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2018 UTEP Miners Season Preview

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Rice football’s lone victory of the 2017 season came against the UTEP Miners who have also moved on to a new coach. What can Dana Dimel accomplish in his first year in El Paso?

As Mike Bloomgren ushers in a new era at South Main, Dana Dimel hopes to bring an injection of new life into a UTEP program that finds themselves, with Rice, working their way up from the bottom of Conference USA. The UTEP Miners were the only winless team in the FBS last season, making the bar for improvement manageable in Dimel’s first season. It just might take some time.

Rice would have been in the cellar themselves, had it not been for a 31-14 victory over the Miners last season. The Owls and Miners have met 21 times; the Owls lead the series 14-7. The two squads will square off next on Nov. 3 in a game will serve as a benchmark for the rebuild being undertaken by each program.

UTEP has the fortune (or perhaps misfortune given 2017’s results) of returning a fair amount of starters on both sides of the ball. That puts the onus on Dimel to coach up a group of largely veteran players who he hopes have learned a lot over an extremely challenging season that led to the dismissal of his predecessor, Sean Kugler.

Here’s how UTEP stacks up on both sides of the ball in 2018:

Offense

Dimel will have to start from scratch in more ways than one. Last year’s starting quarterback Zach Greenlee is gone, so is leading receiving Tyler Batson. Those are two significant holes that will need to be filled, quickly.

At quarterback, the Miners will choose between two distinctly different commodities. Dual-threat Kai Locksley, the 2017 NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year put up 2,238 passing yards, 705 rushing yards and 40 combined touchdowns for Iowa Western. He’ll battle it out with returning senior pocket passer Ryan Metz. Metz was less impressive a year ago, throwing three touchdowns and six interceptions in eight appearances.

UTEP opens against Northern Arizona. ESPN FPI projections give UTEP a 49.9 percent chance of winning their season opener against NAU, a decidedly more lenient opponent than last year in which they fell to eventual College Football Playoff participant Oklahoma, 56-7.

There are no “sure things” after the 0-fer campaign in 2017, but there won’t be another contest this winnable for the Miners, who could choose to put both guys through some live game action to finalize the quarterback battle if that’s the route Dimel chooses.

Whoever wins the starting job will have the benefit of an experienced offensive line in front of them. The Miners bring back four of their five starters from a year ago, led by 6-foot-2, 305-pound center Derron Gatewood.

The Miners are fairly well set up at the skill positions as well. Senior wideout Kavika Johnson (15 receptions, 178 yards and two touchdowns in 2017) leads the receiving corps and Quardraiz Wadley and Treyvon Hughes will battle for the starting job in the backfield.

Defense

Similar to the offense, the defense is also filled with returning players at several key positions. Again, not necessarily a good thing. The UTEP secondary was one of their stronger units last season, surrendering 212.3 passing yards per game, the 48th best mark in the country. Outside of the 496-yard thrashing from Baker Mayfield, UTEP allowed just one other opponent top 230 yards through the air against them in 2017. The Miners return almost the entirety of that unit, which should see a step up in production immediately if the front seven can give them more help.

UTEP registered 11 sacks in 2017, one more than Air Force who finished last in the entire nation in the metric. The Miners couldn’t figure out how to get the quarterback, no matter how hard they tried. If the upperclassmen tandem of C.J. Reese and Denzel Chukwukelu can be even the slightest bit more disruptive this year they could make an already strong secondary that much better.

The linebackers are where the optimism fades. Gone are Alvin Jones, Dante Lovilotte and Julian Jackson. That leaves Jayson Vanhook as the only member of the 2018 unit with meaningful playing experience. The youth infusion leaves the position group wide open. Players like incoming freshman Cal Wallerstedt and returning juniors Jamar Smith (34 tackles, four for a loss) and Dylan Parsee (26 tackles, two for a loss) will be thrust into starting roles. If this unit can anchor the middle of the field the Miners have a chance to make significant strides on this side of the ball in 2018. That’s a big if.

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22 Days: Owls’ staff excited about the 2018 recruiting class

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22 freshman joined the Rice football team as members of the 2018 recruiting class with several others walking on. The new staff is thrilled by their early results.

Mike Bloomgren was introduced as the new head football coach at Rice University on Dec. 6, 2017. Two weeks later the Owls went through the inaugural early signing period, which was admittedly challenging for the Owls’ new staff. 

Rice earned five signatures on the short turnaround and added another 17 members before all was said and done, giving them 22 members in the 2018 class. Others would join the Owls during the summer, bringing the final tally closer to 30 first-year players this season.

A little more than five months after National Signing Day in February, the entirety of that class has finally arrived on campus and is participating in regular practice with the rest of the team. Bloomgren and his staff could not be more complimentary of the fresh faces on campus, glowing about their on-field performances during practices and in the weight room this summer.

