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Rice Football Recruiting: Owls offer 2021 QB Wyatt Begeal

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The first offer of the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class has been extended to Wyatt Begeal, a quarterback the Owls hope will be their future.

This is a big one. Rice football is two months away from the early signing period for their 2020 class. In the most recent recruiting cycle, the Owls didn’t extend their first offer to a high school junior until January.

That 2020 class is on track to be one of the best classes in program history. Their first commitment of that class, safety Plae Wyatt, didn’t make his pledge until the end of February. The highest-rated player to jump on board to this point, Sean Fresch, committed at the end of June. The 202o Rice football class isn’t done yet. The Owls have several additional targets in their sights  — more on that in a separate update soon.

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Not only is Rice setting a great pace with that strong class, but they’ve also kicked off the 2021 cycle with arguably their most important target: a quarterback. And not just any quarterback, Cibolo Steele’s dual-threat triggerman Wyatt Begeal.

First and foremost, Begeal is a playmaker. He threw for 2,100 yards as a sophomore. He kicked off his junior campaign with 1,384 yards passing, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions with 420 yards rushing and six rushing touchdowns.

Standing at 6-foot-1 and tipping the scales at just under 200 pounds, he’s a compact, powerful athlete. And he’s the number one priority in the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class. The Owls will begin to extend other 2021 offers as it makes sense, but they’re hoping to get out in front of Wyatt’s recruitment and bring him aboard as the leader of this class and the Owls’ future.

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Rice Football: Owls know it’s “now or nothing”

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Rice football has yet to win this season. Favorites for the first time, the Owls know Saturday’s game at UTSA is as close to a must-win game as it could get.

Two weeks removed from what was “supposed to be [the Owls’] breakout game” against Louisiana Tech, the level of focus around South Main has only intensified.

Rice lost that game to the Bulldogs despite never trailing in regulation. Another loss the following week to UAB dropped the team’s record to 0-6. On the brink of an early elimination from bowl eligibility, no one in the program has any illusions about the importance of their upcoming game with UTSA.

Team captain Austin Trammell, who declared the LA Tech loss the missed breakout opportunity, didn’t mince his words: “It’s now or nothing,” he said. “There’s no more waiting around. We gotta win this game.”

“It’s now or nothing. There’s no more waiting around. We gotta win this game.” — Austin Trammell

Starting quarterback Wiley Green says the mindset of the team is exactly that. “We’re tired of the moral victories. We’re past that,” he said, “We gotta win. We gotta find a way to win.”

For Rice football, an off week prior to what has become a crucial “gotta win” game was incredibly important. The team has done a lot of things well, but this week was about fixing the stumbling blocks on both sides of the ball which have prevented them from taking three games that were within one score in fourth quarter and turning them into wins.

On offense, the team has looked at formations, playcalling and third downs. They diagnosed what they need to do to limit turnovers and generate explosive plays. On defense, they’ve focused on eliminating vertical plays, staying fundamentally sound in the running game and getting off the field on third down.

They’re doing the right things. Rice football is a better team right now than they were last year, and last week, for that matter. But like coach Mike Bloomgren consistently refrains, wins are the currency that determines that success.

“We are getting better,” Bloomgren said of his team this week. “It is time, in my mind, for it to show.”

When pressed on what better looked like this week, Bloomgren was crystal clear. “To say we’re making progress in this game is probably to win it, quite frankly.” he declared. “I want our process from Monday to the game to be as good as we can make it for the kids and preparing them. And then I want them to go out and play. That’s it. I want to play really well and I want them to have a heck of a party in the locker room. Because they’ve earned it.”

For this first time this season, oddsmakers favor the winless Rice football to beat its opponent. Rice hasn’t been favored on the road since they were 4.5-point favorites over UTEP on Nov. 6, 2015. They haven’t won a true road game since they beat that same UTEP team in El Paso on Sep 9, 2017.

When the betting markets opened, Rice was a three-point favorite. The line has ballooned to as high as 5.5 points in some books in the hour prior to kickoff. UTSA is without their starting quarterback. The Roadrunners haven’t beaten an FBS team other than UTEP since they beat Rice in Houston last season. And that game wasn’t particularly close.

“This is the week. It’s gotta be” said Rice linebacker coach Scott Vestal who oversees what has arguably become the best unit on the team this season. If Rice is going to win, it’s going to need big days from star linebackers Blaze Alldredge, Antonio Montero and hybrid linebacker/safety Treshawn Chamberlain. They’ll need points, quite possibly more than 15.7 points they’ve averaged per game this season.

