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BREAKING: Jack Fox to be Detroit Lions starting punter

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Former Rice football punter Jack Fox has won his first pro punting job, beating out competitor Aaron Siposs to become the Detroit Lions punter.

It’s been a remarkable journey for former Rice Football punter Jack Fox. From high school football in Missouri to college ball in Texas, Fox has moved around the country and back again hoping for one of 32 coveted NFL jobs. After years of striving, those dreams have come true, Jack Fox has won the starting punting job for the Detroit Lions per Dave Birkett.

The Lions will likely cut punter competitor Aaron Siposs this week as part of their end of camp roster cuts. The team will have to trim down their roster to 53 prior to their season-opening game against the Bears of Sunday, Sept. 13. When Fox takes the field on that day, he’ll punt in a regular season game for the first time in his career.

Prior to settling in with the Lions, Fox signed with Kansas City following the 2019 NFL Draft as an undrafted free agent. He was cut from the Chiefs’ practice squad and drafted by an XFL team before ultimately signing a futures deal with the Lions and entering their punting competition.

Fox spent this offseason training with current and former NFL specialists. In spite of the challenges of working out without a gym in the midst of a pandemic, he found a way to continue to push himself to improve. While with Detriot, he’ll likely handle kickoffs and holds for field goals, as well as his duties as the team’s primary punter.

Check out our recent interview with newly minted Lions punter Jack Fox who jumping on The Roost Podcast in late August to talk about the competition and his offseason. The interview begins at 22:34. He breaks down what it’s like to battle for a job in training camp, what he’s learned during the offseason and more.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 49 – College Football returns and C-USA Odds

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Actual college football happened this week. Carter and Matthew breakdown the impact of Austin Peay vs Central Arkansas and discuss C-USA title odds.

We’re a month away from Rice football’s 2020 debut, but college football has officially begun. Austin Peay and Central Arkansas kicked off the fall season last week in a game that might have more impact on the rest of the sport as a whole than it would in other years.

Carter and Matthew examine the circumstances surrounding what was an extremely unusual game and what ripple effects could impact Rice, Conference USA and the national landscape of the sport.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 49.

Episode 49 Notes

  • Housekeeping — Schedule news and other updates are coming fast and furious. Make sure you hit the button and subscribe on Patreon so you don’t miss what’s happening behind the scenes. As always, thanks to all of you who have followed the show on Twitter and left a review on iTunes. It’s quick, but it makes a difference.

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  • College Football is back
    • COVID-19 impacts first game of the season between Austin Peay and Central Arkansas
    • Could Austin Peay’s missing players be a sign of things to come?
    • Two very different schedules highlight what is destined to be a strange season
  • Conference USA odds and Rice outlook
    • Oddsmakers are split on the Owls. What are realistic expectations for the team in this truncated season?
    • Can this team reach the Conference USA Championship game?
    • How do we evaluate this season?

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 Baseball: 2020 MLB Owls update – September 3

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The 2020 MLB season is underway and Rice baseball alums are making noise. Here’s the latest on the MLB Owls from the week of September 3.

Brock Holt was released by the Brewers last week but wasn’t unemployed for very long. The utility man landed in Washington with the defending World Series Champs. Manager Dave Martinez was very complimentary about the new addition. “We think he can help,” Martinez said of Holt, “He can play multiple positions, he can swing the bat. He’s going to get a chance to play everywhere here.”

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

Rendon cooled down a bit this week after his torrid mid-August pace. He’s still on pace for a terrific season and currently sports what would be the highest on-base percentage of his career (.435). The former National has settled in quite nicely in Anaheim and the impact he’s had on the entire lineup has been noticeable, perhaps no more so than how pitchers have to game plan for his spot in the order.

There’s no more pitching around Mike Trout when you have to deal with Rendon at the plate after him. So far, Rendon’s been doing just fine with the arrangement.

