seventh on a Cade Edwards sac fly. Justin Collins would drive a two-out single to left later in the inning, scoring what would be the game-winning run.

MTSU didn’t make it easy, loading the bases in the ninth. With the tying run in scoring position, Kendall Jeffries induced a double-play to clinch the victory and the series sweep.

TAKEAWAYS | Rice wins series 3-0

1. Pitch like this every weekend

It’s been no secret the Rice starting pitching is the strength of this team. When all three of the Owls’ rotation are locked in this team is going to have a chance to win most series. Aside from the sloppy defense on Saturday, the starting pitching was nearly as good as it’s been all season this weekend against Middle Tennessee, and the results were the first home series sweep of the Matt Bragga era.

Canterino, Kravetz and Parthasarathy combined for 27 strikeouts with five walks, and one earned runs allowed. That’s a stellar line through 16.2 innings on the bump. More length out of their Sunday starter would have been ideal, but an extremely fresh bullpen gave coach Bragga a bit more leeway with how long he left Parthasarathy on the mound. If Rice pitches this well, they’ll have a chance to win each of their remaining CUSA series.

2. Cade Edwards

The Rice lineup has become more consistent as the season has gone on. Slowly but surely the top three became the top four. Somewhat quietly, Cade Edwards has entrenched himself as part of the glue which holds this offense together. Batting fifth throughout the weekend, Edwards picked up six hits, batting .600 in the series with the go-ahead home run on Friday and the game-tying sac fly on Saturday.

Edwards is riding a 7-game hitting streak. The Rice offense has scored five or more runs in five of those seven games, and Edwards has been in the thick of the action. Bragga likes what he’s seeing from the Owls’ second baseman, calling Edwards “a real solid hitter [who has] some really good bat speed and drives through the ball really well.”

3. Come and take it

Rice has officially passed the midway point of conference play. It’s been a bumpy ride, but after starting 0-5, Rice has won nine of their next 14, pulling themselves back to .500 in conference play. It’s no guarantee of future success, but it is a testament to a team willing to fight.

With four series remaining, Rice is in the thick of the pack in Conference USA. FAU leads the way at 14-4 with the Owls five games behind, tied for fifth. They entered the weekend tied for seventh, with tiebreakers putting them in ninth place.

Winning the conference is still mathematically possible, but even without an incredible late surge, Rice has enough season left to position themselves for the conference tournament in Biloxi.

Entering the weekend D1 Baseball projected Conference USA to be a two-bid league with league-leading FAU sitting in the First Five Out. Rice has a few signature wins (TCU, Baylor), but the chances of reaching the postseason with a sub-.500 overall record will be slim to none.

Rice is 18-23 right now, meaning the most likely avenue to postseason play is a CUSA Tournament win. That’s much easier to do as a three seed than an eight-seed. Coach Bragga says he’s aware of the numbers and the scenarios, but “at the end of the day, we have to go perform. If we perform, we’ll have an opportunity, if we don’t we won’t.”

ON DECK | vs Louisiana Tech (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Football: Defensive line one of spring’s happy surprises

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One of the biggest surprises of the spring was the dominant performance of the Rice football offensive line. Their development is just getting started.

The youth movement is in full force on South Main and few position groups are immune. The defensive line looked to be one of the deepest groups on the team following the 2018 season. Then the transfers of Roe Wilkins and Zach Abercrumbia put a near-certainty into a state of flux. Between Abercrumbia, Wilkins and rush end Graysen Schantz, Rice will have to replace 151 tackles and 13 tackles for a loss.

Void of their old leaders, new guys have been forced to step up and lead the way. The results after spring ball were extremely encouraging.

“It’s a new group with a new identity,” said defensive line coach Cedric Calhoun. “They want to be good. They want to understand the concepts and want to play at a [higher] level.” That next level was evident from the very beginning. Trey Schuman and Elijah Garcia have stepped up their efforts, so too did guys like Myles Adams and Kenneth Orji.

More: 5 predictions following spring practices

Their success came at the expense of the offensive line. That unit, buoyed by the addition of grad transfer Nick Leverett, was expected to take a large step forward in 2019. That still might be the case, but the intensity and disruptiveness of the new-look defensive line made any sort of sustained rhythm out of reach this spring.

While the defensive line may lack “star power” they plan to make up for it with execution and poise. Calhoun said the mindset he’s working to instill in his guys is simple, “If you know your job assignment and your job description along with your motor… you’ve got a chance.”

To some extent, the process isn’t rocket science. “We teach smart, tough and being reliable… Fundamentals are day in and day out,” Calhoun said. His group has approached the task at hand with the level of focus necessary to find success. They’ll need to find a way to transfer that knowledge to the field on Saturday’s in the fall.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Staff juggles 2019, 2020 and 2021 classes this spring

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Spring ball is over, but recruiting season never ends. The 2019, 2020 and 2021 Rice football recruiting class are moving quickly through the spring.

The Rice football spring game was the last big on-campus push the Owls will have for a few months. With spring workouts complete, the coaching staff will hit the road and start another run of visits before the camp circuit begins in earnest in the summer. Entering another busy recruiting season, here’s where the Owls stand on several recruiting fronts.

Wrapping up 2019

Rather than reach for additional high school prospects the staff didn’t love, Rice left a handful of spots in the 2019 class open following National Signing Day. One of those spots will go to Reagan Williams, a fullback transferring to Rice from Stanford.

Rice came extremely close to picking up a commitment from Texas transfer Kyle Porter, losing out to Houston at the last minute. They’ve made more lasting traction with a few other transfer targets, a few of which could make their decisions in the next few weeks. Ideally, Rice wants to have all of their 2019 spots full before summer practices get underway in June.

Keep an eye out for two more additions to finish off the class.Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

Digging deeper on 2020

After a fast start on that front. Rice has hit a few snags in early April. Wide receiver Logan Kyle opted for Vanderbilt over Rice while both offensive lineman Drake Metcalf and tight end Drake Dabney have picked up offers from Power 5 programs. Several other top targets could follow.

An offer from a Power 5 program isn’t a hard stop for Rice, at least, not anymore. Current commit Braedon Nutter has a Colorado offer, but that didn’t deter him from staying home. The value proposition of Rice is gaining traction. Playing D1 football and earning a nationally recognized degree has value. Rice won’t win all of these battles, but don’t be surprised if they start winning more of them in the near future.

Looking ahead to 2021

The first batch of offers for the 2020 class went out this February. It’s probably safe to say the first 2021 offer comes out significantly quicker. Rice has been quicker on the game this year with the younger classes.

Although they haven’t extended any formal offers yet, several 2021 prospects were on campus for the Owls’ spring game. Several current sophomores had the chance to take in the game and meet with the staff including corner Miles Jones, wide receiver Cameron Moore and quarterback Wyatt Begeal. The impact of the Owls’ new Director of Recruiting Alex Brown is being felt in a very tangible way.

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