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Rice Football 2021: UTSA presser quotes, injury updates and depth chart

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Rice football returns to action this weekend against UTSA. Here’s what Mike Bloomgren had to say about it, injury updates and practice notes.

This is the first of a couple of updates coming this week as Rice football prepares to take on UTSA. We’ll include updates from head coach Mike Bloomgren’s midweek press conference, then dig further into the details on the depth chart and what the team looks like on the field headed into the weekend.

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The depth chart looks a decent amount different from where things left off against Southern Miss. There are a variety of reasons for that, and a couple of notable injury updates that coincide with some of those changes. This update will focus on those, with some more in-depth practice notes coming later in the week. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

“It was a great week because we were able to get healthier. Nobody is healthy in Week 7 of the season. But, we got some guys back and they looked great. We also got some young guys some work…. So I would say it was a very good bye week. We got exactly what we needed out of it.” – Mike Bloomgren on the bye week

“I don’t know that our conference has seen a defense like this since maybe 2018 UAB. It is just a dominant group out there. It’s an old, veteran group. I think nine of their 11 starters are seniors or super seniors. They are a very good group. They’re very well-coached.” – Mike Bloomgren on the UTSA defense

“I think, with a win like this, people will really start to wake up and understand Rice is here to play. We didn’t ahve the best start to the season, but like we said whenever we started out first confernece game against Southern Miss, it’s a new season… our goals are still attainable.” – Jordan Myers on the significance of the UTSA game

“I got to rest my legs a bit and heal up some minor bruises. It was good to get off your feet for a couple days, but I’m excited to be back in this building and back to work. It got a little boring over the weekend, just not playing in the games, watching games on tv. I want to be out there right now, playing.” – Elijah Garcia on the significance of the UTSA game

Depth Chart

The Rice football depth chart looks slightly different after the bye week. Here’s how the two-deep the Owls will trot out against UTSA on Saturday.

Rice Football

Pitre poised for return

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Rice Football – September 2021 Patreon Q&A

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There were a handful of questions submitted for this month’s Q&A, all of which revolved around the state and future outlook of the Rice football team.

We had several questions submitted for the September mail bag as Rice football closes out non-conference play. Topics range from injuries to depth pieces to what changes we should expect to see from the Owls moving forward.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Q&A’s are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

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Rice Football 2021: TSU presser quotes, practice notes and depth chart

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Rice football caps off its nonconference schedule against Texas Southern. Here’s what Mike Bloomgren had to say about it, injury updates and practice notes.

This is the first of a couple of updates coming this week as Rice football prepares to take on Texas Southern. We’ll include updates from head coach Mike Bloomgren’s midweek press conference, then dig further into the details on the depth chart and what the team looks like on the field headed into the weekend.

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To some degree, Rice football finds itself in the twilight zone. Conversation this week focused on the quarterback situation and the adjustments needed for this team to bounce back and find the win column once again. There were a handful of significant adjustments to the depth chart and some developments from practice early this week. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

“I think we learned more about individual players. We learned who would be able to step up in those situations and no matter who the opponent, be able to get their job done and do their one-eleventh. I think that’s great information that our coaching staff needed. Sometimes people can do in practice and can’t do it on game day, and we learn that about some guys unfortunately too. Because it’s a meritocracy, we’ll have to make some tough changes, and changes that nobody wants to make, but I love these kids. We told them in their living room, that’s one thing they could count on. – Mike Bloomgren on what the team has learned so far in nonconference play

“I was impressed with the way Jake was able to come in and really manage everything and get everything orchestrated and make plays go and find the open guy and deliver the ball. I was also impressed with Coach Tui and how they communicated on the sideline and how they got him into some calls he was comfortable with. There was some good there and some lessons learned, to say the least.” – Mike Bloomgren on the play of Jake Constantine

“My composure in the pocket, I’d say is really good. I’d like to say I stand my ground real strong and keep my eyes downfield. I definitely think I can improve in some things like getting rid of the ball on time, last game just coming in there a little rusty, I definitely think there’s some fixing that I could do with my own play, but I’m just excited to get after it this week.” – Jake Constantine on his strengths as a quarterback

