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New-look offense shines at 2025 Rice Football Spring Game

April 12, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

The 2025 Rice football spring practices concluded on Saturday with the spring game, a more condensed version this year, but still rich with things to learn.

An open quarterback competition, a new offense and plenty of new faces made for an exciting night at Historic Rice Stadium for the Owls’ first spring game under head coach Scott Abell on Saturday night. Marketed as more of an open practice, the Owls went through some drills before going through a handful of drives in front of the assembled crowed.

More: Spring Practice Notebook 6 — Big moves in the trenches

This update focuses on what took place in that scrimmage, hitting on some takeaways from the game and how those items compare to the totality of the spring.

Mission Accomplished

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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aaron Turner, AJ Padgett, Braylen Walker, Chase Allen, Chase Jenkins, Christian Edgar, D'Andre Hardeman, Daelen Alexander, Drew Devillier, Enoch Gota, practice notes, Quinton Jackson, Reese Keeney, Rice Football, Semaj Pierre, spring practice, Taji Atkins, Tyson Thompson, Tyvonn Byars

Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 5: Slot School

April 6, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

There’s been a lot to learn with this new-look Rice Football offense during spring practices, including the introduction of a new position: slot.

Keeping track of where players are lining up and where they go after the snap has been an adventure in the new offense Rice football is installing this spring. Head coach Scott Abell, renowned for his offensive system, has engineered a scheme that is fascinating to watch, but sometimes hard to follow. That confusion often stems from the slot position and how many different ways it’s utilized in this offense.

More: Spring Practice Notebook 4 — QB Battle and Scrimmage Thoughts

This update dives into what that slot position does, how the Owls use it in the offense and which players are going to be lining up at that position in the fall.

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So…. what’s a slot?

No position has been more fascinating to follow this spring than the one most recently added to the Rice football depth chart: Slot. Coached by Austin Eisenhofer, nominally the Insider Wide Receivers coach according to the Rice football online roster, the slot position promises to bring plenty of flash and excitement to South Main.

“The slot position kind of does everything,” Eisenhofer explained. “A lot of blocking, a lot of pass catching, a lot of rushing the ball.”

That all-encompassing definition might even undersell the level of versatility the Owls require from this position. It’s not uncommon to see a slot player go out on a route on one play, take a sweep around one side on the next play, and then operate as the trailing man in an option run on the play after that. Their interchangeability with the running back position has been fascinating to watch.

In so many ways, this position is an amalgamation of so many skillsets into a true all-purpose offensive tool.

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“We’re insider receivers and we do more skills of a receiver than anything else,” Eisenhofer said, “But at the end of the day it’s a lot of guys that in high school they were labeled as A-T-H. They can affect the game in so many ways. I think that’s fun for anyone.”

For some in the recruiting world, ATH or “Athlete” is a designation given to players with athletic ability, but no true position. It’s the “other” option for players talented enough to play at this level, but without a specified skillset at any singular spot. For this offense to take those “other” pieces and turn them into key cogs in this offensive system is amusing.

A few players like Cincinnati transfer Aaron Turner — brother of offensive assistant Eli Turner, who played for Abell at Davidson — knew what they were getting into when this position was assigned to them over the winter. The rest are truly starting from scratch, adjusting to so many different ways to get the football beyond the traditional throw and catch down field.

“They’ve taken to it probably quicker than I could have even expected,” Eisenhofer praised. “All they’re worried about is they want to be good. They want to learn it. They understand it’s a process.”

Climbing the depth chart

We’re still a ways from settling on any firm offensive depth chart, but there are a few faces that have risen through the ranks at this position during camp. The aforementioned Turner is the first name to mention. He was the first pass catcher Abell cited when discussing standout individuals following last Saturday’s scrimmage as Abell noted that Turner “seemed to be making plays every day.”

Given his familiarity with the coaching staff and how the Owls’ prioritized him in the portal, his ascension probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. He’s not the only player to stand out at this spot during the spring, though. Redshirt freshman Owen Carter has receiver as many, if not more reps with the starting group.

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A high school standout at Cy Fair, Carter’s presence was minimal on Saturday’s last fall, redshirting while appearing in two games. To say he’s taken a step forward since then and embraced this new-look offense would be an understatement. He’s been fun to watch and someone worth keeping an eye on moving forward.

It’ll be hard to determine how many “starting” wide receiver spots they’ll be, especially given how much this offense will vary from formation to formation, but Carter, Turner and Braylen Walker (playing the true wide receiver spot in this offense, not slot) have been by far the most common triumvirate on the field so far.

