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Rice Football Recruiting: 2021 OL Faaeanuu Pepe commits to Owls

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Orange, California offensive lineman Faaenanuu Pepe has committed to the Owls. He is the first commitment of the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class.

The ink had hardly dried on the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class before the Owls turned their attention to 2021. On National Signing Day Rice added four new members to their 2020 class. They issued seven offers to 2021 players. One of those seven was Orange, California offensive lineman Faaenauu Pepe.

The first commitment of the 2021 Rice Football Recruiting class, Faaenauu Pepe is a big addition — literally. Some listings have put him in the neighborhood of 320 to 330 pounds. After walking past him on a visit he looks bigger than that. Pepe is a people mover in the trenches and the perfect man to kick off the Intellectual Brutality culture of the upcoming class.

Much like their strategy with their 2020 class, Rice was the first to offer Pepe. Before anyone else could throw their hat in the ring, Pepe made his pledge. For him, the decision was easy. “I felt like Rice was the perfect place for me because the environment felt ‘home-like'”, he said, adding that the coaches and staff “made it feel like I was apart of the family.”

Pepe prides himself on his technique, which he credits much of to his uncle Jesse Sapolu who spent 15 years in the NFL, all with the San Francisco 49ers. He was a four-time Super Bowl champion and went to two Pro Bowls.

Having Sapolu as a mentor from his early years was huge for Pepe’s growth. That skill, plus an innate aggressiveness that comes with spending time in the trenches make Pepe an exciting prospect. Rice football preaches an NFL Curriculum. Pepe has already been living it.

Pepe pushed people around in the trenches in high school. That’s what people of his caliber should do against the defensive lineman unlucky enough to line up in front of them. Then he took it a step further, depositing would-be tacklers on their backs with impressive regularity. He’ll be a force for Rice on the offensive line for years to come.

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Rice Baseball 2020: Owls swept by No. 2 Texas Tech

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Rice baseball pushed No. 2 Texas Tech to the wire on multiple occasions but left Lubbock without a win. More on the good and bad from the wild weekend.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Texas Tech wins series 3-0

1. The starting pitching is gradually getting better

Texas Tech scored in droves over the weekend, but the Rice bullpen was the primary victim of the rain of runs. Starters Alex DeLeon (5 IP, 3 ER), Blake Brogdon (3.2 IP, 1 ER) and Drake Greenwood (5 IP, 2 ER) were able to battle and keep the potent Texas Tech offense at bay.

It wasn’t all positive. Although all of the Owls starting pitchers surrendered less than three earned runs, none made it through the sixth inning, the bar necessary to earn a quality start. A quality start isn’t a perfect measure of a pitcher’s mettle, but the toll exacted on the bullpen from the starter’s short outings couldn’t have been any more apparent after Texas Tech exploded at the end of games. 21 of their 33 runs were scored in the sixth inning or later.

2. Top-heavy lineup

Rice jumped out to a multi-run lead in two of the three games in this series. Given the Owls’ propensity to play from behind, a cushion for the starting pitching was an encouraging sign. The chief contributor for the early success was the top bats in the Rice lineup showing up in big ways.

The usual cast of characters — Braden Comeaux, Bradley Gneiting, Trei Cruz, Austin Bulman and Cade Edwards — gave the Texas Tech pitching staff fits. The bottom half of the order was an entirely different story. Justin Collins had a few hits, but struck out eight times. Aaron Beaulaurier and Antonio Cruz went 0-fer at the dish for the weekend.

On Saturday, Rice exhibited how dangerous this lineup can be when the top hitters are in a groove. The difference in the game, though, was the ability to score runs from the back half of the lineup. Rice 6-7-8-9 hitters had one combined RBI. The same portion of the Texas Tech lineup had 14 RBI.

3. Not yet five units strong

Before the season began, Rice skipper Matt Bragga said the team needed to be five units strong. That meant consistent pitching, Hitting and defense (catching, infield and outfield). Rice has had flashes of greatness in all three levels, but the defense has been the only facet this team can rely on with any level of dependability.

The defense has had blips here and there, but those units looks night-and-day different from where they started in 2019. The bats seem to be inching in the right direction; Rice has scored five or more runs three times since Feb. 28 after topping out a four runs in their 0-7 start.

Individual pitchers have had solid outings, but collectively they’ve struggled. Rice has held an opponent to fewer than four runs twice (not counting sunday) in 15 tries. That’s not going to cut it, especially when the offense isn’t able to consistently put up crooked numbers.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | Texas Tech 7 – Rice 1

Rice baseball fell behind early on Friday night against Texas Tech and was unable to battle back. The one-two punch of Clayton Beeter and Micah Dallas completely flummoxed the Owls, who struck out a season-high 17 times. It’s hard to mount any sort of rally when punchouts outnumber hits (Rice had six) by nearly three to one.

Even with the lack of production at the plate, Rice kept things within striking distance until starter Alex DeLeon left the ballgame. Freshman Matthew Santos came in and threw 1+ inning, walking three and allowing four runs. A 4-1 deficit became a 7-1 deficit, a score which held for the final two frames.

SATURDAY | Texas Tech 19 – Rice 12

Through two and a half innings, Rice led the No. 2 team in the nation 7-1. Blake Brogdon had worked through some trouble on the bases, but kept Texas Tech limited at the plate. Control issues and a rising pitch count forced Rice to go to the bullpen, opting for Cristian Cienfuegos in the fourth inning.

Cienfuegos had been one of the Owls’ more dependable bullpen pieces, but wasn’t able to do anything against the Red Raider lineup. He was tattooed for nine runs (eight earned) in two innings. Josh Larzabal and Johnny Hoyle, who followed Cienfuegos, were equally scarred. The Rice offense tied a season-high with 12 runs, but couldn’t keep pace with the home team.

