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Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 4: Scrimmage 1

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The first scrimmage of 2023 Rice Football spring practice is in the books. Here are a few individual standouts and some big-picture takeaways.

As is typically the case, the Rice football offense was doing push ups at the end of spring scrimmage one, losing the day to the defense. Head coach Mike Bloomgren admitted it would have been a rarity to see the offense come out faster than the defense to start any camp session, but was quick to level some specific critiques as well. This update breaks down some individual standouts on both sides of the ball and their ramifications on the team thus far.

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Rice Football 2022 Offensive Player of the Year: Luke McCaffrey

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First-year wide receiver Luke McCaffrey proved to be a game-changer at his new position and was a clear pick for our 2022 Rice Football Offensive Player of the Year.

More than a year ago, amidst introductions of another decorated 2022 Rice football recruiting class, head coach Mike Bloomgren dropped one not-so-subtle nugget regarding one of her current players. Luke McCaffrey, brought to campus to play quarterback, would be playing wide receiver going forward. “It was Luke’s idea,” Bloomgren shared

By the time spring practice came around a few months later, McCaffrey seemed to be taking to the new position like a fish to water. His route running was smooth. His cuts were crisp. And if all else failed, he could beat most every defensive back that lined up against him in a footrace.

“Quarterback was something I loved,” McCaffrey admitted. “But I’m so happy I made the switch.”

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Wide receivers coach Mike Kershaw was just as happy about the switch. It didn’t take more than a few practices in the spring to understand the possibilities McCaffrey as a receiver would bring to the Rice offense. “He’s that puzzle piece that has a lot of different prongs to it. The creativity you can come up with him is endless,” Kershaw said. “He will not stand in one spot.”

Kershaw’s prediction would come true in the months ahead. McCaffrey hauled in nine passes for 46 yards in his first two contests before exploding for 105 yards and two touchdowns on 10 receptions in his third game playing the position. He followed that up with a seven-catch, 121-yard and one-touchdown game the week following against Houston.

As it weren’t clear enough at that moment, McCaffrey was proving to be even more lethal as a pass catcher in space than he was with the ball in his hands under center but even he would testify that his experience as a quarterback helped him fully understand this other side of the offense.

Offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo, who watched the entire development process unfold before his eyes, was amazed. “I do think he’s special,” he said of the Owls’ newfound pass-catching weapon.

McCaffrey would go into the bye week averaging 72.2 yards per game and just shy of a touchdown per contest, with a few near-misses scattered in between. No Rice receiver would average more yards per game during the season than McCaffrey did during that stretch, and it was just the beginning of his career as a wideout.

“He’s playing well and a lot of people will forget, this is his first year playing receiver,” Kershaw mentioned during the Owls’ bye week. “He’s played five games at the position. He’s still learning.”

After a quiet game for the Rice offense against Florida Atlantic, McCaffrey exploded the following weekend against Louisiana Tech. He amassed 202 all-purpose yards, catching 10 passes with two scores through the air and another on the ground. He was unstoppable. It was his third 100-yard receiving game in seven tries.

McCaffrey would score again the following week against Charlotte but left the next contest against UTEP early with an ankle injury. That would essentially sideline him for the remainder of the regular season, one single snap against Western Kentucky notwithstanding.

More: Rice Football Iron Man — Shea Baker

Through the first nine games that McCaffrey was able to start, Rice was 5-4. They would lose the final four contests, with McCaffrey playing in just the bowl game against Southern Miss. 100 percent or not, he still posted seven receptions (all other Rice receivers had eight combined) and 67 yards.

It would be hyperbole to call McCaffrey the silver bullet, but there was no denying he made the Rice football offense work. Three of the Owls’ five worse scoring outputs of the season came without him in the lineup (at WKU, vs UTSA, at North Texas).

The emergence of McCaffrey coincided with an offensive awakening that never seemed to be fully realized. Rice football is better with McCaffrey on the field and the Owls are fortunate he’s got more eligibility to spend catching footballs at South Main.

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The Roost’s 2022 Rice Football Season Superlatives

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The Roost’s 2022 Rice Football Season Superlatives exist to honor exceptional Owls who made a difference on the field this season. Here’s the complete list.

