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2025 Rice Football Rising Star: D’Andre Hardeman

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A physical, downhill runner whose role continued to grow as the year went on, freshman D’Andre Hardeman is our 2025 Rice Football Rising Star.

When head coach Scott Abell arrived on campus, he elected to honor the scholarships of every player who had committed to Rice football under the prior coaching staff. For some players, the gesture might have been particularly generous, given many of those players were recruited to play in a different scheme and weren’t hand-picked by Abell or his staff. No such concerns existed with running back D’Andre Hardeman.

A standout at North Shore High School in town, Hardeman came to South Main as the kind of athlete at the running back position few coaches would turn down, particularly those interested in pounding the rock as often as Abell.

Through camp, Hardeman traded off snaps in rotation with several others vying for playing time. While he might not have fully separated himself from the pack at that point, the groundwork had already been laid for a big season from the Owls’ featured room.

More: 2025 Rice Football Season Superlatives

“I think the running back room jumps out at me every day,” Abell said, repeatedly acknowledging he had plans to use multiple backs throughout the season and wouldn’t shy away from playing freshman if they earned the work.

If that was the beginnings of the drum beats for Hardeman’s launch, they would only continue to get louder and louder from there. Coaches and teammates praised both he and fellow newcomer Tyvonn Byars, setting the stage for a season with relatively high expectations for the tandem of first-year players.

“I think the freshmen are going to shock a lot of people,” veteran rusher Quinton Jackson said. “They’re willing to learn. They’re willing to go the extra mile to be the best player they can be.”

Hardeman suffered a minor setback just before the season began, which kept him out of practice for a few days and seemed to drop him ever so slightly down the depth chart. That dip wouldn’t be long-lasting.

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Hardeman did not play in the opener against Louisiana, but saw in every game from that point forward. And it wasn’t just token snaps. Hardeman was the most active member of the 2025 signing class, playing 12 of the Owls’ 13 games. Only two freshmen played in every contest, Semaj Pierre and Ty Thames, much of which came on special teams.

Meanwhile, Hardeman just kept running. He had at least four carries in all 12 contests he played, finishing third on the team in total touches, trailing only Jackson, slot Aaron Turner and quarterback Chase Jenkins. He was quick, decisive and extremely hard to get to the ground, making the most of his opportunities. And they were valuable touches, too.

Hardeman quickly seized short-yardage and fourth down duties, excelling in those high-leverage situations. He finished the season with 325 yards rushing, two touchdowns and one of the brightest futures among all skill players on campus.

** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **

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2025 Rice Football Special Teams Player of the Year: Enoch Gota

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The most effective place kicker at South Main in quite a while, Enoch Gota is our 2025 Rice Football Special Teams Player of the Year.

Field goals have been an adventure around South Main for several years and the Owls haven’t had a truly dependable kicker in almost half a decade. With so many moving parts entering the 2025 season on offense, having someone who could reliably put it through the pipes became that much more important. Enoch Gota stepped in to be that answer.

Gota served as the primary kickoff specialist for Rice football over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and while he performed well in that role, he was never able to fully unseat Tim Horn, who transferred into the program from Washington, although he came close. Horn’s struggles last season opened the door for Gota, who made 5-of-8 kicks before the team reverted back to Horn.

More: 2025 Rice Football Season Superlatives

When Horn’s eligibility expired this past offseason, Rice football brought in former UTSA kicker Chase Allen to compete for the job. Gota beat him out in fall camp and was the Owls’ opening day field goal specialist for the first time.

To box score scouts, Gota’s first year as the starter got off to a rocky start. He did not attempt a field goal in the season opener against Louisiana, but converted a 42-yard attempt against Houston. Then he proceeded to miss three of his next six attempts, completing the first half of the season with 4-of-7 from the field with a perfect 14-for-14 mark on extra points.

Gota wasn’t inaccurate, though. He just did not possess the bionic legs that some of today’s NFL kickers have flashed. Gota’s three misses came from 54 yards (against PVAMU), 55 yards (against Charlotte) and 47 yards (against FAU). The ball generally flew in the right direction but came up short on those longer kicks.

