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Rice Football 2025: Bowl Week Practice Notes 1

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Rice Football is postseason-bound and will have the vast majority of its starting roster intact for the Armed Forces Bowl. Here’s the latest from the practice field this week.

Finals are winding down, but the Rice football season is starting to ramp back up. After a brief break between official practices, the team returned to the field this week as they began their preparations for the Armed Forces Bowl against Texas State on January 2. The team hopes to make the most of the extra time. Here’s more on the progress they’ve made so far.

Finalizing the Bowl Roster

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Rice Football 2025: Armed Forces Bowl presser quotes and depth chart

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Next up for Rice football, the Armed Forces Bowl against Texas State. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.

Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They previewed the Armed Forces Bowl game and discussed the Owls’ upcoming matchup with Texas State.

We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

I think, kind of two parts. The first, you’ve got time. Being January 2, that’s a late bowl game so that afforded us some time… And then it gives you a chance to take a look at things you knew you were going to do once you got to spring football, especially in Year 1. There’s so much we can learn from this season. So many takeaways. You just take notes all year. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the benefits of a bowl game

As it sits now, we have a roster of 93 heading to our bowl game, which I’m incredibly proud of. We finished the season at 103. We’re down from 105 — two young men that were no longer with the program for different reasons — and some of those ten that aren’t a part of the count, now. Some of those are fifth year who are at the end of their careers. They’re graduated. They’re starting their real life. They’ve chosen that their football careers are over. There are a handful of guys that have made announcements to go into the portal and those guys are not participating in the game at this point and I don’t anticipate that changing. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the state of the roster and the Transfer Portal

You saw a couple young defensive lineman playing more at the end of the year… I also think they’ll probably be some younger skill guys, maybe offensively that you’ll see show up in the perimeter game that maybe have been waiting for their opportunity or this is the moment now that they get some extra prep. Without mentioning any specific names, I think those are some areas you can look at to see maybe some new names called, some new numbers show up – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on young players who could be more involved

I’m looking at it like how we looked at it going into the Louisiana week. We got that whole break going up to it. Watching extra film, trying to get some tendencies on the guys, resting out bodies. I think the break is a good thing for us. – Running back Quinton Jackson on how the team is approaching the bowl game

It was good to recover the body, get healthy. Guys were beat up. I mean, it’s awesome to be back out here, but I’m pretty sure a lot of guys on defense were itching to get back out here. We got a bad taste in our mouth from USF. We’d like to get back out there against Texas State. – Linebacker Ty Morris on how the team is approaching the bowl game

Full Press Conference

Depth Chart

An updated depth chart is expected to be provided at a later date. For the time being, stay tuned for this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon. That will be published on Friday and has further details on players who have opted out of the game and how the Owls’ might adjust their gameplan, accordingly.

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Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 15 Roundup

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Rice Football is well represented on 2025 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls in action in Week 15.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

TeamNFL Owl(s)This WeekResultNext Week
Washington CommandersLuke McCaffrey (WR)at GiantsW, 29-21vs Eagles (Sat)
Atlanta FalconsElijah Garcia (DL)vs SeahawksW, 29-28vs Cardinals
Philadelphia EaglesKylen Granson (TE)vs RaidersW, 31-0at Commanders (Sat)
Detroit LionsJack Fox (P)at RamsL, 41-34vs Steelers
Pittsburgh SteelersChris Boswell (PK)
Calvin Anderson (OL)		vs Dolphins (MNF)W, 28-15at Lions

Defense

Elijah Garcia – DL, Falcons

Garcia was inactive for the Falcons’ Thursday Night Football game against the Bucs. He made his Atlanta Falcons’ debut a week prior against the Seahawks.

Offense

Kylen Granson – TE, Eagles

Granson played 18 offensive snaps this week, but did not receive a target. He made one tackle on special teams.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted three times in the Lions’ Week 15 loss to the Rams, averaging 50 yards per kick with a long of 62 yards. He pinned one of his kicks inside the 20 yard line.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell did not attempt a field goal in the Steelers’ Monday Night Football win, but did convert all four of his extra point attempts. He is 21-of-24 on field goals this season, including one blocked kick.

Injured Reserve

Calvin Anderson – OL, Steelers

Calvin Anderson was placed on injured reserve on December 10.

Luke McCaffrey – WR, Commanders

McCaffrey was placed on injured reserve with a broken collarbone suffered during the Commanders’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 9 and is expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more details on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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Toot, Toot: A New Tradition for Rice Athletics

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Rice Athletics isn’t waiting for a new stadium to introduce new sports traditions. A real-life train horn is the latest addition to the Owls’ game day experience.

Scott Abell has always been the kind of guy who strives to get others involved. He’s a program builder, utilizing what he calls his WE values (Win Everything, Win Everywhere, With Everyone) to generate buy-in with his players and staff. But he hasn’t stopped there. Abell has also worked to add touchpoints with the fanbase everywhere he’s gone. From attending pep rallies to driving around campus in a golf cart, he wants to be present.

In an effort to strength that bond with the fans and generate that engagement, Abell introduced a train horn sound effect while he was at Washington and Lee. The program would play the sound through the stadium loudspeakers on scoring plays, rallying up the crowd with its deafening blast.

Once it started, it stuck. It followed him to Davidson, and from there, Abell had hopes of bringing that tradition to South Main.

“Some people get into a turnover chain, whatever. This is kind of my thing,” Abell said. “Some people have the cannons they shoot off when they score. I was looking for something that we could have that when people came to our place, they’d be like, “God, I hate that horn. We’ve now found that.”

Abell’s initial request was met with some trepidation. Rice Stadium is on the older side as far as facilities go and the sound system wasn’t as robust as some within the Rice Athletic Department might have hoped. Playing the noise over the loudspeakers just wouldn’t have the same effect, they posited.

NEWS: Rice Launches The Gateway Project, Rice Stadium Renovation

Rather than settle for good-enough. Rice began exploring. Assistant Athletic Director of Broadcast Services Wayne Gibson, who oversees the tech behind Rice gameday experiences began to ask around. He was met with one rather curious idea. What about getting an actual train horn?

With that, Gibson was off. He reached out to some contacts and before long has acquired a five-bell model salvage from a real-life locomotive. That horn, which is a fully functional device that was formerly mounted to the train engine, was put onto a cart for portability. A new compressor and trigger system was configured, enabling the horn to blow on demand. All that was left was to test it out.

The newly created Rice Athletics train horn sits on a cart so that it can be wheeled around to various sporting events.

Rice debuted the horn for the first time against Houston. It didn’t take long for the limitations to touchdown toots to expand to big offensive plays, turnovers, and even to more rote third down plays, geared toward firing up the crowd. Just a few weeks in, the horn has embedded itself within the gameday experience.

The horn’s impact on campus won’t stop with football. The cart has already been rolled over to soccer games, blaring it’s thunderous note when the Owls score goals. Plans are also underway to utilize the new toy at baseball games and position it in the outfield, although how frequently it gets used remains under discussion.

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2025 Rice Football Recruiting Winter Transfer Portal Tracker

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The 2025 Rice Football regular season is over, and the Transfer Portal opens in January. Here’s the latest on who’s coming and going from South Main.

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