There were many individual performances worth recognizing in the 2022 Rice Football season. In addition to the more traditional awards below, make sure to check out The Roosties, our fourth annual award show from The Roost Podcast, which features a different angle of honors. From our favorite plays to the players that surprised us the most, we cover some of the more creative superlatives on the show.

Offensive Newcomer of the Year — WR Isaiah Esdale | Full Story

Excerpt: “Esdale would go on to catch 42 passes as a Rice Owl. 25 of them went for a first down. 13 of them were for 15+ yards or longer. He was a chain mover and a big-play maker, coming through in clutch moments time and time again. While Bradley Rozner and Luke McCaffrey were the wideouts that most often found paydirt and racked up the yards, Esdale’s contribution was clutchness.”

Defensive Newcomer of the Year — LB Chris Conti | Full Story

Excerpt: “After a parade of reliable all-conference caliber linebackers that have passed through the Rice football locker room in recent years, finding someone who could fill those shoes was a daunting task. The Owls found at least one such man in Conti. And fortunately enough, he still has two more seasons of eligibility to make a difference at South Main.”

Sp. Teams Players of the Year  — PK Christian VanSickle | Full Story

Excerpt: “In that span, he made six kicks from beyond 30 yards. Rice had one such make all of last season. He had four go through the pipes from 40+ yards away. And this after attempting his first collegiate field goal last season. For someone brand new to the position to give his team the utmost level of reliability was truly remarkable.”

Rising Star — DL Blake Boenisch | Full Story

Excerpt: “The kid is a freak of nature,” fellow teammate and captain Trey Schuman said of Boenisch. “He’s 6-3, 330 and can move. It’s not every day that you see somebody like him. Really the thing about Blake is his maturation process has been insane.”

Iron Man — OL Shea Baker | Full Story

Excerpt: “When Baker donned his helmet for the final time against Southern Miss in the Lending Tree Bowl he put an exclamation point on a Rice football record that won’t soon be broken, if ever. Baker leaves Rice as the all-time leader in career starts, making 53 starts over his six-year career.”

Off. Player of the Year — WR Luke McCaffrey | Full Story

Excerpt: “The emergence of McCaffrey coincided with an offensive awakening that never seemed to be fully realized. Rice football is better with McCaffrey on the field and the Owls are fortunate he’s got more eligibility to spend catching football at South Main.”

Def. Player of the Year — LB Josh Pearcy | Full Story

Excerpt: “Pearcy would go on to make more plays, including tying a season-high seven tackles with one sack and 1.5 tackles for a loss in the Owls’ Lending Tree Bowl matchup with Southern Miss. All three of those measures tied or lead the team outright. In another big moment, Pearcy showed up. Because that’s what great players do.”

Team MVP — WR Bradley Rozner | Full Story

Excerpt: “Making it back to the field in any capacity and contributing to the offense would have been a relief for Rozner who hadn’t seen the field in such a long time. Becoming a go-to game-breaker was even more impressive. In many ways, it’s just like that game-winning score against UTEP. Someone gave Rozner a chance. He did the rest.”

Check out the 2021 Rice Football Season Superlatives here.
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Rice Football 2022: UNT Game Week Practice Report

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Rice football hits the road in search of their sixth win and securing bowl eligibility against North Texas. Here’s what we learned from practice this week.

Bouncing back has been the message for Rice football all week as they prepare for North Texas in what they hope will not be their final game of the season. The Owls can clinch bowl eligibility with a win — and might get in anyhow without one — but the focus remains on winning the game in front of them.

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This week’s roundup focuses on the team morale, the quarterback situation, injury updates and a few additional individual notes.

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

Setting the tone

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Last minute rally lifts Rice Football past UTEP for big win

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Rice Football delivers the wining score in the final moments, dashing past UTEP to secure a much-needed win at home.

Thursday’s nationally televised game against all the makings of a bowl-elimination bout between Rice football and the UTEP Miners. The Owls had had the upper hand in the series, particularly at home, winning nine of 12 in Houston. On Thursday night, Rice added one more important victory to the tally. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Withstand the first punch

On the first play from scrimmage, UTEP quarterback Gavin Hardison tried to thread a ball through a mass of blue and gray-clad defenders. Gabriel Taylor was nearly there to meet it, but was unable to make the one-handed stab to force a quick turnover. Instead, UTEP recovered and marched quickly down the field, going 78-yards in 3:13, deflating a defense in need of that instant jolt of confidence.