The staff wasn’t fooled by the modest conversion rate in the early weeks and stuck with Gota despite those misses. He rewarded the Owls by making every attempt from that point onward, finishing the season 10-for-13 (76.9 percent) on field goal tries and 27-of-27 on extra points. On kicks from 49 yards or shorter, Gota converted 10-of-11.

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Even with the misses from deep, Gota posted the most successful season from a Rice place kicker since Chris Barnes knocked through 8-of-10 attempts in 2019. No kicker since then had been better than 75 percent, with many delivering extremely underwhelming seasons to the point where the Owls often opted to go for it on fourth down rather than put the game on the foot of their specialists.

By season’s end, Gota was the team’s leading scorer, the first time a specialist earned that designation since Christian VanSickle in 2022. Gota’s only limiting factor was the inefficiency of the offense, which limited his opportunities to add to his stats. As a result, his stellar season flew under the radar somewhat, but his impact on the Owls’ success was not missed by those on South Main.

** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **

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2025 Rice Football Offensive Newcomer of the Year: Aaron Turner

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A handpicked offensive weapon by the new staff, slot receiver Aaron Turner turned in a stellar season. He’s our 2025 Rice Football Offensive Newcomer of the Year.

From the moment he set foot on campus, slot receiver Aaron Turner bore the weight of tremendous expectations. The Cincinnati transfer was the brother of Rice staffer Eli Turner and had some familiarity with head coach Scott Abell and the style of offense the Owls wanted to run. He was starting from ground zero like the rest of the skill players, but his wealth of collegiate experience and athleticism made him an obvious candidate to become the Owls’ go-to guy.

During the spring, when Abell was coy to single out any individual by name as the team learned the offense, he was the exception.

“Aaron Turner seems to be making plays every day,” Abell declared, paving the way for the Owls’ new offensive weapon to lead the way in 2026.

More: 2025 Rice Football Season Superlatives

Sure enough, it was Turner who took a reverse 17 yards for the game-winning touchdown against Louisiana. The rushing score by a player listed as a “wide receiver” served as a beacon for what might be possible in this offense. Turner would break off another long scoring run against Prairie View A&M a few weeks later, two of his three rushing scores of the season as the Rice offense got its footing around him.

Lines blur between rushing and receiving in this offense, with pop passes that function like sweeps and reverses being awarded as receptions and receiving yards, even though the ball is hardly airborne for any material length of time. No matter how you slice it, though, Turner finished as the Owls’ leading receiver and had more scrimmage yards than any offensive player outside of workhorse running back Quinton Jackson.

Turner delivered career bests in receptions (63), rushing yards (259), total touchdowns (seven) and total scrimmage yards (657). Most of those came in the second half of the season as Turner seemingly willed the offense to stay in games against high-powered opponents.

“He was just a little bit of a different guy. He got comfortable,” inside receivers coach Austin Eisenhofer said of Turner’s growth during the year. “He wasn’t second-guessing things. He knew what he was doing was right. He knew he was better than the guys across from him, and he was going to get it done.”

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Turner’s most impactful moments came under the brightest lights. He led all Owls in scrimmage yards in the final two games of the regular season, going off for 136 yards and two touchdowns against North Texas and 119 yards against South Florida.

When Abell and his staff set out to recruit skill players to this offense moving forward, they’ll turn on Turner’s 2025 tape. He showed what could be possible while the scheme was still in its fledgling stages and the Owls would have been in a tough spot without his big plays to energize the offense.

** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **

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2025 Rice Football Defensive Newcomer of the Year: Tony Anyanwu

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Tony Anyanwu made his one season on South Main memorable, finishing top five in the conference in sacks on his way to being our 2025 Rice Football Defensive Newcomer of the Year.

It’s hard to know for certain what the Transfer Portal is going to bring. When Rice football added former Baylor edge rusher Tony Anyanwu to the fold they were making a bet that the talented recruit who notched just seven tackles in two seasons with the Bears could bring more to the table with the Owls. It turns out the staff was right.

Anyanwu arrived on campus as the presumptive backup to Michael Daley, who would be lost for the season with an injury just four games into the Owls’ 2025 campaign. At that point, snaps were open to any and all who could find a way to get opposing quarterbacks on the ground.

In that same game in which Daley went down, Anyanwu registered two sacks, the best single-game outing of his career by far. And that was as a role player taking on a little bit more responsibility with every passing week.