There have been moments of frustration, but by and large, the staff is impressed with the performance of the “young bucks” early on. Special teams coach Josh Lembo acknowledged several hard workers that had impressed early: Jacob Doddridge, Prudy Calderon, Juma Ocotviano and Miles Adams, among others. On the whole, there doesn’t seem to be a wink link, at least not yet.

Judging from what Bloomgren has already said about the fluidity of the depth chart and the progress being shown by the 2018 class there could be a few newcomers that crack their way into the starting lineups early on in the season. The effort of the young guns is unmistakable and it’s already feeding through to the rest of the team. So far, the freshmen are putting in the work it takes to be successful. Those dividends will pay off in the fall.

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2018 LSU Tigers Season Preview

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A road trip to Death Valley awaits Rice Football at the tail end of the 2018 season. How will the Owls stack up against the LSU Tigers in 2018?

The toughest test for Rice Football in 2018 will come on Nov. 17 when the Owls travel to Death Valley to take on the LSU Tigers. The SEC heavyweight has been in a state of flux since the firing on long-time head coach Les Miles and the start of the Ed Orgeron era.

After taking over as the interim coach midway through 2016, Oregon’s first full season came in 2017 and it was a bumpy ride. The Tigers started out 2-2 losing at home to eventual Sun Belt champions, Troy. The pressure on Coach O continued to mount, but a 7-1 end to the regular season quelled those calling for his job, at least for the time being.

The Tigers will be talented in 2018 thanks to an ever-abundant pool of talent in the south. Their success (or lack thereof) will depend entirely on their level of coaching and quarterback play. The 2018 game with Rice marks the first time these two teams will meet on the football field in 23 years.

It would take an upset for the ages for this Rice team to beat this LSU team, but there’s always the chance Rice is aided by chaos in the LSU camp. If the wheels fall off and Coach O struggles out of the gate again the team could elect to give him the boot before LSU meets Rice the weekend prior to Thanksgiving. If that does happen, all bets are off.

Here’s what to expect from LSU in 2018.

Offense

The Tigers primary objective of the offseason will be deciding on Danny Etling‘s successor under center. The former starting quarterback was selected in the NFL Draft this spring, which at the time seemed to open the door for sophomore quarterback Myles Brennan. The latter was uninspiring in limited action last season.

Brennan appeared in six games, completing 14 of 24 passes for 182 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. It was Brennan that replaced Etling midway through the Tigers home loss to Troy, only to be benched in favor of Etling later on in the game.

The starting job was between him and redshirt freshman Lowell Narcisse until Coach Oregon landed what he hopes will be an impactful grad transfer in former Ohio State backup quarterback Joe Burrow. He, presumably, will be handed the starting job at LSU after failing to beat out Dwayne Haskins at Ohio State.

Along with a new name at quarterback, LSU will have to break in several skill players. Texas Tech transfer Jonathan Giles should take over for DJ Chark as the No. 1 receiver while the running back position is completely wide open. There is no Derrius Guice waiting in the wings to replace a departing superstar. This year the Tigers will be forced to rely on a committee with the load shared between Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Nick Brossette.

LSU has a few new faces along the offensive line as well, but the Tigers depth and experience should enable them to plug and play. Don’t expect any major gaps on that front.

Defense

Only in the SEC West can a team lose their top three tacklers and not miss a beat. Arden Key, Donnie Alexander and Corey Thompson are all gone.  Still, potential first-round pick Devin White leads will lead the front seven from the linebacker position. White led the Tigers with 133 tackles, a mark which ranked 11th in the nation.

Averaging slightly more than 10 tackles per game, White had more total tackles than any two other defensive players combined. He also had 13.5 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks and one interception.

Backing White up in the secondary is another potential first-round pick, Greedy Williams. He nabbed six interceptions last season, accounting for half of the team total of 12 picks. He’s as lock-down as they come and will draw the task of shutting down the No. 1 pass-catching option in each of the Tigers’ games this season.

The defensive line will see some turnover too, most prominently the loss of veteran player Christian Lacouture. Waiting in the wings are a handful of less experienced, but still talented pass rushers including Texas Tech transfer Breiden Fehoko and host of incoming freshman.

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2019 Running back Jawan King commits to Owls

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Rice football continues to add to their already strong 2019 recruiting class. 3-star running back Jawan King became the newest of the Owls’ commits on Wednesday.

More: Complete list of 2019 Rice football commits after the early signing period

On Tuesday morning Jawan King woke up while it was still dark and made a long drive to the campus of Rice University. For him, the 2:30 a.m. wake up time was well worth the sacrifice. He got to campus, spent the day with the coaches and left after making a verbal commitment to Coach Mike Bloomgren and the Owls.

King informed the coaches of his decision on Tuesday, the same day he received his offer. He released the news to the public on Wednesday via social media.

https://twitter.com/jawank23/status/1024825202738425856

247 Sports tabs King as the No. 83 running back in the nation and the No. 157 player in the state of Texas. He is now the highest rated player in the Owls’ 2019 recruiting class. Better still, he’s a higher rated prospect than any member of the 2018 class. Rice hasn’t signed a player rated this highly since Zack Abercrumbia and Carl Thompson in 2015.

