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Rice Football 2023 Offensive Player of the Year: Luke McCaffrey

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In only his second year at the position, wide receiver Luke McCaffrey was a gamebreaker for this team and a surefire pick for our 2023 Rice Football Offensive Player of the Year.

For as much as he may have been able to rely on his innate athleticism and find instant success, Rice football wide receiver Luke McCaffrey would never be content with a singular standout season.

After transitioning from quarterback to pass catcher before the 2022 season, McCaffrey was learning on the fly as he posted a team-leading 58-reception season with a team-best 903 all-purpose yards all while missing the last few games of the regular season. McCaffrey’s beginnings as a wide receiver set the stage for a stellar senior season.

“Every rep is gold, from an experience standpoint. Being able to go through a whole season, being able to go through a spring ball, fall camp and another spring ball and this year, capping it off with another great month of training is so helpful,” McCaffrey said on the cusp of the 2023 campaign. “From a preparation standpoint, [I feel] better than I ever felt.”

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Following a quiet start in the Owls’ opening game against Texas, McCaffrey turned those positive offseason feelings into game-changing production. His helmetless touchdown grab against rival Houston in Week 2 earned him Pop-Tarts “Crazy Good” Play of the Week honors and helped propel the Owls past the Cougars for the first time since 2010.

“I don’t know that he has an easy catch,” head coach Mike Bloomgren would later joke. “He certainly doesn’t have an easy touchdown catch on the year. Every one’s contested, his helmet is coming off, someone’s poking him in the eye. It’s crazy.”

McCaffrey would build on those theatrics with a career-best 199-yard game against USF, mixing in seven yards on the ground to go above 200 total yards for the day. Week after week, McCaffrey continued to raise the bar.

The senior receiver would only continue to heat up from there. Beginning with a two-touchdown day against UConn, McCaffrey would register nine touchdowns in the final eigth games of the season. His second half score in the Owls’ regular season finale against FAU would put Rice ahead for good, clinching a sixth win and back-to-back bowl game appearances.

All that, in just his second year playing the position.

“There’s usually a drop off somewhere,” offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo said of McCaffrey’s ascendance. “But he was lights out really… He was locked in, focused. He kept pushing. That to me is what puts him in that upper echelon.”

Eight yards shy of a 1,000-yard season, McCaffrey has accepted an invitation to the East-West Shrine Bowl and is off to the NFL. In just two years, he’s climbed into the top 10 in several all-time program-receiving ranks. With a touchdown in the SERVPRO First Responders bowl, he has clinched the third most touchdown receptions in program history.  He ranks ninth in yards and 10th in receptions.

More: Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year — Sean  Fresch

Three years ago, McCaffrey committed to Rice football with aspirations to play quarterback. He leaves South Main as one of the most productive wide receivers the school has ever seen. McCaffrey was a team captain and a leader, someone his teammates and the entire coaching staff leaned on in big moments. Time and time again, he delivered.

“We talk about Luke McCaffrey so much, and we don’t talk about him enough,” Bloomgren said upon the conclusion of McCaffrey’s final regular season game against FAU. “I think that couldn’t be more true. The impact that he has on our team and the player that he is. I feel so blessed to be able to work with him.”

** Photo credit: Mara Lysaker **
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Rice Women’s Basketball climbs AAC standings with win vs Tulane

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Rice women’s basketball blew past Tulane on Saturday, leading for 35 minutes on their way to first place in the AAC standings.

Any doubts as to the result of Saturday’s contest between Rice women’s basketball and Tulane were put to bed rather quickly. Tulane scored first, taking a 2-0 lead on a layup during their first possession. It would be their largest lead of the game. Rice quickly took charge, making their next seven consecutive field goals, closing out the first quarter with a nine-point advantage.

The Owls’ defense took over in the second frame. They held the Green Wave to 3-for-12 shooting from the floor in that period, holding the line until the offense got back into gear. Dominque Ennis provided that jump-start quickly after the halftime break, propelling Rice to an 18-point lead and seemingly putting the game out of reach given Tulane’s shooting struggles.

Tulane’s last gasp came at the beginning of the fourth quarter which they opened on 9-2 run, closing the deficit to eight points. They wouldn’t score again for the remainder of the afternoon. Maya Bokunewicz delivered an incredible under-the-basket shot to push the lead back to double-digits before Rice closed the game on a 9-0 run.

Final Box | Rice 61 – Tulane 44

Key takeaway | No. 1

With the win, Rice women’s basketball moves to a tie for first place in the league with Charlotte. The Owls have won four of their last five with their only loss coming to those 49ers at home. Rice doesn’t play Charlotte again in the regular season, giving Charlotte a potential tiebreaker for seeding purposes should that be necessary down the road. For now, though, Rice controls its own destiny and the future looks brighter than ever.

It wasn’t just the impact on the conference standings that made this game meaningful. It was the Owls’ first shot to go on the road against a team they were clearly better than and prove they have the focus and determination to take care of business.

