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Rice Football 2021 Spring Ball Review: Defense

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The Rice football spring practices are complete. What did we learn about the defense and where does it stand entering the summer?

There wasn’t much mystery with the Rice football defense entering spring practices. The Owls finished the 2020 regular season ranked 12th nationally in scoring defense and returned the vast majority of their starters and depth. Beyond filling an open spot at linebacker, spring was about tidying up loose ends and building depth. From the line to the secondary, here’s where each position group ended up.

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The Roost has you covered from the start to end of spring practice and takeaways still to come. Subscribers get access to all spring practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

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Rice Football: 2021 Blue-Gray Spring Game Review

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Rice football spring practice wrapped up this week with the Blue-Gray Game. Final thoughts and takeaways from the last session of the spring.

What a difference a week can make. The last update came following the final scrimmage of the spring in which the defense dominated the offense from start to finish. The reversal came true on Friday night during the annual Rice Football Blue-Gray Spring Game. The offense went on to win 48-34, holding on to a commanding first-half lead.

The offense scored on five of their first seven drives, with Wiley Green and TJ McMahon each leading a pair of touchdown drives. Then the defense took charge, limited the offense to just three scoring plays over the final 12 drives, one of which came on a 65-yard touchdown bomb from McMahon to wideout Andrew Mason.

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For those that might have missed it, you can check out the initial depth chart reactions as well as the Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4 practice notebooks. Not subscribed? The Roost will have you covered every step of the way this spring and beyond. Subscribers get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

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Can Rice football field the No. 1 defense in 2021? All-American Q&A

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All-American Level subscribers on Patreon get access to a monthly Q&A with me. This update focuses on Rice football and its stalwart defense.

Q. The spring practice updates have only underscored how excited I am to see the Rice defense against non-Conference USA opponents in 2021. Can Rice shut down everyone else like they blanked Marshall?

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A. What defensive coordinator Brian Smith has accomplished with the Rice football defense is nothing short of amazing. He inherited one of the worst defenses in the FBS and elevated it to the No. 12 scoring defense in the nation last season.

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Rice Football 2021: Spring Practice Week 4 Notebook

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Rice Football has completed its final scrimmage prior to the Blue-Gray Spring Game. There was a ton to unpack from this week’s sessions.

The second of two spring scrimmages wrapped up last Friday. Rice football took the field for 12 drives then finished up with a few situational drills. The defense won the day in what head coach Mike Bloomgren dubbed “a defense-dominated scrimmage”, but the biggest gleanings might have come from what transpired on the other side of the ball.

There is a lot to discuss regarding the quarterback situation. From there we’ll touch on the offensive line a bit and some of the highlights from the skill players. Then, yes, we will bestow some well-deserved praise on the defense.

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For those that might have missed it, you can check out the initial depth chart reactions as well as the Week 1, Week 2 and Week 3 practice notebooks. Not subscribed? The Roost will have you covered every step of the way this spring and beyond. Subscribers get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

The elephant in the room

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 72 – Aston Walter and spring practice “Believe it or Not”

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We catch up with former Rice football running back Aston Walter on this week’s show and dive into trends and surprises from spring practice.

Spring is in the air and Rice football is on the grass. More than half of the spring sessions have passed, giving us a decent sample size to draw conclusions from. You can find the full practice reports when you subscribe on Patreon.

On this week’s show, we broke down those observations by playing a quick game of “Believe it or Not.” Then we were joined by former Rice football running back Austin Walter, now a graduate assistant at Vanderbilt. He detailed his dreams of being a coach and his journey since he left Rice.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 72.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping
    • Plan on hearing more from The Roost Podcast in your feed every other week as we continue our interview series. We’ll have some returning guests and hopefully a few new Owls to talk with over the next few months.
    • Please support us on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes spring football practices, currently underway.
      Become a Patron!
  • Aston Walter joins the show to discuss…
    • His journey into coaching
    • His work as an assistant under David Bailiff at Texas A&M Commerce last year
    • What he’s learned about scheme and skills along the way
    • The move to Vanderbilt and life as a graduate assistant

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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