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Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 2: Roster Notes

March 16, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football spring practice has just begun and there are several players who are (and aren’t) participating that are worth noting.

It’s been months since Rice football last practiced. Since then, players have left the program, new ones have come in and the availability of current players is in flux. In order to better understand what’s going to take place this spring, it’s worth setting the table and establishing who is available and who isn’t.

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That means some bad news (injuries) and some good news (reinstatements, waivers) for players that could play a significant role for Rice football this spring and beyond.

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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: AJ Padgett, Bradley Rozner, Braedon Nutter, Caleb James, Faaeanuu Pepe, Gabe Taylor, Joshua Williams, JT Daniels, Lamont Narcisse, practice notes, Rice Football, spring practice, TJ McMahon, Tre'shon Devones, Tyson Flowers

Rice Football: Disappointed Owls ready to turn the page

December 18, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football found itself on the wrong side of history in the Lending Tree Bowl against Southern Miss. Now they’re ready to turn the page.

Nobody in the Rice football locker room had envisioned participating in what Mike Bloomgren aptly dubbed “the Frank Gore show” on a chilly December night in Mobile, AL. The last team to make it into the postseason was rewarded with a spot in college football history, albeit one they’d rather not be linked to. In some ways, though, it’s a fitting in-between that’s representative of who this team was this season.

“There are a lotta guys in that locker room that are in shambles,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said after the game. “They’re incredibly invested in what we’re doing and they wanted to find a way to win this game, but we didn’t get it done.”

The failure drops the Owls to 5-8. It’s their most wins since 2014, yet somehow symbolizes the floor of expectations moving forward. Senior defensive end Ikenna Enechukwu, who likely played in his last game as an Owl, forcing a fumble and being credited with a sack, said as much in his comments following the game.

More: Takeaways from Rice football loss to Southern Miss

“I want this to the bare minimum for them,” he said. “The bare minimum should be those six wins and they should be aiming for that conference championship, even if it’s in the AAC. I feel like they can do it.”

In a sense, Enechukwu knew that being in Mobile as a five-win team required a stroke of luck. Rice didn’t get much luck on Saturday evening, whether from their own efforts, a set of dubious officials or anyone else. The results were what they were. Now the next step is figuring out how to be on the right side of history next year and beyond.

There is hope on that front. Freshman quarterback AJ Padgett completed 19-of-37 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns against Southern Miss, just his second career start. Luke McCaffrey, who led the Owls in receptions, was a go-to target for Padgett after missing essentially the last three games. Joshua Pearcy had a sack.

Joining Enechukwu, Gabe Taylor and Izeya Floyd each forced fumbles. The offense finished with two turnovers of their own, the final one occurring on the arm of backup quarterback Shawqi Itraish in the final minutes. Still, it was only the third time this season Rice had finished with a positive turnover differential. And most of those playmakers are set to return.

And then there’s Padgett, who transformed himself from a fourth-stringer to starter in the span of a few weeks. Whether he’s given the shot to start next season or not, he wasn’t afraid to echo the sentiments of Enechukwu and Bloomgren when they turned their eyes to the future,

“[Going bowling] should 100 percent be the standard. If that’s not the standard, then what is? We should approach a season with the attitude that we want to win a bowl game. We want to win conference. We want to beat everybody we play,” he declared. “I don’t really think there’s any other mindset to approach a season with or you’re just going out there to lose and that’s not what I’m about. I’m a ballplayer. I go out there to win.”

Rice didn’t win on Saturday. Everyone is crushed by that. Now they’re tasked with getting their house in order for 2023 to ensure that a loss like that — bowl game or otherwise — isn’t a part of their future again.


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Filed Under: Archive, Football Tagged With: AJ Padgett, bowl game, Ikenna Enechukwu, Mike Bloomgren, Rice Football

Rice Football 2022: UNT Game Week Practice Report

November 24, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

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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Recent Posts
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  • Furious comeback falls short as Rice Basketball falls to SUU
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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: AJ Padgett, Ari Broussard, Clay Servin, Dean Connors, Isaac Klarkowski, John Hughes, John Long, Jordan Dunbar, Kobie Campbell, Luke McCaffrey, Miguel Cedeno, Miles Mccord, practice notes, Rice Football, Sean Fresch, Shawqi Itraish, Shea Baker, Tre'shon Devones, Wiley Green

Doom and Gloom: Rice Football falls to UTSA rain-soaked Senior Day

November 19, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football never got hot on a cold and gloomy Senior Day, falling at home to UTSA in their final home game of the season.

On a cold and rainy Saturday morning, Rice football froze up. Injuries and missed opportunities stifled a Rice team that has yet to complete a complete four-quarter performance this season, despite notching five victories along the way. They did not get their sixth win on Saturday, falling to UTSA in a one-sided result on Senior Day. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

From bad to worse

On paper, the weather seemed to be something that should work in favor of the Owls, who entered their final home game of the season with a slew of injuries at several key positions. Starting quarterback TJ McMahon was unable to go, as were the Owls’ top four corners: Jordan Dunbar, Sean Fresch, Lamont Narcisse and Jojo Jean.

