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Rice Football: Blaze Alldredge and Antonio Montero shine in spring practices

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Rice football might have found a position of strength on their defense after another strong showing from the linebackers in spring practice.

Spring practices continued on a windy Thursday afternoon at Rice Stadium. We’ve already hit on the lack of bodies available earlier in the week, but the guys who are on the field continue to make strides. Special teams and linebackers stood out on Thursday.

Linebackers

If there’s an early contender for strong position unit of the spring it might be the linebackers, at least the healthy ones. Ja’Quez Battley, Dylan James and Dylan Silcox have been sidelined with some seeing limited walkthroughs. The main rotation has consisted of Antonio Montero, Blaze Alldredge and Garrett Grammer.

Montero is instinctive and seeks out contact. He’s ready and willing to lay a blow on anyone with the football. The same goes for Alldredge who blew up a toss play six yards behind the line of scrimmage today, smothering the running back before he could turn and look up field. Grammer saw less playing time last fall, but has already made a strong case to see more of the field.

Position coach Scott Vestal called it “as good of a position as I’ve ever coached… through seven spring practices.” The caveat is his, but he might be on to something. Don’t be surprised if this trio becomes the backbone of a defense retooling the line and rotating in several new bodies in the secondary.

Special Teams

As it’s been throughout the duration of Mike Bloomgren’s time at Rice, special teams is woven through every practice. There hasn’t been much in the way of kickoff work yet, but the punt team got plenty of run on Thursday.

Beyond individual specialists, the punt coverage and return units look as crisp as ever. Special teams coordinator Drew  Svoboda said the team was “lightyears ahead of where we were a year ago,” praising the foundation laid by Pete Lembo in the fall.

Chris Barnes has a tall task, taking over for CUSA Special Team’s Player of the Year and Ray Guy Award Semifinalist Jack Fox, but early returns have been solid. He hasn’t booted the cover off the ball just yet, but he’s working on a variety of kicks and has the potential to keep the legacy of great kicking going at South Main.

Kickers Will Harrison and Nick McQuarry haven’t had the strongest spring, yet. They’ll be pushed in the fall by incoming 2019 signee Zach Hoban. For now, the kicking job remains up for grabs. Through it all, Svoboda credits snapper Cam Riddle as “the glue” that holds these units together.

Scattershooting

  • Quarterback Wiley Green had a few nice progressions during drills today where you could tell he worked his reads until he found the open man. The mental capacity he has for the offense will play a significant role in how well it functions. This was a good day for him.
  • Blaze Alldredge is tough as nails. He walked off the field for a breather, noticed he had a cut on his leg that was bleeding a bit, smirked and kept on walking.
  • D’Angelo Ellis was back at corner today. Once the receiving corps gets healthy that’s probably where he’ll stay.
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Rice Football Pro Day results and workout updates

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The Rice Football Pro Day was held on Monday, March 25 in front of scouts and NFL onlookers who flocked to Houston to see four Owls work out.

A 2019 roster laden with freshman and sophomores still produced a few players with professional football aspirations. Four of those now former Owls put their abilities to the test on Rice Football’s 2019 Pro Day. Punter Jack Fox, fullback Gio Gentosi, edge rusher Graysen Schantz and all-purpose back Austin Walter will participate in NFL Combine-style drills as well as on-field workouts

From my count, seven different NFL teams were in attendance: Jets, Panthers, Colts, Browns, Raiders, 49ers and Texans.

Jack Fox, Punter — 6-2 5/8, 213

Coming off a season in which he was nominated for Ray Guy Award, Fox attended the NFL Combine and the NFL Shrine Game this spring. Monday will mark his third opportunity to kick in front of NFL personnel in hopes of being selected in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Workout notes

Fox did a full array of drills: directional punting, distance punting and backed up in the endzone. He drilled some nice balls with a few hang times in the area of 4.8 seconds.

Highlights

 

 

 

Gio Gentosi, Fullback — 6-0 1/8, 239

Gentosi came to Rice in the fall of 2019 after graduating from UCLA. He saw sparse playing time for the Bruins before earning the starting fullback job with the Owls. He scored his first collegiate touchdown in his final game against Old Dominion. Gentosi did not participate in any on-field workouts.