Rice needs a complete game. Each phase — offense, defense and special teams — need to come together and play at a level they’ve proven themselves capable of playing. And they need to do it for four quarters.

And even if none of those things happen to the degree they’d like, they need to find a way. They must. They gotta win.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep. 12 – 2019 UTSA Preview, CUSA Recap

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Rice Football is favored for the first time and lots has happened in Conference USA. Carter and Matthew and special guest Adam Martinez break it all down.

The bye week is over and Rice football is back in action, this time as a favorite for the first time in 2019. Needless to say, there was plenty to discuss beyond just the x’s and o’s of the Owls’ upcoming matchup with UTSA.

This game falls in the midpoint of the regular season, making it the perfect time to talk through Conference USA from a broader perspective than South Main. Adam Martinez of Conference USA Report stopped bye to talk about some of the surprises, stars and biggest storylines at the halfway mark.

Stay tuned this week as we break down the UTSA contest. You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page, including last’s week’s recap of the UAB game and mailbag.

Give a listen to Episode 12 below.

Episode 12 Notes

  • News and notes —  Don’t forget to join the site as a member and get access to insider info like midweek practice reports and more.
  • Rice athletics updates — Jack Fox to the XFL, Calvin Anderson inks deal with Rubix’s and Rice Women’s Basketball tabbed preseason favorites.
  • Around Conference USA with Adam Martinez — Early season surprises and disappointments, storylines to watch going forward and more. Adam and Matthew work through a busy first half of the season in C-USA.
  • Previewing the UTSA game — Carter and Matthew break down how Rice matches up with UTSA on both sides of the ball before getting into the optics and higher-level implications of this game. Progress for Rice football this week should end with a win.

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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Rice Football Film Room 2019: Previewing UTSA

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The Rice Football Film Room is back after a bye to preview the Owls’ upcoming game against a UTSA offense led by Lowell Narcisse.

Hey y’all, welcome back to the Rice Football Film Room. Hope y’all are as ready for Rice to get back to it after a bye week, especially since they’re a favorite—for the first time this year!—at UTSA this weekend.

UTSA, like Rice, has had a tough year, but thanks to a considerably easier schedule, they’re sitting at 2-4 with wins over Incarnate Word and UTEP. The outlook just got worse for them with the announcement that dual-threat QB Frank Harris is out for the rest of the season.

Harris will be replaced by Lowell Narcisse, the former 4-star LSU transfer (by way of a junior college), who packs a similar running threat in his large, athletic frame but is a considerably worse passer than Harris. Let’s talk a look at two plays that illuminate Narcisse’s game, both from the Roadrunners’ win over UTEP a couple weeks ago.

A Dangerous Runner

Setup

It’s first and goal for UTSA at the UTEP 9. UTSA is in 12 personnel with Narcisse in the shotgun, a TE and H-back to the right of the formation, and a running back behind and to the left of Narcisse. UTEP has nine guys in the box, with five on the line, and they’re playing off on both receivers.

The Play

It’s an inside zone read, with the H-back coming across the formation to fake a slice block (to make the end man on the line think it’s a split zone handoff) before slipping out to arc block if Narcisse pulls the ball. This has the effect of simplifying Narcisse’s read on the play: if the defender that he’s reading slips inside of the H-back’s fake, he can pull the ball. If the defender tries to go wide or engages with the H-back to set the edge, he can hand it off. In a sense it takes away the defender’s ability to muddle the read by “slow-playing” it, which is a common tactic against zone read plays.

Here, it’s a simple enough read: the defender slips inside the H-back to play the running back, and Narcisse pulls it. They’re fortunate that’s the read, because the defender lined up over the UTSA’s right tackle has beaten him inside and probably would have made the play if the ball had been handed to the back.

From there, it’s all about execution. The optioned defender actually does a pretty good job recovering to go after the QB, but he doesn’t have the angle to catch Narcisse, who shows impressive burst to the edge relative to his 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame. The H-back gets an excellent downfield block on the linebacker, and the wide receiver fakes a fade route to draw away the corner. Touchdown, UTSA.

A . . . Risky Passer

Setup

It’s early in the third quarter, with UTSA holding a 10-3 lead in El Paso. UTSA has the ball on the UTEP 18, third and six. They’re in a four-wide set (I can’t tell for sure if it’s 10 or 11 personnel, but it looks like the biggest guy out there is No. 83 Dorian Clark, a receiver, so I think it’s 10), with trips (three receivers) in a bunch formation to the left. It looks like UTEP is in nickel personnel, and at the snap they bring the house and play man coverage.