Odds and Ends

  • Not only does there appear a ways to go for settling on a starting five on the offensive line, positions remain fluid. There was a sequence of plays last week where I watched one lineman play go from guard, to the tackle spot on the opposite side to the other guard spot in the span of three plays. The intra-drive fluidity is likely a quirk of practice, but that doesn’t make it any less hard to terse out.
  • Quinton Jackson broke off a 65-yard touchdown run in Wednesday’s practice. The speed possessed by him and Taji Atkins, along with the depth at the running back position should make for an exciting year for the ground game.
  • There are no fullbacks in this offense in the traditional sense, but that doesn’t mean the Owls’ fullbacks have completely disappeared. Micah Barnett and Rhys Phillips have transitioned to tight end. Phillips missed a good chunk of last season, so it’s been fun to see him get in the mix at full speed.
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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium, Reserve Tagged With: Aaron Turner, Braylen Walker, Micah Barnett, Owen Carter, practice notes, Quinton Jackson, Rhys Phillips, Rice Football, spring practice, Taji Atkins

Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 4: QB Battle and Scrimmage Thoughts

March 29, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

The three-man quarterback race is heating up as Rice football pushes past the midpoint of spring practices, making progress with the new offensive scheme.

With more than half of Rice football spring practice in the books, the Owls’ offense is beginning to materialize. Several weeks of installs have led to the beginnings of a pecking order with a few skill players making their names known alongside a heated battle in the quarterback room.

More: Spring Practice Notebook 3 — The Rice Football defense takes shape

The second scrimmage of the spring wrapped up on Saturday with plenty to be gleaned from that side of the ball. This update dives into what scrimmages (and the upcoming Spring Game) will look like under head coach Scott Abell, how the quarterback race is shaping up and more as we cross the midpoint and get into the final weeks of spring practice.

Rethinking the word scrimmage

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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aaron Turner, AJ Padgett, Braylen Walker, Chase Jenkins, Drew Devillier, Jaggar Hebeisen, James Falk, Micah Barnett, Owen Carter, practice notes, Rhys Phillips, Rice Football, spring practice

Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 2: Unpacking the offense, QBs

March 21, 2025 By Matthew Bartlett

Two weeks of 2025 Rice Football spring practices are in the books. Here’s what we’ve learned about the offense and quarterbacks so far.

The new look Rice football offense has taken some getting used to, but the explosiveness with which they play and the vast array of weapons at their disposal has made for an exciting spring so far. Just a few practices into the spring, the scheme is starting to take shape as everyone learns on the go and gets their first live reps on the field.

This update dives deep into that offense, taking stock of the quarterback competition thus far and digging into the details of how plays are called, what the scheme will look like from week to week and more.

A true competition at quarterback

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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aaron Turner, AJ Padgett, Chase Jenkins, D'Andre Hardeman, Daelen Alexander, David Stickle, Drew Devillier, Landon Ransom, Netane Fehoko, practice notes, Quinton Jackson, Rawson MacNeill, Rice Football, spring practice, Taji Atkins, Tyvonn Byars

Rice Football Recruiting: WR Aaron Turner commits to Owls

December 23, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

The 2025 Rice Football recruiting class just landed its first offensive addition from the Transfer Portal. Cincinnati transfer WR Aaron Turner has committed to the Owls.

The new offensive scheme was always going to require some new pieces, several of which were destined to come from the Transfer Portal. The first new addition by Scott Abell and his staff on that side of the ball is official in. Former Cincinnati wide receiver Aaron Turner has committed to the Owls.

Rice will be Turner’s third stop as a college player following a pair of two-year stints, first at UConn and then to Cincinnati. Turner was the Huskies’ leading receiver as a true sophomore in 2022 before moving on to the Big 12 where he was limited to 16 receptions over the past two seasons. He’s also seen frequent use as a runner, carrying the ball 26 times across his collegiate career.

Turner is one of three transfer commits the Owls have received this month joining a pair of JUCO defensive backs, Jerrick Harper and Jo Chavez. That trio will work to complement a strong high school class which largely stayed intact during the coaching transition.

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The 5-foot-9, 175-pound athlete wins with speed and elusiveness. A high school running back, Turner has been utilized in a variety of ways at each of his stops since. That sort of versatility jumps out on his film and undoubtably is what made him so appealing to the Owls.

THANK YOU CINCY!! pic.twitter.com/HhGYfyVBDh

— AT (@aaronturnerr) December 2, 2024
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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Football Recruiting Tagged With: Aaron Turner, Rice Football, Rice Football recruiting

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