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Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 5: Slot School

April 6, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

There’s been a lot to learn with this new-look Rice Football offense during spring practices, including the introduction of a new position: slot.

Keeping track of where players are lining up and where they go after the snap has been an adventure in the new offense Rice football is installing this spring. Head coach Scott Abell, renowned for his offensive system, has engineered a scheme that is fascinating to watch, but sometimes hard to follow. That confusion often stems from the slot position and how many different ways it’s utilized in this offense.

More: Spring Practice Notebook 4 — QB Battle and Scrimmage Thoughts

This update dives into what that slot position does, how the Owls use it in the offense and which players are going to be lining up at that position in the fall.

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So…. what’s a slot?

No position has been more fascinating to follow this spring than the one most recently added to the Rice football depth chart: Slot. Coached by Austin Eisenhofer, nominally the Insider Wide Receivers coach according to the Rice football online roster, the slot position promises to bring plenty of flash and excitement to South Main.

“The slot position kind of does everything,” Eisenhofer explained. “A lot of blocking, a lot of pass catching, a lot of rushing the ball.”

That all-encompassing definition might even undersell the level of versatility the Owls require from this position. It’s not uncommon to see a slot player go out on a route on one play, take a sweep around one side on the next play, and then operate as the trailing man in an option run on the play after that. Their interchangeability with the running back position has been fascinating to watch.

In so many ways, this position is an amalgamation of so many skillsets into a true all-purpose offensive tool.

More: Latest Rice football recruiting offers

“We’re insider receivers and we do more skills of a receiver than anything else,” Eisenhofer said, “But at the end of the day it’s a lot of guys that in high school they were labeled as A-T-H. They can affect the game in so many ways. I think that’s fun for anyone.”

For some in the recruiting world, ATH or “Athlete” is a designation given to players with athletic ability, but no true position. It’s the “other” option for players talented enough to play at this level, but without a specified skillset at any singular spot. For this offense to take those “other” pieces and turn them into key cogs in this offensive system is amusing.

A few players like Cincinnati transfer Aaron Turner — brother of offensive assistant Eli Turner, who played for Abell at Davidson — knew what they were getting into when this position was assigned to them over the winter. The rest are truly starting from scratch, adjusting to so many different ways to get the football beyond the traditional throw and catch down field.

“They’ve taken to it probably quicker than I could have even expected,” Eisenhofer praised. “All they’re worried about is they want to be good. They want to learn it. They understand it’s a process.”

Climbing the depth chart

We’re still a ways from settling on any firm offensive depth chart, but there are a few faces that have risen through the ranks at this position during camp. The aforementioned Turner is the first name to mention. He was the first pass catcher Abell cited when discussing standout individuals following last Saturday’s scrimmage as Abell noted that Turner “seemed to be making plays every day.”

Given his familiarity with the coaching staff and how the Owls’ prioritized him in the portal, his ascension probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. He’s not the only player to stand out at this spot during the spring, though. Redshirt freshman Owen Carter has receiver as many, if not more reps with the starting group.

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A high school standout at Cy Fair, Carter’s presence was minimal on Saturday’s last fall, redshirting while appearing in two games. To say he’s taken a step forward since then and embraced this new-look offense would be an understatement. He’s been fun to watch and someone worth keeping an eye on moving forward.

It’ll be hard to determine how many “starting” wide receiver spots they’ll be, especially given how much this offense will vary from formation to formation, but Carter, Turner and Braylen Walker (playing the true wide receiver spot in this offense, not slot) have been by far the most common triumvirate on the field so far.

