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Rice Football: 5 Observations on Owls’ Spring Roster

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The 2021 Rice Football spring roster has been released. From thoughts on newcomers to departing names, here are five initial observations.

There has been a lot of movement on the coaching staff, but that hasn’t been the only interesting development for the Owls in the past few days. The 2021 Rice Football spring roster was posted over the weekend. You can find the full list here, but we’ve gone a step further and broken down some things that stood out from the initial list.

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We’ll start with the most important note, with more observations to follow. We’ll also have all the latest updates on spring practice when it gets underway in March. From position battles to early depth chart projections, you won’t want to miss it. If you’re not a subscriber, now is a great time to jump on board.

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1. No Mike Collins

This shouldn’t come as a shock to those who have been following along this winter, but quarterback Mike Collins was not listed on the initial spring roster. We’ve still not had any clarification from head coach Mike Bloomgren as to what transpired last fall — hopefully, we get some answers when practices begin — but for now, it looks like Rice will be starting over at the quarterback position once again.

Collins was only expected to be a one-year solution when he was signed. He would have been out of eligibility entering 2021 had it not been for COVID-19 and revised eligibility standards.

As was the case last fall, the Owls will enter spring practice with their future quarterback on the roster. JoVoni Johnson and incoming grad transfer Jake Constantine will be the presumptive favorites to win the job for the upcoming season. It should be an interesting battle to watch this spring.

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Rice Football 2020: UAB Presser quotes, practice notes and injury news

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Rice football seeks to finish strong against UAB on Senior Day. Here are the latest notes and press conference quotes from the week.

It was a great week for Rice football. Although fans are still riding high from the Owls’ historic road win against Marshall, the team has turned the page and has their attention focused squarely on UAB. For the first time this season, there will be fans allowed into Rice Stadium to see the contest in person.

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Head coach Mike Bloomgren spoke about the week that was and the task at hand. A few players chimed in as well. Then there’s the depth chart to get to, including some unfortunate injuries at key positions and some notes on what we might see on the field on Saturday.

Press Conference Quotes

“Because it’s such a big win, I probably let myself go an extra day with it. I probably went 48 hours instead of 24 hours enjoying it, because it is an absolutely huge win. But we know that that game, as good as we played, it won’t give us any points on the scoreboard. It won’t have a single stop on defense or a single interception. We have to go earn that this week.” – Mike Bloomgren on switching focus from Marshall to UAB

“UAB has a great offensive line. We’re gonna take the same things that we did last week, change up the scheme, and do the same thing this week. It’s no different. Whoever you put in front of us, that’s who we gotta go hit. So we gotta make it happen.”- Offensive lineman Jovaun Woolford on the UAB defensive front

“Awards come with wins. I think the biggest thing that I see when I see that I won that award is that we had a dominant team because I’ve had better individual performances but it doesn’t mean anything when you don’t get that W. The biggest thing that I’m excited about is that we got such a big team win.” – Linebacker Blaze Alldredge on being named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week

Depth Chart Notes

Here’s an updated depth chart from Rice football heading into the UAB game and some comments on a few notable additions and omissions as well as some injury notes:

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes: Presser quotes and o-line growth

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Rice football took advantage of the off week to rest up and get healthy. The Owls are working toward this week’s game at Louisiana Tech.

There was plenty to observe and talk about as Rice football got back to practice after an unexpected free Saturday following the postponement of the UTSA game. Head coach Mike Bloomgren shared his thoughts on the future of that matchup. I recapped those thoughts, shared a few quotes from Tuesday’s press conference and dug into some observations from the Rice o-line at practice this week.

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UTSA postponement

At this point, both UTSA and Rice have made it abundantly clear who they want to be playing on Dec. 5. The Owls were originally free that day before Conference USA slated Marshall into that open weekend only days before the Rice vs UTSA game was postponed.

UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor has gone on record saying he wants to see that game rescheduled. Bloomgren echoed those sentiments on Tuesday, saying “if we had our choice, we’d love to play the team down the road.” Bloomgren reiterated that would ultimately be a conference decision.

Notes and Quotes

“We all love the rhythm of a college football season. We love the routine, but 2020 has been anything but routine, as we all know. And something we’ve asked our players for is flexibility and adaptability … I would love to get into a routine for the next six or seven weeks … but at the same time I think we’re probably going to have more opportunities where we’ve gotta be flexible.” – Mike Bloomgren on the unexpected schedule change

“We’ve been in the system — this is our third year — now it’s just like riding a bike … They’re great young men. They have great balance on and off the field and when we come in here it’s just football.” – Defensive line coach Cedric Calhoun on the improvements this year

I know that we’ve been really efficient on first and second down and then that’s allowed us to be really efficient on third down. I think it’s been a really notable thing from this season. We’ve had a couple third and shorts that we converted on. It’s something we take a lot of pride in. But I also think what you’re seeing is that we’re finding ourselves being pretty dang dynamic, because we’re being so efficient on first and second down… if we do our job up front, this offense is really going to shine.” – Sanders Davis on the overall – on the growth of the offense

Giving some love to the offensive line

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes: Breaking down the wide receivers

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The Rice football receiving corps is running low on bodies. How will the Owls move forward and who will take the field against Southern Miss?

I was paying close attention to the wide receivers at practice this week and had some time to catch up with Rice football wide receivers coach Mike Kershaw. Between the injuries Rice had coming into the season opener against Middle Tennessee and the loss of a starter in the opener itself, the need for answers at the position has never been more pressing.

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Beyond the individuals, there’s also some insight below on the offense as a whole as a result of the thinned out receiving corps. How the Owls will line up against Southern Miss could be impacted by their limited numbers. If you’re looking for a deeper dive, I dug into the reasons I believe the offensive uptick can continue despite the injuries in this month’s All-American Q&A.

And then there were five…

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Rice Football 2020: Middle Tennessee Depth chart released

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The first official depth chart of the 2020 Rice Football season has been released. Given the injuries and uncertainties, there’s a lot to unpack.

We’ve reach the end of fall camp and the beginning of Week 1 prep for Rice football. On Monday the Owls released their first depth chart for the 2020 season. Some positions aligned perfectly with expectations: Mike Collins is the QB1. Others provided more intrigue.

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Typically the weekly depth chart doesn’t come out until Tuesday when Rice will hold its weekly press conferences. Those came out a bit earlier than expected this week with everything going virtual. To that end, subscribers will want to stay tuned to practice reports later this week to see who will be in and out when game day arrives.

Don’t forget to put your entry in for the 2020 pick’em challenge

Here’s how Rice football will line up against Middle Tennessee

Rice Football depth chart

Expected results

Mike Collins is the Owls starting quarterback

This was never really in doubt during fall camp. Head coach Mike Bloomgren made it official last week. Now it’s been published in ink with no OR designation. Mike Collins will be the guy against Middle Tennessee. The third string man, if it had been listed, would have been Wiley Green, who started the Owls’ opener last season. That’s a pretty solid quarterback room after a few years of flux.

Surprises

Fullback

Brendan Suckley hasn’t been spotted so far during camp, so I wasn’t expecting him to be on the depth chart against Middle Tennessee. Brian Hibbard, who had taken reps in his place, was out last week as well. That left Jerry Johnson working with the ones. The move to insert Jaeger Bull is a surprise to be sure, but his skillset as a blocker and h-back type players makes the move a reasonable one.

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