SUNDAY | Texas Tech 7 – Rice 6 (11 inn)

Things started out on the right for the Owls in the series finale. Rice struck for four runs in the first inning despite only recording one hit. Texas Tech starter Austin Becker walked the bases full setting up a 2 RBI double by Rodrigo Duluc. Up big early for the second day in a row, all the Owls had to do was hold on.

Both teams had scary moments, loading the bases in the later innings with the chance to push the game to one extreme or the other. The differentiator was a bases loaded walk by Justin Collins and a deftly induced double play ball by Branden Deskins. Everything finally came together to help Rice salvage a much-needed marquee win.

ON DECK | vs Texas A&M (Tues), vs Marshall (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Women’s Basketball beats ODU to clinch C-USA Regular Season Title

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Rice women’s basketball clinched the 2020 Conference USA Regular Season Title with a thrilling win over Old Dominion at Tudor Fieldhouse.

In a game that had all the makings of an instant classic, Rice women’s basketball emerged with a conference title-clinching victory. Neither team ever held a lead greater than eight points in a contest with 18 lead changes that came down to the final seconds.

Both teams came out firing. Rice shot 53.6 percent from the field in the first half, but only found themselves up by four points at the break. That was due, in large part, to an incredible game from Old Dominion’s Victoria Morris. The junior finished with a season-high 29 points, 12 of which came before halftime.

The big game by Morris was countered by one of the Owls’ most complete team showings of the season. Senior guard Erica Ogwumike battled foul trouble but still finished with an impactful 20 points and five rebounds in her final game at Tudor Fieldhouse. She was one of five Owls that finished in double figure points.

Rice got key contributions from their bench, something they lacked in their loss to Old Dominion earlier in the season. That included a season-high 11 points from Katelyn Crosthwait off the bench and important minutes from Destiny Jackson as well.

Once their 30-game conference winning streak was over, Rice seemed vulnerable in C-USA for the first time in two years. Beating Old Dominion gave Rice a win over every C-USA team this season. In a sense, it restored some of the Owls’ swagger.

Rice had already secured at least a share of the title with their win over UTEP on Thursday. Saturday’s triumph put the Owls’ alone atop C-USA. More importantly, it locked up the No. 1 overall seed for Rice in the Conference USA Basketball Tournament, set to begin on Wednesday, March 11.

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Rice Women’s Basketball clinches share of 2020 regular season C-USA title

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It was another banner night for Rice Women’s Basketball, which defended their spot atop Conference USA, clinching a share of the regular season title.

Rice Women’s Basketball clinched a share of the Conference USA Women’s Basketball regular season title with a Thursday night win over UTEP. The Miners kept things close early before Rice used their seemingly inevitable third quarter surge to put things out of reach and lock down the win at home.

The victory clinched a fourth consecutive season of at least 20 wins for Rice women’s basketball. That’s a testament to the incredible work done by head coach Tina Langley, who earlier this season became the fastest coach in program history to reach 100 wins.

Langley and the Owls aren’t done yet, though. The win over UTEP came in parallel with an Old Dominion loss to UAB in overtime. For the moment, Rice (15-2) holds sole possession of first place in Conference USA and the right to the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. That sets the stage for a winner-take-all contest this weekend between the Owls and the Monarchs.

Old Dominion (14-3) would leapfrog Rice with a win at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday by nature of the head-to-head tiebreaker. Even with a loss, Rice could fall no further than the No. 2 seed. Since the top four teams in C-USA get byes in the first round and the middle-tier of the conference is fairly robust, the difference between the No. 1 seed and the No. 2 seed might not matter much this year. Still, the optics of being No. 1 carry some relevance.

This season has been flush with highs (Erica Ogwumike’s 2000-point, 1000-rebound plateau, 30th consecutive C-USA win) and lows (Injuries to Ogwumike and Nancy Mulkey, back-to-back C-USA losses, bad start to nonconference play). In the midst of all of the noise, Rice women’s basketball has proved to be resilient. Now it’s time to win when it counts — in March.

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BREAKING: Chris Monfiletto and Sanders Davis named to Rice Football staff

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Rice football has two new coaches on the offensive side of the ball, both of which were promoted from within the program by head coach Mike Bloomgren.

Finding the right culture fit has been extremely important for Mike Bloomgren when he’s made staffing decisions for Rice football. Last year he replaced one assistant — Pete Lembo — promoting Mike Kershaw from within the organization and reassigning roles to fill the spot. When given the choice between starting fresh and finding someone capable within, Bloomgren has made his preferences clear.

This offseason has seen similar changes. Rice looked internally to replace offensive line coach Joe Ashfield and tight ends coach Bill Best. The result of those discussions were the promotion of two coaches already on the Rice football staff. Offensive quality control coach Chris Monfiletto will be named the tight ends coach. Offensive graduate assistant Sanders Davis will be named the offensive line coach.

Davis joined the Rice staff in 2019 after serving as the offensive line coach and the run game coordinator for Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, LA. Prior to that, he played his college ball at Dartmouth as a center from 2010 to 2013. Monfiletto also joined Rice in 2019. Prior to his work as a quality control assistant, he served as the head coach at Kenyon College from 2012 to 2018. Both men did well in off-field roles, earning their respective shots at on-field roles in 2020.

The addition of those two brings the Rice staff back to full strength, rounding out their assistant staff at 10. Monfiletto has already been on the road, joining the staff on their late-January recruiting push along with Rice Football Director of Recruiting Alex Brown.

Now with a complete staff, Rice football returns to the field. Spring ball is underway and the new coaches will be a part of the festivities.

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