Odds and Ends

  • Not only does there appear a ways to go for settling on a starting five on the offensive line, positions remain fluid. There was a sequence of plays last week where I watched one lineman play go from guard, to the tackle spot on the opposite side to the other guard spot in the span of three plays. The intra-drive fluidity is likely a quirk of practice, but that doesn’t make it any less hard to terse out.
  • Quinton Jackson broke off a 65-yard touchdown run in Wednesday’s practice. The speed possessed by him and Taji Atkins, along with the depth at the running back position should make for an exciting year for the ground game.
  • There are no fullbacks in this offense in the traditional sense, but that doesn’t mean the Owls’ fullbacks have completely disappeared. Micah Barnett and Rhys Phillips have transitioned to tight end. Phillips missed a good chunk of last season, so it’s been fun to see him get in the mix at full speed.
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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium, Reserve Tagged With: Aaron Turner, Braylen Walker, Micah Barnett, Owen Carter, practice notes, Quinton Jackson, Rhys Phillips, Rice Football, spring practice, Taji Atkins

Rice Football Recruiting: Breaking Down the 2025 Signees – Defense

February 7, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

The 2025 Rice Football Recruiting class includes several hand-picked impact players on defense and special teams. Here’s how those sides of the ball stacks up.

The 2025 Rice football recruiting class began with 12 signees during the Early Signing Period, the first recruiting haul for new head coach Scott Abell. That group has since been supplemented by a wave of transfers and an additional round of high school signees on National Signing Day. Of those players, 22 are current high school seniors, and 13 play on the defensive side of the ball as well as one specialist.

“It’s an exciting time for me,” Abell said upon welcoming his first signees in December. “These are my very first recruits that I have the opportunity to welcome here to Rice. I just can’t imagine anything better.”

When it came time to put a bow on that class in February, Abell remained just as emphatic. “Attracting the right recruits here, the right people [is] imperative. It’s the most important thing we do,” he said while introducing the class. “That means Year 1, the first opportunity to do that, it becomes incredibly important that we get make sure that we get the people part of that right.”

We’ve gone position by position breaking down each of those new people, dissecting how these Owls will help the program on the field.

* Denotes players who enrolled early in January

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Defensive Line (5) – Rob Rooks*, Braden Bays, Luca Akirtava, Dillan Botts*, DeReyon Jenkins

One of the most athletic members of the class, Rob Rooks was the lone defensive signee in the trenches in December. A former two-way player who was named all-league on both sides of the ball as a junior, Rooks’ focus on South Main will be getting to the quarterback, something he excelled in during his high school career. “He moves well,” Abell said of the 6-foot-1, 261-pound Rooks, “he’s got great size.”

The Rooks’ addition was the tip of the iceberg at a spot head coach Abell was emphatic about getting more bodies. “I think winning football in the trenches is the most important thing,” Abell said. “And we will focus on that year in and year out and that shows up in this recruiting class.”

The Owls picked a pledge from defensive tackle Dillan Botts from Mary Hardin-Baylor in January, adding him to the fold in time for the spring semester. Weeks later they signed Luca Akirtava and Braden Bays, a pair of talented and versatile high school additions who each bring a long list of accolades with them to South Main,

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Bays racked up 60 tackles for a loss in his high school career, finishing with 10 sacks his senior season. Akirtava was the 5-5A District 1 Defensive MVP this past season, racking up seven sacks and 12 quarterback hurries.

In addition to those additions, Rice also signed edge player DeReyon Jenkins, rounding out one of the most extensive National Signing Day hauls for the team at any position. Also a powerlifter in high school, Jenkins brings more than 200 career tackles to South Main.

Defensive lineman Ejike Adele was not formally introduced because he has not officially enrolled, but the former Bushnell Cup winner as the best defensive player in the Ivy League is set to join Rice football after his graduation from Dartmouth this spring.

Linebacker (2) – Ty Thames, CJ Witten

Jon Kay is going to have his work cut out for him in a good way this spring. In addition to being named the defensive coordinator during the offseason and assuming addition responsibilities, he has a linebacker room stacked with talent and flush with new faces.

The Owls will lose a few key leaders at the position to graduation but already have a promising young core in the middle of the field. And that’s before adding Ty Thames and CJ Witten to the room.

Both Thames and Witten have something in common which Abell made sure to call out in his comments during his introductory remarks about the class on Wednesday, both are still playing in their respective high school playoffs.

“As we begin this new era, we want to surround the program with kids who are used to competing at a high level,” Abell said, “Certainly this class speaks to that.”

Witten is the son of former All-Pro tight end Jason Witten, his current coach for Liberty Christian in Westlake, Texas.