The Play

It’s a rollout to the trips side, which simplifies things for Narcisse by only requiring him to read half the field. It’s hard to tell what routes the receivers are running because of the camera, but it looks like the No. 3 receiver (the innermost receiver) runs a short out-breaking route, while the other two release vertically. The coverage is pretty good, it seems, because Narcisse doesn’t seem to have anywhere to go with the ball.

UTEP gets two good shots at Narcisse but can’t bring him down. LB Sione Tupou barrels unblocked through the line to start, but gets tripped when No. 74 for UTSA wrestles his man to the ground and can’t bring down Narcisse by the ankles. DB Michael Lewis looks to initially be playing man on the running back, but comes for the QB when the back stays in to block. He takes a bad angle, though, and Narcisse shrugs him off.

At this point, though, Narcisse is stumbling toward the sideline, with four UTEP defenders converging on him. As he falls out of bounds, he appears to throw the ball away . . . except he doesn’t. He’s tossed a wobbly duck of a pass to receiver Blaze Moorhead in the end zone, who miraculously makes a diving grab for a UTSA touchdown. It works out for the Roadrunners here, but just about anyone could have told you that pass was, uh, ill-advised.

More: Rice Football at UTSA game preview

So that’s what you’re getting in Narcisse and the UTSA offense. They’ll run the ball a ton with him and spectacularly-named freshman RB Sincere McCormick, while only asking Narcisse to pass when they absolutely have to (he’s completing 42.1 percent of his passes for a positively ghoulish 3.6 yards per attempt, nearly two yards less than his per-carry rushing average). If the Rice defense can continue their stellar run defense coming out of the bye week, they’ll have a great chance at shutting down this UTSA offense completely.

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Rice Football 2019: Week 8 UTSA Press Conference quotes

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Rice Football head coach Mike Bloomgren wrapped up the UAB game, talked about the off week and looked forward to the Owls Week 8 game against UTSA.

More: Rice Football game preview for Week 8 vs UTSA

Running back Aston Walter and defensive end Trey Schuman joined head coach Mike Bloomgren at the podium on Tuesday. The trio made closing comments on the UAB game and looked ahead to their Week 8 game against UTSA.

From Mike Bloomgren

On the bye week…

“It was a really productive week for us. I thought it came at the perfect time. I loved having the bye week after six games. It was great for our coaches to really dive into our self-scout. To see what we’re doing numerically that other coordinators can see and try to take advantage of it. We made sure we changed those things and also really watch our cut-ups and see what we’re executing at a high level, what we need to do more of and what we need to stay away from to put our kids in the best position possible.”

On the hunger for the team’s first win…

“I think our team is very, very hungry for a win as we stand up here and just keep working. It’s one thing to stay the course and do the things that we’re asking them to do. It’s a whole other thing to get the rewards in the locker room for all of their hard work. Not just during the football season but dating back to spring ball and all of the summer workouts. I want so badly for us to put it together, play our kind of football and come out victorious this Saturday.”

On standouts from practice this week…

“If I were to pick anyone on both sides of the ball, it would be JoVoni Johnson on offense and on defense it would be Tre’shon Devones. But, there’s a lot of guys that are continuing to step up and earn more playing time. Those are two that really stood out, I think, to anybody that watched.”

On the things the coaches addressed during the bye week…

“There’s some things, personnel grouping-wise, where we feel like we were becoming too one-sided. I think when you have two backs on the field and three tight ends, you’re probably going to run it more than you throw it but maybe there’s a way we can find more play passes there. The same thing is true when we’re in ten personnel with four wide receivers on the field or 11 personnel. We need to find a little more balance in running the ball. Those are just things that are always good to see. We do, do it week to week, so we know about them, but there were a couple of them that were glaring that we’re going to try to address.”

From RB Aston Walter

On the energy around the team this week …

“We had a lot of great practices from young guys to older guys and a lot of good reputation. The energy is probably the best that has been — not saying that the other weeks haven’t had this energy — but during this bye week was amazing. And I think even yesterday during practice, you can just see that everybody’s locked in, focused, engaged, really excited to do see what we can do this week going forward, just go out there and compete and try to get that first win.”

From DE Trey Schuman

On what the front seven is hoping to improve…

“Getting to the quarterback. It’s no surprise. We don’t have the sacks and the production in the pass game that we want to and we want to be able to work well with the back end to stop the quarterback and stop them on third downs. Because we feel like as a defense, our third down efficiency is below par right now. And so for the front, it was really just getting to the quarterback just perfecting your pass rush game, knowing where he’s at, staying aware — because with this UTSA game, especially they got a guy who can run — so getting back there and making sure to keep him inside. It’s going to be on us. So we gotta handle that.”

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