Down 7-0, Rice was forced to settle for a field goal on their first offensive possession as quarterback TJ McMahon was sacked on third and short inside the redzone. When Rice kicked the ball back to UTEP down by four, it felt like the rubber was about to meet the road. Was UTEP’s early touchdown — just their second touchdown in the first quarter this year — a fluke? Or would the defense figure it out?

The defense responded with a quick three-and-out and their second sack of the day. Then they found their groove. They got pressure. They forced three-and-outs (four on the day). Trey Schuman snuffed out a reverse for a loss of yards. The defense responded to a fumbled punt return with a stop and a 51-yard field goal try after the offense fizzled inside their own five-yard line. For the first time in weeks, they looked good. Not great. But good.

To say the Rice defense was “back” would be overly generous, but the unit that took the field on Thursday night looked a heck of a lot more like the one the Owls have gotten used to seeing in recent years. If they can find a way to get off the field on third down, they might just be dangerous.

Return of the big play

On the other side of the ball, the offense responded in kind. Rice had four pass plays of 15+ yards in four quarters against Charlotte last weekend. They reached that total just three minutes into the second quarter against UTEP and continued to gain yards in chunks. Bradley Rozner reached the century mark for the fifth time this season.

The Owls ended the game with 502 total yards and a slew of big plays. There were eight pass plays of 15+ yards and five run plays of 10+ yards. The offense was legitimately explosive.

What made the performance particularly compelling was the sheer quantity of contributors. Rozner, Luke McCaffrey, Isaiah Esdale, Kobie Campbell and Jack Bradley each had critical catches that extended drives or scored points. Cam Montgomery, Juma Otviano, TJ McMahon and McCaffrey each made big plays on the ground. Uriah West had his first touchdown as an Owl. Eveything just seemed to come together.

And then… the dagger!

The steady emergence of TJ McMahon

When McMahon took the field against UTEP for his eighth consecutive start, he reached a place no quarterback had gone before under Bloomgren at Rice. The previous record for consecutive starts (seven) was held by Shawn Stankavage, who led the way in the first seven games of Bloomgren’s tenure at South Main in 2018 before being injured.

McMahon already led all Rice quarterbacks under Bloomgren in passing touchdowns entering this game. He added two more to up his Rice total to 20. He also leads all of Bloomgren’s passers in interceptions, including an inexplicable additional tipped-pass pick against UTEP, a recurring nightmare that Rice fans can’t seem to escape.

After the Charlotte loss, McMahon said his job this week was “to make sure this game doesn’t beat us twice.” He did that tonight, leading his team down the field with regularity with a bit more of a boost from the running game than he’d had in recent weeks.

It’s been clearly established for several weeks now that Rice had its guy. As McMahon continues to progress, the hope for the future builds.

Breathing room

Two weeks ago, Rice football was 4-3. Being a game above .500 and two wins away from securing bowl eligibility was a breath of fresh air for the Owls, who have fought through their fair share of hardships to get to that point.

That was two weeks ago, and it feels like the program has been through a much more circuitous journey than one could have imagined in just a fortnight’s worth of time. Splitting a two-game homestand against Charlotte and UTEP was disappointing, considering the success Rice football has had to this point. But even still, the Owls have earned three chances to clinch a bowl berth.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice Football vs UTEP

It’s not time to start booking tickets to spend Christmas in Hawaii or the holiday season in the Bahamas quite yet. But the situation is objectively more positive than it could have been had Rice not found a way to win this football game, and win it in the manner they did. The Owls have been far from perfect this year, but they have been resilient.

Following a loss, Rice football is 4-0 this season. And now instead of being forced to grapple with the real possibility of their one-time storybook season ending in a nightmare, Rice has hope again. Hope can be a dangerous this at times, but right now, it’s exactly what the Owls need. That, and one more win down the stretch. But they’ll focus on that final W tomorrow.

Digging deeper

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When in doubt, be clutch

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