 

 

Grayson Schantz, Defensive End — 6-2 5/8, 247

Schantz battled injuries throughout a lengthy college career which comes to an end following the 2019 season. He registered a season-high nine tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery against UTEP.

Vertical 33
Broad 95

Workout notes

Schantz participated in just about every drill including a few as a pass catcher. He exhibited his power and burst well on the bag drills toward the later portion of the day.

Highlights

 

 

 

Austin Walter, Running back — 5-6 7/8, 194

At one point the national leader in All-Purpose yardage, Walter became one of the Owls’ most versatile weapons on offense in 2019. He raised some eyebrows with a 4.49 40-yard dash time at the NFL Regional Combine in mid-March.

Vertical 31
Broad 89
Bench 15

Workout notes

Walter had a few hiccups on his starts in the 40-yard dash and shuttle drills. Once he settled in he posted times of 4.54 in the 40 and 6.75 in the three cone drill. The pass catching drills are where he shined the brightest, including a nice acrobatic catch on a ball throw with a bit too much juice over the middle. He hauled in everything and moved quickly in the agility drills.

Highlights

 

 

What’s next?

The NFL Draft runs from April 25 to April 27. It goes without saying the NFL is the primary goal for all college football players, but there are only so many roster spots to go around. There will be opportunities in the newly formed Alliance of American Football as well as the coming XFL reboot. Those who don’t stick in the NFL or don’t receive a camp invite could have further opportunities.

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Rice Football: Offensive lineman Brady Feeney commits to Owls

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class picked up another huge addition with the commitment of offensive lineman Brady Feeney.

Winning in the trenches has been the standard from the first day Mike Bloomgren arrived on campus. It’s no surprise then that he’s building on a strong 2019 class of big men in the trenches with a second impactful offensive lineman in the 2010 class.

A day after landing a commitment from Tomball offensive lineman Braedon Nutter, Rice doubled down up front. St. Louis, MO offensive lineman Brady Feeney has committed to the Owls. 247 Sports rates him as the No. 56 guard in the nation, but he has the power and foot skills to play either tackle position. It’s well within the realm of possibility that he forces his way into the starting lineup across from Clay Servin.

Athletically Feeney is everything you’d want in an offensive lineman. Standing 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, he measures up well with everyone currently on the Rice roster. For someone of that size, he can move with balance and push defenders around, almost at will.

There will be some technical aspects of his game to clean up as he assimilates into the Owls’ scheme, but as a pure prospect, there’s a ton to like about Feeney’s game. He was one of the high priority guys from the start of Rice’s 2020 push. Getting a commitment from him in the spring is icing on the cake.

His commitment brings the 2020 class up to three, all three-star rated recruits, all in the running to be some of the highest rated commitments Rice has seen in the past five years. A strong senior season from Feeney could propel him even higher.

No matter where the rankings fall, Feeney is another high-talent, instant impact player who will make a difference at South Main quickly.

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Rice Football: Offensive lineman Braedon Nutter commits to Owls

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The 2020 Rice football recruiting class has gotten off to a great start with Braedon Nutter joining safety Plae Wyatt as the initial members of the Owls’ next class.

Big things are happening at South Main. As Rice begins to grow the third recruiting class of the Mike Bloomgren era the word seems to have gotten out. High-caliber players from around the state are flocking to Houston. Offensive lineman Braedon Nutter was the latest to buy in to the vision, committing to play his college ball for the Rice Owls.

Nutter is a perception-changing commitment for Rice. The program had finished near the bottom of the conference in recruiting over the last several years prior to Bloomgren’s arrival. But with two highly regarded in state commitments already, things are changing.

At the time of his commitment, the 6-foot-3, 287-pound lineman held offers from Houston, Tulsa, UAB, Air Force, Army, a host of Ivy League schools and Colorado. He has more than a dozen offers under his belt, but Rice has won the battle for his services.

A two-way player in high school, Nutter is being slotted in on the offensive side of the ball. He’s been pegged as a center, but could move down the line or back to defense depending on need. A mauler in the trenches, Nutter is as physical as they come. He embodies everything about the culture of Intellectual Brutality that Bloomgren is seeking to build at Rice.

There aren’t many programs in Conference USA beating out Pac-12 programs for recruits. And if the trajectory of the Owls’ first two commitments continues, he might not be the last. Let’s just say the future is as bright as it’s been in a while at South Main. Watch Nutter’s film for yourself. He’s not going to get moved out of the way very often. He’ll be the one lowering the shoulder and delivering a big blow.

