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Rice Football 2022 Fall Camp Notebook 3: Assessing the Defense

August 10, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

Defensive Coordinator Brian Smith answered some questions and shared his philosophy for the Rice football defense as the Owls start fall camp.

For the better part of the past two seasons, it’s been tough sledding on the injury front for the Rice football defense. Key players like Treshawn Chamberlain, George Nyakwol and De’Braylon Carroll have missed significant time. Now, they’re back and most of the players who held down the front in their place are still on campus. That’s good news for the Owls’ defense in 2022.

More: Rice Football Preseason Preview Series

Defensive coordinator Brian Smith, who has had to make do with square pegs and round holes, looks to finally have his full arsenal at his disposal, and perhaps of equal importance — he has depth. How will Rice utilize that depth this season and how will they deploy their many assets on this side of the ball. Smith sat down with The Roost this week to share his plans and discuss some big-picture themes for his unit this fall.

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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.

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 3 Roundup
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  • Rice Football 2025 Game Preview: Navy
  • American Conference Football 2025: Week 4 Roundup

Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aidan Siano, Andrew Awe, Blake Boenisch, Chris conti, De'Braylon Carroll, George Nyakwol, Izeya Floyd, Jojo Jean, Jordan Dunbar, Josh Pearcy, Kenneth Orji, Kirk Lockhart, Lamont Narcisse, Litchfield Ajavon, Miles Mccord, Myron Morrison, Plae Wyatt, practice notes, quent titre, Rice Football, Sean Fresch, Tre'shon Devones, Treshawn Chamberlain

Rice Football 2022 Season Preview: Safety

July 13, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

As part of our 2022 Rice Football Preseason Preview series, next we’ll examine the safety position and discuss the Owls’ plans for that group.

It’s been tough sledding on the back end of the Rice football secondary for some time now, although the rotating door at safety hasn’t been for lack of effort. Injuries have hammered this room hard in each of the past two years. This time around the Owls are looking as healthy as ever and they might even have some depth to go around, too. Here’s our 2022 Safety Preview.

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

This piece is part of our 2022 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. New subscribers get our Conference USA Football Season Preview for FREE! 

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Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
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Recent Posts
  • Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 3 Roundup
  • The Roost Podcast | Ep 213 – Rice Football rolls past Charlotte
  • Rice Football 2025 Game Preview: Navy
  • American Conference Football 2025: Week 4 Roundup

Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: 2022 Rice Football Season Preview, Chike Anigbogu, Daveon Hook, Gabe Taylor, George Nyakwol, Ichmael Joseph, Joshua Williams, Kirk Lockhart, Litchfield Ajavon, Marcus Williams, Plae Wyatt, Treshawn Chamberlain, Tyson Flowers

Rice Football 2022: Early Position by position confidence levels

May 31, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

Spring ball is long gone and Rice Football is preparing to turn the page toward the 2022 season. How confident should we be in each position group?

Every Rice football position group entered the spring facing a different set of questions. For some, spring was about identifying starters. For others, it was assessing the depth and determining if reinforcements were needed. Not all those questions were answered, but we did learn enough to project how confident we might be in each position group heading into the 2022 season.

Get Caught Up

  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 1 – Introductions
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 2 – Depth Chart
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook Q&A – Luke McCaffrey, WR
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 3 – Scrimmage 1
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 4 – Offense bounces back
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 5 – Scrimmage 2
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 6 – Running backs ramp up
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 7 – Spring Game Takeaways
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook – Defense Takeaways
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook – Offense Takeaways
Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

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.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts
  • Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 3 Roundup
  • The Roost Podcast | Ep 213 – Rice Football rolls past Charlotte
  • Rice Football 2025 Game Preview: Navy
  • American Conference Football 2025: Week 4 Roundup

Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aidan Siano, Ari Broussard, Blake Boenisch, Bradley Rozner, Cam Montgomery, Chris conti, De'Braylon Carroll, Dean Connors, Gabe Taylor, Gavin Reinwald, George Nyakwol, Ikenna Enechukwu, Isaiah Esdale, Izeya Floyd, Jack Bradley, Jojo Jean, Jordan Dunbar, Josh Pearcy, Juma Otoviano, Kenneth Orji, Kenny Seymour, Kirk Lockhart, Luke McCaffrey, Miles Mccord, Plae Wyatt, quent titre, Rice Football, Sam Crawford, Sean Fresch, TJ McMahon, Tre'shon Devones, Treshawn Chamberlain, Uriah West, Wiley Green

Rice Football 2022: What we learned from the defense this spring

April 18, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

It was a productive spring for the Rice Football defense. Here are five things we learned from the unit over the course of the six weeks of practice.

The defense started strong and carried its moment through more than a month during Rice football spring practices. A mix of up-and-coming stars-to-be joined up with several well-known veterans and combined to give the offense fits. Who stood out the most and what did we learn from this unit as a whole during the spring?