“I do think the defense is a lot better. The reason I believe that is because I know the work we put in. I know what we did last year. We’re only missing one piece from that team last year. We were ranked in the top 20. And I believe that all of our players understand that we haven’t played to our standard yet. We play up to our standard in the first three quarters against Arkansas, but since then, defensively, we haven’t plated to our standard. We need to get back to playing how we know we can because that’s a big thing about Coach Blooms philosophy: run the ball, control the clock and play great defense. If we can’t play great defense, we can’t do the other two.” – Kenneth Orji on whether the defense is better than the numbers reflect

Depth Chart

The Rice football depth chart was updated following the Texas game and for perhaps the first time this season, the primary changes involved some performance-based role changes in addition to the more customary injury adjustments.

Injuries shake up depth chart

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Rice Football 2021: Pre-Texas offensive tweaks and practice notes

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Rice football needs to rebound on offense in the worst way this week. Here’s what’s changing headed into the Texas game and some other practice notes.

Neither side of the ball was happy with how they performed against Houston last Saturday. Noticeably eager to put rinse the bad taste away, Rice football hit the practice field hard this week getting in work despite a minor disruption from Hurrican Nicholas.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today.

Scheme adjustments prior to the Texas game

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Rice Football 2021: Texas presser quotes, practice notes and depth chart

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Rice football hits the road again this weekend to face Texas. Here’s what Mike Bloomgren had to say about it, injury updates and practice notes.

This is the first of a couple of updates coming this week as Rice football prepares to take on Texas. We’ll include updates from head coach Mike Bloomgren’s midweek press conference, then dig further into the details on the depth chart and what the team looks like on the field headed into the weekend.

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While some attention was given to Texas, much of this week’s discussion revolved around the Houston game. Bloomgren was able to shed greater clarity on what went wrong and offer some comments on how the Owls plan to fix those issues. Practice notes are lighter with the hurricane throwing a wrench in the typical schedule. Expect a deeper breakdown on that front later in the week. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

“We just think he gives our team the best opportunity to be succesful, not only today, but going forward. There’s thing that he brings to the position and to the team that are diferent. The ability to affect the game with his legs. The ability to keep plays alive. When he’s comfortable and stands in there and throws or when he’s on the move, he’s got a super strong arm. But the ability to keep plays going and do things with his legs are really the reasons right now.” – Mike Bloomgren on the decision to start Luke McCaffrey at QB

“Going back to the commonality of the opponent, I think it should be very encouraging to our guys to watch what we did against Arkansas and and watch [Texas against Arkansas], and know that we can go stand toe to toe with these guys. If we just stick to our fundamentals, listen to our coaches and play our butts off, we’ll have a chance to stand toe to toe in front of these guys, get the game to the fourth quarter and hopefully find a way to win that thing.” – Mike Bloomgren on the common opponent with Texas

“I think when you go into and yoilook at the schedule and you get to play those old South West Conference teams, I think a lot of our fan base was excited. I think they’d like us to beat a couple of them, and certainly we would like that as well. But you look back at the history of this game and how many times it’s been played, it’s a great rivalry. Now, it’s been a little bit of a one sided rivalry, right? I think the last win we have in this program is 1994, but we’ve done a lot of firsts in the last three years and we’d sure like to find a way to earn this victory. And our guys are going to work our butts off to try and make that our reality.” – Mike Bloomgren on rekindling the rivalry with Texas, SWC opponents

“We have grown so much. Being here for four years, I’ve seen a lot of downs and those downs have been really hard. I think we’re on the trajectory of going up and on Saturday that obviously was not showing our progress, but we’re on the way there.”  – Shea Baker on the growth in the program since Rice last played Texas in 2019

“We felt like we’ve played good corners but not full games, and that’s not good enough. Anytime that the offense gets the ball, we can’t let them score, it’s as simple as that, especially not in the red zone. We haven’t been good enough in the red zone. We given up too many points, which I know will get corrected. I believe in it. I believe in our scheme, our players. Not not the way we wanted to start our season defensively, but we have 10 more games.” – Antonio Montero on the play of the defense

Depth Chart

The Rice football depth chart was updated following the Houston game. The primary changes were injury related.

Depth Chart Changes and injuries

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