Corner (3) – Jerrick Harper*, Omari Porter*, Ahran Ogbor

Abell wasn’t as explicit about the need for reinforcements in the secondary, but Rice brought in more transfers on the back end of the defense than anywhere else this offseason, grabbing from three different areas to supplement rooms that lost a lot of players to graduation and the Transfer Portal.

As far as transfers go, both Omari Porter from Stanford and JUCO signee Jerrick Harper have already enrolled and will participate in spring ball. Porter has experience at safety and corner, giving him a level of versatility that’s always been necessary of players in this defensive scheme. The plan as of now is to play him at corner, a position where he spent most of his time with the Cardinal.

More: Breaking down the Offensive signees in the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class

Unlike Porter, Harper and Ahran Ogbor will have more than one year to make their mark on South Main. Harper was a standout corner at the junior college level whereas Ogbor comes to Rice as one of the most productive two-way players the Owls have signed in some time.

Ogbor was an All-District 6A selection at a quarterback and running back this season in addition to playing defense, where he broke up four passes and was credited with 15 tackles. At 6-foot, 203 pounds he has the requisite frame and speed to excel as an outside corner at the collegiate level once he’s fully transitioned to the defensive side of the ball.

Ogbor’s addition lines up with one of the other key aspects Abell stressed with this signing class: speed.

“When you look at the athletes that we were able to attract here, the common thread is speed,” Abell said. I think it’s important to put players on the field who can run at all levels on both sides and I think we did a great of doing that.”

Safety (3) – Michael Amey III*, Jo Chavez*, Max Lofy*

“Versatile” was the word Abell used to describe Michael Amey III, something Rice fans familiar with the defensive scheme the Owls have run under Brian Smith know all too well. Being able to move around the formation and play multiple different spots is crucial for this scheme and with Smith officially being retained as the Owls’ defensive coordinator, keeping Amey in the fold was a crucial development.

Amey arrives at South Main with 10 interceptions during his high school career. The Owls hope to leverage that propensity toward taking away the football to their advantage in the years to come. He’ll be joined by Jo Chavez and Max Lofy, a pair of Transfer Portal additions who enrolled this semester.

Chavez comes to Rice from the junior college level while Lofy is a fifth-year player from Wisconsin. Lofy was mentioned by name a couple of times in Abell’s introductory remarks about the class, appearing to be someone Abell was particularly excited about getting to campus.

More: Biggest Roster Questions for Rice Football Entering the Spring

As for Chavez, he’s already been listed as a VIPER on the Rice roster, presumably setting him to compete for the backup role behind returning veteran Plae Wyatt at the position.

Altogether, that’s two graduates, two junior college players and two high school additions in the secondary alone. Rice returns two starters there, Max Ahoia and Plae Wyatt, but the odds suggest at least a few of these new faces will have to be heavily involved this season if this defense is going to continue to operate at a high level. This will be a group to watch this spring.

Specialists (1) – Chase Allen (Kicker)*

With Tim Horn departing, Rice football was in search of a kicker to compete with Enoch Gota this coming season. They landed on Alabama and UTSA transfer Chase Allen. While with the Roadrunners, Allen led the AAC in field-goal percentage (13-of-15, 87 percent) and ranked Top 15 in the country during the 2023 season.

Allen was replaced in 2024 after a 4-for-9 start, oddly enough attempting one his final kicks of the season against the Owls at Rice Stadium in October; it was no good.

Getting someone with Allen’s experience who has been extremely productive at the position previously is huge for the Owls who have struggled for several years when it comes to field goal accuracy. Getting him back to his 2023 form would be a huge boost for the Rice special teams.

** This piece has been updated to reflect new signees as of 2/5/2025 **
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2024 Rice Football Opponent Season Preview: Tulane

July 31, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

Under the leadership of a new head coach, Tulane aims to continue their winning ways. What can Rice Football expect from the Green Wave in 2024?