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Rice WBB: Poise, pressure and trying to move on

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Rice women’s basketball saw their season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion by way of an overtime loss to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament. The Owls look to learn and move on.

With 2:54 remaining on the fourth quarter clock Erica Ogwumike drained a three point shot that sent the largely pro-Rice crowd at Reed Arena into a frenzy. After going back and forth with Marquette, the Owls had seemingly broken things wide open. The nine-point lead was the largest margin by either side that day. Rice could almost taste their first NCAA Tournament victory in nearly 20 years.

Unfortunately for coach Tina Langley’s young squad, they’ll have to wait at least one more year. The veteran-laden Golden Eagles were not afraid of the moment, forcing overtime and going on to win by a final score of 58-54. It was Ogwumike herself who seemed to take the loss the hardest after the game. “I think a lot of the things that we messed up were in our hands,” she said, “poise was the thing we were missing toward the end.”

RECAP: Rice women’s basketball drops overtime slugfest to Marquette in NCAA Tournament

Poise. An easy self-possessed assurance of manner according to Merriam Webster. More specifically, the overflowing of the only thing this team was missing entering the NCAA Tournament for their first times — experience. Rice had practiced the situational drills. They knew what to do in every situation. But when Ogwumike hit that fourth quarter three, their collective poise dissipated at the worst possible time.

Credit the Owls with this. They didn’t lose their poise for long. It less than two minutes of game time the 9-0 Marquette run was over. Rice had the basketball with enough time to take the potential game-winning shot. It ricocheted out. The Owls would go on to lose in overtime, an extra period which they probably could have avoided had it not been for the brief lack of composure that allowed Marquette to tie the game.

Learning the hard way

“Any time you have experience, you’re going to learn from it. And we will learn from this game” Langley said in her postgame comments. Those two minutes of uncertainty will stick with this team all offseason and into 2020. They will learn from it, and Langley remains as confident as ever they’re on the right track. “I think the future is very bright,” she added, this is a very young team and really talented team. So we know that we can continue to compete at this level for a long time.”

In overtime, the shots fell for Marquette and not for Rice. The Owls had a few hurried looks, but even their best drawn up possessions ended in layups that bounced off the suddenly miniature basket. Poise or not, a more fortunate bounce here or there could have swung the outcome of this game.

That’s part of what makes this loss so frustrating. Even with the miscues, Rice could have won. “I think it also gives you a little bit of hunger when you’ve had the chance to be there,” Langley explained,” We talked about this in the locker room, how we went from a team that had no post‑season to WBI champions to being in the NIT and NCAA. It is just hard to skip steps in life.”

Perhaps for Rice, this really will be an unskippable, character building step on the journey to something more. The underdog who went toe-to-toe with the Big East regular season champs came up feeling scorned. Like they should be moving on in the Tournament, not going home emptyhanded.

The floor has been raised

Call it a lack of poise. Call it bad luck. Either way, it’s safe to say this season did not end the way Rice had hoped it would, largely because of the stratospheric expectations this program had engendered over the last five months.

Rice set a myriad of program bests, going a perfect 16-0 in conference play, winning 21 games in a row and finishing the season perfect at Tudor Fieldhouse. Ogwumike was named CUSA Player of the Year. Nancy Mulkey was named CUSA Tournament MVP. Lauren Grigsby was named CUSA Sixth Person of the Year.

The reason this team is disappointed in a loss to a Top 20 team is partly because Rice ended the season ranked No. 21 in the AP Poll, the highest rank in school history. A feat in itself considering being ranked in the first place was also a first, achieved by this year’s squad.

The future is bright

The potential of this group of women is astronomical. They proved it all season long, and now they’ll go into the offseason with new experience and an even greater drive. Grigsby, Shani Rainey and Nicole Iademarco will be moving on, but Rice has plenty of pieces to make another run in 2020. And that’s exactly what they plan to do.

“Sometimes you can have a special group of people that can take you a little farther than you anticipate,” Langley said as she wrapped up her postgame thoughts. She wasn’t referring directly to next year’s team, but the undercurrent theme of rising about expectations syncs perfectly with this team’s experience. They did go further than most anticipated. And they’re ready to take the next steps. It’ll just have to wait until 2020.

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