From a personnel standpoint, an ugly game with lot of running and field position battles was much preferred to an aerial back-and-forth against the Roadrunners and star quarterback Frank Harris.

Rice did get an ugly game, but the weather wasn’t at fault.

Quarterback Wiley Green was injured on the Owls’ second possession, getting blasted from behind and fumbling in the process. UTSA recovered and scored their second-consecutive touchdown on as many plays.

The Owls’ defense opened the game three-and-out and Green hit Bradley Rozner on a slant to get Rice out of the shadow of their own endzone. Then the drive stalled on fourth and one, Rice punted, and the tumultuous sequence of injuries and turnovers commenced.

Turnovers fall, but it’s not enough

At some point, the turnovers that have plagued Rice football this season were going to stop, or at the very least, they would slow down. Despite the Owls’ issues with protecting the football, tipped passes and fumbles from a myriad of different players seemed unlikely to persist forever. Despite the injuries and bad weather, Rice did a good job protecting the football against UTSA.

In their first 10 games, Rice won the turnover battle twice. They were +5 against McNeese and +1 against UAB. They won both games. Against FBS opponents, Rice hadn’t forced more than two turnovers in a game this season whereas they’d produced at least three giveaways four times.

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

Against UTSA, Rice forced two turnovers. George Nykawol knocked the ball out himself and Myron Morrison made a play in coverage to intercept Frank Harris.

The Owls’ first turnover on offense came on a play in which Green was injured, with pressure coming unblocked off the edge. It’s not excusable by any means, but it wasn’t a lapse by a ballcarrier or decision-maker, the Achilles’ heel of the offense to this point. That came the very next drive when Kobie Campbell put the ball on the deck.

The third turnover came on an errant pass from Itraish, who was subsequently benched for true freshman AJ Padgett. That gave Rice a minus differential in the turnover margin once again.

It all comes down to quarterback, again

Watching Green leave with an injury with TJ McMahon standing on the sideline, already ruled out, was a gut punch for a Rice offense that has taken such large strides this season. Trailing at home with a backup, backup quarterback, there were two plays that highlighted what could have been.

With Shawqi Itraish at quarterback early in the second quarter and Rice trailing 21-0, Isaiah Esdale burst through double coverage on the far side of the field. He had seven yards on both defenders and plenty of green grass in front of him. It was a walk in touchdown. Itraish underthrew all three players, incomplete. Rice got no points on the drive.

Following a turnover by the Roadrunners shortly after, Rice dialed up a double reverse pass. The ball was tossed back to Itraish who had Bradley Rozner wide open down the field. He couldn’t release the ball quick enough, throwing it into the ground. Once more, no points.

It’s not all Itraish’s fault, but these two moments do highlight the challenges of calling an offense in the rain with your third string redshirt freshman quarterback at the controls. It’s hard. And you can’t miss your opportunities. On Saturday, Rice did and the result was, unfortunately, predictable.

The silver lining, if there was one, was an intriguing debut by true freshman AJ Padgett. He connected on a 43-yard touchdown pass to Bradley Rozner on fourth down in the fourth quarter. Could he see action in the season finale against UTSA? At this point, anything seems feasible.

One more?

As soon as the clock hit zero at Rice Stadium a few weeks ago, securing an upset for the visiting Charlotte 49ers, it seemed more likely than not that the Owls would find themselves here.

Defeating Western Kentucky or UTSA didn’t seem completely far-fetched, but the wiggle-room in the Owls’ search for six wins had evaporated. They needed to win one of their final three to reach that mark, but that stretch included games against the top three teams in the standings.

Now, it all comes down to this. Rice sits at 5-6, losers of back-to-back games for the first time this season. They travel to North Texas next weekend, in need of that final elusive win to clinch bowl eligibility for the first time since 2014.

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Death, Taxes, Wiley Green and injuries

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Recent Posts
  • Fast start not enough as Rice Baseball falls to Texas A&M for third time
  • Rice Women’s Basketball’s WNIT run blocked by stingy Oregon defense
  • Furious comeback falls short as Rice Basketball falls to SUU
  • Rice Baseball grinds out hard-fought sweep at UAB

Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: AJ Padgett, Bradley Rozner, game recap, George Nyakwol, Jojo Jean, Jordan Dunbar, Lamont Narcisse, Myron Morrison, Rice Football, Sean Fresch, Shawqi Itraish, TJ McMahon, Wiley Green

Rice Football 2022 Season Preview: Quarterback

August 2, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

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

The Rice football quarterback room has been an adventure that dates back before the arrival of head coach Mike Bloomgren and his staff. The odds would suggest that at some point, South Main’s edition of musical chairs will segue into a more streamlined single-man solution. Will that come this season? Here’s our 2022 Quarterback 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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Recent Posts
  • Fast start not enough as Rice Baseball falls to Texas A&M for third time
  • Rice Women’s Basketball’s WNIT run blocked by stingy Oregon defense
  • Furious comeback falls short as Rice Basketball falls to SUU
  • Rice Baseball grinds out hard-fought sweep at UAB

Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: 2022 Rice Football Season Preview, AJ Padgett, Jovoni Johnson, Rice Football, Shawqi Itraish, TJ McMahon, Wiley Green

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