Head Coach: Jon Sumrall
Record at School: 0-0 (1 Yr) | Career FBS Record 23-4 (2 Yr)
Offensive Coordinator: Joe Craddock | Defensive Coordinator: Greg Gasparato

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Jon Sumrall went 23-4 at Troy over the past two seasons before taking over at Tulane following the departure of Willie Fritz. One of those many wins came over an impressive now-AAC rival, UTSA, in the Cure Bowl. Sumrall has won at this level. Now he’ll try to replicate that success at Tulane.

2023 Snapshot

Tulane came up just short in the AAC Championship game last season, falling to SMU before matching up with Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl. The Green Wave entered that title game 11-1 with their lone loss on the road at Ole Miss with a backup quarterback under center. It was a tremendous season for the program which hung around the Top 25 rankings for most of the year.

2024 Expectations

Fair or not, winning the AAC is the expectation for Tulane football this season. This program is expected to be in the hunt for the College Football Playoff in late November. Is that reasonable considering they’ll be breaking in a new starting quarterback and head coach? Maybe not. But the talent on this roster is hard to ignore. Tulane should be a force in the AAC this season. How high they can climb will be the real test.

Key Departures

  • It’s possible no team in the AAC has a bigger hole to fill at quarterback than Tulane with the departure of Michael Pratt to the NFL. One of the greats in program history, Pratt threw for 9,602 yards I n four seasons and posted a gaudy 90:26 touchdown to interception ratio. His impact as a leader on and off the field will be the toughest challenge for the Green Wave to overcome this season.
  • Tulane is also hitting the reset button at wide receiver, losing Lawrence Keys and Jha’Quan Jackson to graduation and Chris Bazzell to the Transfer Portal. That trio accounted for nearly two-thirds of the teams’ receiving yards and touchdown totals last season.

Key Additions

  • Wide receivers Mario Williams (USC) and Shazz Preston (Alabama) will be thrust into significant roles very quickly, the likely successors in a wide-open room that will have plenty of targets up for grabs. That tandem alongside Alex Bauman and Yulkeith Brown should give the offense a potent receiving corps.
  • Sumrall is bringing a handful of players with him from Troy to help bolster the Tulane roster. Tackle Derrick Graham is a leading candidate to step into a starting role in the trenches for the Green Wave. On defense, corner Caleb Ransaw brings a wealth of experience in the secondary.

Returning Production

What We Want to Know

In the Transfer Portal era, there is less patience for a gradual start for coaching staffs. The Green Wave will be expected to maintain a high level of production with so many new faces and schemes. That’s going to be a tough task, especially with a rigorous nonconference schedule that features games against Kansas State and Oklahoma early in the season. Is this new staff up to the challenge?

Bottom Line

Tulane has established itself as one of the premier brands at the Group of 5 level. The Green Wave have weathered the coaching switch about as well as they could have wished, given the circumstances, and look to be headed in the right direction. Most AAC programs would love to trade places with this one, even if the 2024 season might feature some additional hurdles to amp up the degree of difficulty. Tulane will vie with Memphis for preeminence in the AAC once again.

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2024 Rice Football Season Preview: Running Back

July 10, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

Next up in our 2024 Rice Football Season Preview: running back. Here’s our breakdown of the Owls’ plans for the group this season.

Rice football has a bonafide star in the running back room, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a one-man show in the Owls’ backfield this fall. How will the coaching staff piece together a rotation that maximizes the strengths of several different backs and enables the entire offense to flourish?

Rice Football Preseason Preview: Check out the rest of the series here.

This piece is part of our 2024 Rice Football Season Preview. Get access to it, as well as all other preview posts such as positional breakdowns, depth chart and schedule analysis and more when you subscribe on Patreon today. 

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Breaking down the running back position

While Bloomgren was at Stanford, he frequently trusted a bellow back, allowing one man to carry the rock a disproportionate amount of times. However, Rice football has not operated with a true bellcow since head coach Mike Bloomgren arrived on South Main.

That dichotomy is true for multiple reasons. First, while the Owls have had some talented runners, Bloomgren had the privilege of coaching players like Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. NFL-caliber backs don’t grow on trees. Beyond that, the offensive evolution hasn’t lent itself to the ground-and-pound scheme Bloomgren might have envisioned existing.