Through September 2, Rendon is hitting .292 with 11 extra-base hits, 25 walks and 20 strikeouts.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

Duffey took his first loss of the year this week, allowing a two-run home run in the fifth inning to Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera. Minnesota was unable to climb out of the two-run hole. He bounced back with his first multi-inning outing in his next appearance.

Through September 2, Duffey has a 1.88 ERA with a .4767 WHIP. He’s averaging 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

Other Owls

Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen downplayed the chances of pitcher Jon Duplantier rejoining the rotation later in the season. Saying “I don’t think it’s likely” in response to a question about his availability in the coming weeks. If that is the case, we’ll have to wait until 2021 to see Duplantier on the mound again.

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Rice Football Recruiting: First glimpse at 2022 recruits of interest

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The 2022 Rice Football Recruiting class officially has players “on our radar”. Who are they and what should we make of these new names?

September 1 marked the first day of permissible contact for the Rice Football recruiting staff and the class of 2022. If you follow The Roost on Twitter (and you should), you saw a flurry of graphics that looked similar to this one.

If you scroll through the feed, you’ll see more than 30 posts from 2022 players who were contacted by the staff on Tuesday. I saved you some time and compiled all of those names in the doc below. I’ve also attached 247 Profile pages where applicable and highlight links. If this looks familiar, that’s how the Offer Tracker is structured.

I won’t keep you from the list, but I did want to make a few observations first.

1. These aren’t offers

Rice is uber-selective with their offers. The Owls are three months from the Early Signing Period for the 2021 recruiting class and they’ve only handed out 56 offers to that class. Rice will be equally choosy with this next wave of athletes. Now, being “on our radar” this early is a good indicator that some of these players will get offered down the road, but as of Tuesday evening, these should all be viewed as players of interest.

2. Quarterbacks lead the way

It’s no mistake you’ll see seven quarterbacks listed below. Rice has yet to recruit, develop and establish a starting quarterback under Mike Bloomgren. So far it’s been an array of transfers that have had most of the success. JoVoni Johnson could be that guy. So too could current commit Shawqi Itraish. But make no mistake, Rice is going to aim high at quarterback in 2022.

3. Quiet in the secondary

Rice probably won’t need to hit the secondary too hard in 2022. They have a young core at the safety position and corner already on campus with a pair of safeties committed in the 2021 class. With three freshmen corners in the 2020 class, Rice will probably opt to focus moreso on the defensive front this go around, something evident in the 10 defensive linemen featured on the list.

4. Texan based with out-of-state flavor

The Owls have done a good job maintaining a Texas base while still developing roots out of state. 21 of the 34 players on the list play in Texas. Out-of-state players hail from Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, South Carolina and Virginia.

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Rice Football Recruiting: What’s significant about September 1?

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September 1 marks the beginning of the recruiting cycle for the 2022 Rice Football Recruiting class, who are currently high school juniors.

Earlier this year the sports world ground to a standstill. There were no games played of any sort for months. Calendars were thrown into chaos and fans waited anxiously for the competition to return. Meanwhile, the recruiting world continued ahead at nearly full speed.

Limitations were put in place to safeguard in the new COVID-19 impacted reality, but college football staffs across the country kept busy regardless of what games were or weren’t played. The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class is proof of those efforts.

The Owls enter September with The No. 4 class in Conference USA. They have 11 commits, all but one of which has been given a 3-star rating by 247 Sports. Seven of those 11 made their pledges to Rice after April 1 when all interactions became virtual via zoom and phone calls rather than any sort of in-person visits.

If you follow Rice Football Director of Recruiting Alex Brown on Twitter, you might have noticed something else on the horizon on the recruiting front this week:

September 1 marks the first permissible contact date for college recruiting staffs with current high school juniors. That means the 2022 recruiting season has officially begun.

Rice has proven adept at identifying talent under the oversight of Alex Brown and his staff. Hired in the spring of 2019, Brown’s first class (2020) was the highest-rated class in program history. The 2021 class is currently on pace to finish near those levels, or possibly exceed them. 2022 should be another bright year on the recruiting trail for the Owls.

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