Rice ought to have won this game, and they did. But to do so in the manner in which they did, holding Tulane to a season-low 44 points with four double-digit scorers of their own, speaks to a team that wasn’t just fortunate, they were dominant. There’s a long road ahead, but Rice women’s basketball very much so looks the part of the AACs top team.

Up Next: at Tulsa (Wednesday, Jan. 24)

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Rice Basketball outlasts Temple for first-ever AAC win

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It wasn’t easy, but Rice basketball is heading home from Temple with their first-ever AAC win, taking down the conference’s other Owls 69-66.

The visiting Owls made themselves feel right at home against Temple on Saturday afternoon. Rice basketball knocked down a trio of three-point shots in the opening minutes, jumping out ahead 11-5 on the road. From there, the combination of Max Fiedler and Mekhi Mason took over, stretching a close game to yet another double-digit advantage for Rice.

A 13-point halftime lead did not last long. Temple opened the second half on a 7-0 run and, as if that wasn’t daunting enough, Travis Evee picked up his fourth foul shortly after that run. Not only was Rice going to have to find a way to hold onto the lead, they were going to have to do so without their top scorer on the floor for much of the second half.

Evee went to the bench. Rice lost the lead. Temple slowly added to their advantage, going up by six points before Evee was reinserted into the game. Playing with no foul margin, Evee scored eight straight points, spurring a Rice rally that was desperately needed.

With the game back in reach, a stressful series of closing possessions soon followed. Missed free throws from both sides and errant passes culminated in two clutch free throws from Mason, who finished with a team-high 20 points, powering Rice to a lead in the final seconds. A three-ball from Temple at the buzzer would clank off the rim, giving Rice basketball its first-ever AAC win.

The win was Pera’s 350th career win.

“This has been a tough stretch, one of the toughest of my career of 33 years,” head coach Scott Pera said after the game. “They’ve just hung with it. They’ve practiced good. We’ve been playing better. We just gotta win. We found a way today. I’m just so proud of them.”

Final Box | Rice 69 – Temple 66

Key takeaway | A win is a win is a win

Despite a slow start in conference play, getting a lead hasn’t been too difficult for Rice basketball over the last several weeks. This has been a good first half team, building sizable advantages early in games but not having the ability to sustain that level of play over 40 minutes. Whether it’s endurance, focus or misfortune of one kind or another, leads have too frequently disappeared as quickly as they have come.

So when Rice took a 16-point lead in the waning minutes of the first half, confidences were mixed. After all, the Owls had done this before but they hadn’t finished yet. On Saturday on the road, Rice finally got it done.

The victory in itself will not awe anyone on the outside. Temple entered the game 8-10 (1-4 AAC). It won’t go down in any record books or be spoken about as a resume builder for a program looking to turn the corner and get going back in the right direction. However, it should serve as proof of concept for what this team is capable of when they can play well and execute offensively.

Getting out of an 0-4 AAC start can’t happen overnight. It’s one game at a time. This was one baby step, sorely needed after an arduous beginning.

Up Next: vs Florida Atlantic (Wednesday, Jan. 24)

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Rice Football 2023 Defensive Player of the Year: Sean Fresch

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Sean Fresch took his game to new heights this season, earning our highly contested 2023 Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year award.

The 2023 Rice Football defense was filled with standout performers. The entire defensive line played well, veteran linebacker Myron Morrison was a stabilizing for in the middle of the field and defensive backs Gabe Taylor and Tre’shon Devones made big plays in big moments. Picking a Defensive Player of the Year was incredibly challenging, but Sean Fresch ultimately earned the nod partly because of his journey to this point.

A season ago, there were games in which opposing offenses chose to build their entire game plan around Fresch, and not in a complimentary way. They viewed him as a player they could beat, pushing the ball in his direction. Fresch was hunted, not feared, and to some extent, that’s what to be expected when a 5-foot-8 defensive back takes on FBS-caliber wide receivers. That’s where this story starts.

Rice hired Jeremy Modkins to coach corners in the offseason. Through his work with Modkins and a personal rededication to bettering himself, Fresch made a leap players make in their fourth collegiate season. Even before the games began, the buzz around South Main regarding Fresch’s improvement was inescapable.

“Sean Fresch is playing the most outstanding football I’ve ever seen him play,” head coach Mike Bloomgren declared before the season-opening game against Texas. Expectations and pressures were already mounting. Top corner Jordan Dunbar had taken a leave of absence from the team in the week prior to the season, thrusting Fresch into the spotlight. He did not blink.

Fresch began the season strong, tallying three pass breakups in the Owls’ upset win over the Houston Cougars and leading a secondary that would go on to finish second in the AAC in yards per game allowed through the air. Fresch started every game and provided a spark on special teams with his dynamic punt return abilities. Opposing defenses didn’t key in on him anymore. In fact, they started going the other way.

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“He doesn’t get the [pass break ups] because he’s covered the guy,” coach Modkins would joke midseason.