As the offense has grown and the talent in the running back room has continued to improve, this question has started to crop up more and more. Will 2024 be that year? Perhaps to some extent. Dean Connors has the potential to be the most talented and productive Rice running back in quite some time.

Even still, expect the Owls to treat this room as a committee, differing the bulk of the work to Connors while carving out roles for the rest of the backs. That will help keep Connors fresh and take advantage of a vast array of body types and skill sets the staff has brought into that room for this very purpose.

Projected Starter – Dean Connors

From the day he arrived on campus, Dean Connors has worked to better himself as a football player. His dedication to understanding the scheme and commitment to soaking up concepts and teachings from the veteran players around him has turned him into one of the most dependable players on the entire roster. That knowledge and ability armed with his willingness to compete has made him a force the Rice coaching staff has only begun to unleash.

“If you just give me the ball, I was gonna score coach.” That’s how offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasopopo described Connors’ mindset on the field. “That’s his mentality. I think all the great ones do, they believe they’re going to affect the game.”

Connors did that on multiple occasions last fall, rushing for a career-best 184 yards against Charlotte on one night, scoring three times and passing the century mark again on a separate occasion against Tulsa. Rice won both games.

The 6-foot, 205-pound back can do it all. He’s a dynamic receiver, hauling in the longest receiving touchdown on the team last season, an 80-yard scamper caught from a route that started in the backfield. He’s worked in the goal line package during the spring and is the most trusted option on third down. He’s going to be on the field a ton and he’s going to make an impact. It would be a disappointment for Connors not to be named to an All-Conference team by season’s end.

Rest of the Room

Making sure Rice gets the best of Dean Connors is going to necessitate occasionally getting him off the field. “With a guy like Dean, that’s the one concern as a coach,” Tuiasosopo mentioned. “You always want to keep him fresh because he’s like the energizer bunny. He doesn’t have an off switch. It’s the same speed all the time. So we’re always conscious of that.”

When it comes to spelling Connors, Rice will have several options at their disposal. The first will likely be Daelen Alexander. A redshirt freshman, Alexander became the team’s goal line back last season after dominating in practice following an injury that thrust him in with the starters. It was only when he went down midseason with an injury of his own that he was stymied. On the field, he was one of the most productive runners between the tackles Rice has had in some time.

This is a staff that has always valued production at Rice. Although Alexander missed the spring, he’ll be right at the front of the pecking order come fall camp and ready to contribute. Next up behind him could be Bucknell transfer Coleman Bennett, who also missed the entirety of the spring. Bennett could fill in as that third back role the Owls have utilized over the past few years. Think Ari Broussard, Uriah West, Cameron Booker, etc.

Quinton Jackson is the other name to keep in mind here. Jackson was the standout performer of the spring, which should keep him in the mix to some degree. Spring stardom hasn’t played a significant role in field time in the fall, but Jackson has established himself as a change-of-pace option and a receiving threat. If he can stay productive as a blocker, a role as a pass catcher and third down option after Connors is within reason.

There won’t be much ball left to go around much further outside of that trio, but Christian Francisco has consistently proved himself to be trustworthy and reliable when he gets the ball. After him, Michael Amico and Trey Kibbles profile as scout team options.

Player to Watch

True freshman Taji Atkins is perhaps the most intriguing wild card on the roster this year. As a pure rusher of the football, he might be one of the best true running backs on the roster. Athletically, he’s incredible and his future at Rice is extremely bright. Once he gets a year or two in the system, it’s going to be hard to envision a scenario where he’s not on the field a ton.

But can he get on the field as a freshman? That’s the real question.

Alexander did so, and wouldn’t have ceded his job had it not been for injury. If Atkins can get the opportunity, it’s hard to envision him losing snaps.

The Rice offense was at its best last season when it was able to trade punches between Connors and veteran back Juma Otoviano who has since graduated. In a perfect world, finding a 60-40 split between Connors and someone else is conceivable. It’s hard to make any freshman the favorite to win that secondary role in this pro-style offense, but if anyone has the raw ability to make a serious bid for that job, it might just be Atkins.

** Photo credit Maria Lysaker **



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