Get Caught Up

  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 1 – Introductions
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 2 – Depth Chart
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook Q&A – Luke McCaffrey, WR
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 3 – Scrimmage 1
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 4 – Offense bounces back
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 5 – Scrimmage 2
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 6 – Running backs ramp up
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 7 – Spring Game Takeaways
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook – Offense Takeaways
Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special updates like this are reserved for our subscribers. Get access to all Rice football practice notes, features and more insights like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts
  • Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 3 Roundup
  • The Roost Podcast | Ep 213 – Rice Football rolls past Charlotte
  • Rice Football 2025 Game Preview: Navy
  • American Conference Football 2025: Week 4 Roundup

Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aidan Siano, Andrew Awe, Blake Boenisch, Caleb James, De'Braylon Carroll, Gabe Taylor, George Nyakwol, Ikenna Enechukwu, Izeya Floyd, Jalen Reeves, Jojo Jean, Jordan Dunbar, Josh Pearcy, Joshua Williams, Kenneth Orji, Kenny Seymour, Kirk Lockhart, Lamont Narcisse, Miles Mccord, Plae Wyatt, Sean Fresch, Tre'shon Devones, Treshawn Chamberlain, Trey Schuman, Van Heitmann

Rice Football: New-look secondary learning as they go

November 18, 2021 By Matthew Bartlett

The Rice football secondary has been reworked and is learning on the fly, braving a “trial by fire” every week they take the field.

It’s been a challenging year for the Rice football secondary. The Owls’ seeming ever-changing combination of defensive backs took their turn at the buzzsaw that is the Western Kentucky offense last weekend and came out of it roughly the same way every other college football secondary has faired to this point: beat up.

Zappe and Co. threw for 495 yards against Rice, almost 150 more yards through the air than the most Rice had given up any previous games this season. Zappe threw for five touchdowns with just one interception, which came on Western Kentucky’s first drive of the game.

“I knew how good he was going into the game,” Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren admitted, “but watching him in person, he was phenomenal.”

The good news for Bloomgren and Rice? They don’t have to play Zappe ever again. The bad news? Western Kentucky exposed the patchwork Rice secondary, revealing it as a little bit more “work-in-progress” than the Owls would have liked to admit. The flames of the “trial by fire” Bloomgren alluded to in the week prior to the Western Kentucky game have yet to simmer down.

More: Rice Football depth chart changes and UTEP press conference notes

But the show must go on. And the Rice coaching staff hopes that these past few games will serve as valuable teaching tools for young players who could soon become household names

Those new faces like Gabe Taylor and Plae Wyatt are on the field, in part, because Rice football has been without safeties George Nyakwol and Treshawn Chamberlain for the better portion of conference play. Neither is expected back on the field anytime soon. That’s put the burden on the up-and-coming defensive backs to learn on the job.

Taylor only played football his senior year of high school and was a “COVID freshman”, a phrase used around the locker room for those that endured their first season of college ball amid so many challenges. He said he worked out three times a day for a month when he got home after last season. The drive was there, he just needed the technique, the understanding. Now he’s fifth on the team in tackles, trailing only Naeem Smith in the defensive backfield.

Wyatt’s emergence took a bit more time and a switch from safety to the hybrid “Viper” role. Bloomgren noted the Western Kentucky game was a turning point for him. “I thought he just made a big impact on the game when he got in,” Bloomgren said. “He’s getting more comfortable. Against Western Kentucky, he forced his first career fumble and registered a career-best four tackles.

Fellow safety Kirk Lockhart is quickly becoming a veteran presence. He led the team in tackles against the Hilltoppers and registered his second interception of the season. All three of those young faces — Lockhart, Taylor and Wyatt — have been forced to learn on the job, and with that has come its share of highs lows.

Preview: Rice football vs UTEP

Safeties coach Collin Spencer has seen as much. “You knew the ability was there,” he said of those up-and-coming defensive backs, “You just had to keep bring them along so that you didn’t have to worry about the mental aspect of it and you could allow them to just play and use their natural ability.”

Spencer did note the Owls have faced “some really good quarterback play” in recent weeks as the staff tried to determine which man should play which spot. They’re all smart dudes, so they can learn it. That’s not the problem,” Spencer said. “Basically the challenge is they might be learning something completely opposite at one position than the new position they’re learning, so having the discipline to stick to their new rules [is key].”

Wyatt and Lockhart both moved to the Viper position during the season from true safety spots. Freshman linebacker DJ Arkansas has transitioned into the secondary as well. Several players are in relatively new positions, and the growing pains are real.

There isn’t expected to be any further shuffling from this point onward. The Owls know what they have. Now those new faces have to take the next step. The final two opponents on the schedule, UTEP and Louisiana Tech, rank seventh and fifth, respectively in passing offense in conference games. They’re not at Western Kentucky levels, but both teams will take shots through the air.

Rice football wants to finish the season strong. The offense has scored 21 or more points in five of their last six games. The defense has given up 30 or more in four of those six contests, including 12 touchdowns through the air in that span. There’s no better time than the present to drive that touchdown number down.

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 3 Roundup
  • The Roost Podcast | Ep 213 – Rice Football rolls past Charlotte
  • Rice Football 2025 Game Preview: Navy
  • American Conference Football 2025: Week 4 Roundup

Filed Under: Archive, Football Tagged With: DJ Arkansas, Gabe Taylor, George Nyakwol, Kirk Lockhart, Naeem Smith, Plae Wyatt, Rice Football, Treshawn Chamberlain

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