Whether the ball was headed his way or not Fresch, played like a new man.

“How I feel. How I play. How I carry myself around this building. How I carry myself with my teammates. The leadership role that I have, I walk around and the confidence is there,” Fresch said. “I’m just playing different.”

Fresch started every game this season, posting career highs in tackles, tackles for a loss, punt returns and punt return yardage. He also had his first sack on a big third down play against Charlotte. He was so amped up that he almost forgot to sprint down to the other end of the field and return the ensuing punt. It soon became just another exciting moment for Fresch in an incredible season.

Modkins, in his first season working with Fresch, didn’t have a full perspective of what Fresch looked like a year ago compared to the player he became under his tutelage. Nevertheless, Modkins says he never doubted Fresch putting together the kind of year that he did.

“He’s a tremendous competitor. He works his tail off. He does whatever you say to do and he wants to get better. He listens. He works,” Modkins said. “The proof is kind of in the pudding with him. I’m not surprised by the results he’s having at all.”

More: Rice Football Rising Star — Dean Connors

A surprise or not, Fresch’s resurgent season made this defense function at a high level. Defensive coordinator Brian Smith has built his scheme around having two strong cover corners who can win one-on-one battles on the outside. When the corners do that, in this scheme, it frees up the rest of the defense to pressure the quarterback and make plays.

Through it all, Fresch credited confidence and discipline as the driving force for his sustained improvement. “Just trusting that and falling back on my technique every single play,” he said. “Staying disciplined and finishing.”

One needs to look no further than the season finale against Texas State in the SERVPRO First Responders Bowl. Although it wasn’t a banner day for the team as a whole, the secondary held a potent Texas State offense to 150 yards passing with eight three-and-outs. It was a fitting end for Fresch and a strong defensive season.

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Rice Football 2023 Rising Star: Dean Connors

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From JUCO playmaker to bonafide FBS superstar, running back Dean Connors is our 2023 Rice Football Rising Star.

If Dean Connors had gotten tired, he would never tell you so. “The energizer bunny” who “doesn’t have an off switch” as offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo called him, Connors emerged as the newfound star Rice football running back this season. It was quite a long journey from the JUCO ranks to get him to where he is today, but the winding path is finally paying dividends.

In 2020, his senior season of high school was canceled and moved to the spring. He played a shortened season in March and April of 2021, then enrolled at Riverside City Junior College where he played a full 13-game schedule that fall. By the time he arrived at South Main, he’d played 18 football games in the span of six months.

Wary of overworking their new investment, the Rice coaching staff utilized Connors sparingly in his first year with the Owls. He carried the ball just 28 times for 128 yards and scored just one touchdown via a reception, not a carry.

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If Connors was ever frustrated by the slow start to this Rice career, he never showed it. By his own admission, he spent his first season trying to soak in as much football knowledge as possible. “Up until now, I’ve really kind of just went out there and played,” Connors said this past spring. “But I think once I got here I’ve been really expanding my knowledge of the game.”

He stole the show in spring practices and operated as the co-starter with veteran Juma Otoviano through fall camp. When the season arrived, Connors exploded with 145 all-purpose yards in a win over crosstown rival, Houston and scored his first FBS rushing touchdown a week later against Texas Southern.

Still, everyone in the offensive meeting rooms felt like Connors and the offense could do more. Following that game against Texas Southern in which the Owls hung 59 points on their opponent, Connors said he and the offense were “not close at all” to reaching their ceiling.

Connors had runs in that game he wanted to have back. The offensive line was working through some early season challenges. Everything wasn’t lining up just yet. But rather than get discouraged, Connors got to work.

“When Dean Connors does it the way he’s coached, it’s pretty impressive,” running backs coach John Settle said around that time. “Good Dean, is really good.”

More: Rice Football Special Teams Player of the Year — Peyton Stevenson

Bit by bit, play by play, Connors started to find his groove. He hauled in an 80-yard touchdown reception against USF, the longest play from scrimmage Rice football had this year. A few weeks later, he exploded for 120 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries during a Thursday night primetime game against Tulsa.

“Dean is such a proven commodity to this coaching staff that anything he does in a game now, it doesn’t surprise any of us,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said that night. “We expected that of Dean.”

With the Owls’ backs against the wall, in need of two wins in two weeks to clinch bowl eligibility, Connors delivered a combined 33 carries for 259 yards, the best two-game stretch of his entire career. Rice won both games and made it to the postseason, thanks in large part to Connors’ efforts.

Even with his meteoric rise, Connors remains level-headed and focused on what’s in front of him. A comment he made in the preseason rings true. “I can’t really think about starting or how many carries I’m gonna get,” he said. “I just gotta come here and work like I’m just that JUCO kid that just got here.”

That JUCO kid amassed the most scrimmage yards on the team and the fifth most yards in the American Athletic Conference. A relatively unknown commodity outside of Houston, Connors had officially arrived. He won’t be flying under the radar for much longer.

** Photo Credit: Maria Lysaker **
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