He picked the Owls over offers from Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Houston Baptist, Louisiana Monroe, Texas State, Texas-San Antonio and others. The 5-foot-10 speedster is going to see his offer list continue to grow, making getting in first and securing a commitment a huge win for Rice and Coach Bloomgren.

Rice’s 2019 class is now ranked 93rd in the nation and sixth in Conference USA. The level of talent that the Owls are getting on campus continues to rise, and with it, so do the profile of the commitments. If Rice can continue to reel in guys like King the rebuilding process could be completed much quicker than anticipated.

King is quick, decisive and has the potential to be a big-play machine for the Owls in the coming years.

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Quarterback battle wide open entering fall camp

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Rice football is still searching for their starting quarterback for the 2018 season with several players in the mix to earn the job. How will this battle play out over the course of fall camp?

The click-clack of cleats jogging down the concrete ramp onto the field echoed through Rice Stadium as the team began to trickle in for the first practice of the season. Scattered among the masses of blue and white jerseys were a handful of red-clad athletes. The red, meant to symbolize no contact, is reserved for players working their way back from injury and, perhaps more so, is the designator of the quarterbacks.

As the team spread out into position groups the quarterbacks gathered together as well, talking amongst themselves, going through their warmups and tossing the ball back and forth between them. From afar, everyone looked somewhat similar. No one player had distanced themselves from the group. Not only was that true of their physical proximity, but it’s reflective of the current state of the depth chart too.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren called the depth chart “fluid as water” and another staffer commented that it was “worth the paper it’s printed on.” From cornerback to wide receiver, from the specialists to the offensive line, every position is up for grabs. Including the quarterback.

“Everything is going to be evaluated. Everything is going to be filmed. Everything will be watched. The assessment is real and constant,” Bloomgren said with a passionate, yet even-keeled temperament. “Everything will be earned.”

More: Breaking down the options at quarterback for the Owls in 2018

Rice football enters the 2018 season with a fair amount of uncertainty at the quarterback position. Jackson Tyner and Sam Glaesmann both saw meaningful snaps last season. Joining Tyner and Glaesmann is graduate transfer Shawn Stankavage from Vanderbilt. That trio, at least for now, represents the primary contenders for the starting job.

Bloomgren gave Tyner the nod as the front-runner at Conference USA Media Days, but even Tyner is preparing himself for the battle he’s going to face for the starting job. “Competition is good.” he remarked after practice, “It’s going to make every single one of us better, perform higher. We’re going to push each other.” Glaesmann echoed that sentiment, going as far as to say that the quarterback room was all “good buddies” who “want the best for each other.”

As they went throughout practice they all saw highs and lows. The trio of Tyner, Glaesmann and Stankavage rotated with the starters throughout most of the first day. Each would take a rep, then step back and watch the next guy in line take his shot.

No one distanced themselves too much on opening day, but there’s a long way to go before the Owls kick off their season against Prairie View A&M on Aug. 25. Bloomgren would like to have a starter penciled in before that game begins, but said he had “no fear or qualms about letting this battle go to gametime and beyond if that’s what it takes.”

More: 2018 Season Preview – Prairie View A&M Panthers

On a talent basis, Bloomgren is not concerned, going as far as to say he believed there were four or five guys that had enough talent to win the job outright. When it comes to making his decision, he touted intelligence as the top differentiator. At the end of the day, the question he was asking himself was simple: “Who is going to be able to execute our offense the most efficiently?”

Without revealing his hand too much, Bloomgren did confirm that mobility was something he valued a fair amount. “We always want a better athlete. We always want someone that can get three first downs a game with their feet,” he said excitedly, saying that players that can move around well and steal first downs make the west coast offense operated as it’s designed to be run.”

That would play to the strengths of Glaesmann, who made a move with the ball that was so quick and elusive that Bloomgren called him a “magician” on the field. Glaesmann averaged 4.1 yards per carry last season and scored three touchdowns on the ground. Tyner averaged 2.0 yards per rush with one rushing score. Stankvage never recorded a carry at Vanderbilt but did rush for 1,058 yards and 13 touchdowns in his final year of high school in North Carolina.

All three quarterbacks were put in motion multiple times during the drills. Each looked comfortable on the move and no end to the battle is in sight quite yet. Tyner might have summed it up the best. Whoever wins the job, they’re all just excited to be back out of the field competing.

“Last year we had a rough year and a lot of guys got to the point where we just weren’t excited to play ball,” he admitted, somewhat begrudging before ending on a high note “We got the juice back and we’re ready to ball.”

“In my perfect world,” Bloomgren said, somewhat hopefully, “someone will jump up, snatch that job and never let go.” The quarterback race is wide open. May the best man win.

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