More: 2025 Rice Football Season Superlatives

“He’s still coming into his own as a pass rusher,” defensive coordinator Jon Kay said. “I think he’s just going to continue to grow as he gets a better understanding of the defense.”

It wasn’t long after Kay started using words like “mainstay” to describe the steadying presence Anyanwu brought to the Rice defense. He became an every-down player, posting what was then a career-best nine-tackle game in the Owls’ upset win over UConn, which drew even more rave reviews from his coaches.

“He can play a lot of positions. He’s just about the most versatile kid out there because you can drop him in coverage. You can put him in an inside technique and get a pass rush. You can put him on the edge,” head coach Scott Abell gushed, rattling off the myriad of ways Anyanwu had proven effective for Rice.

By the time Rice reached its final game in the Armed Forces Bowl against Texas State, Anyanwu was at his best. He finished with seven solo 11 combined tackles, a mark that led the team. He also had 1.5 sacks.

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Anyanwu had become much more than a situational edge rusher. He was an essential cog in the Rice defense besieged by injuries. The unit limped to the finish line and was in danger of a collapse had it not been for a handful of indomitable players like Anyanwu, who refused to go out without a fight.

Mixed results on a team level limited the accolades Anyanwu might have received on a larger scale, but the Owls’ go-to pass rusher finished the season tied for third in the American with 6.5 sacks and was Top 20 in the conference in tackles for loss. More often than not, Anyanwu changed the game when he was on the field. The defense would not have been the same without him.

** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **

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2025 Rice Football Iron Man: Andrew Awe

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A former walk-on who never gave up, linebacker Awe became the heart and soul of the defense and our 2025 Rice Football Iron Man.

Over the past five seasons, Rice football has perpetually stacked some of it’s highest rated recruiting classes in program history, thinning out the opportunities for non-scholarship players to make significant impacts. That didn’t stop linebacker Andrew Awe, who persevered to become The Roost’s 2025 Rice Football Iron Man.

Awe arrived on campus prior to the 2020 season as a walk-on, devoid of a true position and did not see the field that year or the following. It wasn’t until the 2022 season that he was placed on scholarship and earned a spot on special teams. He earned his first start in the Owls’ opener against USC that season, but saw almost twice as many snaps on special teams that year as he did with the defense.

More: 2025 Rice Football Season Superlatives

To that point, Awe’s story resembled that of many walk-on players at the collegiate level. Getting on the field in any capacity was already beating the odds, and to earn a scholarship meant he’d done better than the vast majority of others in his position.

He’d become a bit more involved in the defense the following season, but it was the 2024 campaign when Awe truly made his mark, making the leap from contributor to a core member of the defense. He started the final 12 games of the season, finishing third on the team with 52 tackles. By the time the 2025 season arrived, Awe was arguably the face of the defense.

Although he wasn’t a captain in name, it was Awe who strode to the microphone prior to the team’s first game against Louisiana. Later in the season, it was Awe who was selected to speak at the announcement of The Gateway Project, playing a role in the introduction of the Owls’ new stadium renovation plans. No longer anonymous, Awe was a rock head coach Scott Abell relied on to build his program.

Before the season, Awe reflected on that journey. “I’ve been here for 16 years,” he joked.

“At the end of the day, what you put on tape is your resume, so we’re just going to focus on what we put on tape this week.”

Awe’s tape dazzled. He racked up 101 tackles across 12 regular season games, becoming the first Rice player to surpass the century mark in takedowns since 2019. With so much of the defense around him wrestling with injuries and inconsistency, Awe was as reliable as they come.

During the year, Awe was named to the Burlsworth Trophy Award watchlist, a honor given annually to the most outstanding college football player who began their career as a walk-on.

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“I don’t think you can put a price tag on what Awe has meant to our program through this season,” Abell said following the Owls’ final game against South Florida. “When you want to know who the best of us is, it’s Andrew Awe. He represents us in the classroom, in the community and certainly on the football field, day in and day out.”

Awe leaves Rice with 195 tackles, more than half of which he accrued in his final season. The redshirt senior stuck it out, battling through two early years without seeing a snap and a coaching change. And as it turned out, Rice football needed him more this year than either he or the program could have ever imagined as recently as two years ago.

“There’s just not enough words or the right words to really describe how special he is,” Abell said.

** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **

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