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Rice Football: What I’m watching in Spring Practices — Patreon Q&A

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Rice football kicks off spring practice soon. This month’s Patreon Q&A focuses on what I’ll be following closely during these sessions.

In season or not, Rice football frequently appears as a focal point in these Q&A posts. Our February Q&A follows suit, focusing on the upcoming weeks of spring practices and which items I’ll personally be keeping a close eye on as the weeks progress. Practices are currently slated to start sometime in early March.

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

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The Roost’s 2021 Rice Football Season Superlatives

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The Roost’s 2021 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 2021 Rice Football season. In addition to the more traditional awards below, make sure to check out The Roosties, our third 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 Cedric Patterson | Full Story

Excerpt: “Unstoppable. That’s what it started to feel like when Patterson hauled in a pass with grass in front of him. The speed was always evident, but his maturation as a student of the game who knew where he was supposed to be and how to best execute his responsibility on any given play began to set him apart.”

Defensive Newcomer of the Year — CB Jordan Dunbar | Full Story 

Excerpt: “When the season arrived, it was Dunbar’s turn to shine. And for as much respect as he received during the weeks prior to the season, the young cover man delivered. He was named the starter for the Rice football season opener against Arkansas and lined up opposite future first-round NFL Draft selection Treylon Burks. And Dunbar held his own.”

Rising Star — RB Ari Broussard | Full Story 

Excerpt: “From walk-on, to ‘ol reliable, Ari Broussard exemplified a feel-good story, but made sure the heartwarming moments were filled with plenty of productivity. He earned his spot on offense and made the most of it.”

Sp. Teams Players of the Year  — KR Juma Otoviano, PR Sean Fresch | Full Story 

Excerpt: “Traditionally, The Roost’s Rice Football Special Teams Player of the Year has been reserved for one standout. Jack Fox, Garrett Grammer and Charlie Mendes were previous honorees. This year, we’ve expanded the award to recognize two individuals, Sean Fresch and Juma Otoviano, who each provided game-changing sparks that set Rice up for success and led to Rice wins.”

Offensive Player of the Year — RB Jordan Myers | Full Story

Excerpt: “By the time he hung up his cleats, Myers had graduated from being labeled as simply a utility player. He was someone Rice could count — and did count on — in the most crucial moments. Myers was the man handed the football on fourth and short and asked to find a yard. More often than not, he did.”

Defensive Player of the Year — DT Elijah Garcia | Full Story

Excerpt: “His play spoke for itself, but Garcia did a fair amount of talking, too. Although he wasn’t named one of the team captains during the preseason, Garcia was the man asked to take the mic frequently during postgame press conferences. On those hard nights, he showed composure and poise. He was a leader, on and off the field.”

Team MVP — WR Jake Bailey | Full Story

Excerpt: “Big might be the perfect word to describe the size at which Bailey played. Standing 5-foot-10, there were only five players on the roster with a listed height shorter than Bailey. Yet Bailey never let that stop him. If anything, his stature aided his quickness and made him just that more difficult to bring down in the open field.”

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Rice Football 2021 Offensive Newcomer of the Year: Cedric Patterson

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Cedric Patterson became a big-play machine for Rice football down the stretch, securing the award for 2021 Offensive Newcomer of the Year.

Two days after the Early Signing Period opened last December, Rice football added one last piece to its wintertime haul: Cedric Patterson. The New Mexico transfer and Crosby, Tx native was coming back to the Lone Star state after seeing sparing usage out West.

He entered what appeared to be a crowded Rice receiving room, somewhat tempering early expectations. The athletic profile was intriguing. The highlight plays were there. How quickly would Patterson be assimilated into the offense? That was the question at hand.

Patterson took full advantage of spring ball, doing all he could to master the complicated Rice offense. He was tucked behind the likes of Bradley Rozner, Jake Bailey and August Pitre on the depth chart, but he wasn’t going unnoticed. Rozner praised his speed during fall media days, calling Patterson “a vertical threat that can stop on a dime.” It turns out, Rozner was right.

After catching four passes in his first three games with Rice, Patterson took the top off the Texas Southern on a 73-yard bomb on the Owls’ first play from scrimmage. Patterson hadn’t recorded 73 yards in a collegiate game coming into that Saturday.

Patterson was oozing confidence following his breakout game. “I feel like everything’s starting to click now,” he said of the offense as a whole. “We’ve been learning and practicing and grinding in these first three weeks and now we’ve got everything in order. We’re finding our identity and who we are. The sky’s the limit.”

The Roost Podcast: Third Annual Edition of The Roostie’s Rice Football Awards

There would be one more hiccup, but excluding a shutout on the road against UTSA and a mere 21-point outing against Western Kentucky, the Rice offense would amass at least 24 points in seven of their final nine games. And Patterson’s eruption against Texas Southern proved to just a sliver of the impact he would bring to the offense as the season progressed.

Patterson took a reverse 38-yards for a touchdown the following week against Southern Miss. He scored touchdowns in four of the Owls’ final five games, including the game-winning score against Louisiana Tech, his second trip to the endzone that afternoon. By season’s end, Patterson had more touchdowns than any Rice Owl not named Jordan Myers.

Through it all, he kept a quiet, humble demeanor as he worked to improve his game. It was in the days leading up to the finale against Louisiana Tech that he told the assembled media at a midweek press conference that he was “really trying to just know the playbook like I know my own name,” reasoning that “when you can go out there and play fast and play confidence, you’re pretty much unstoppable.”

Unstoppable. That’s what it started to feel like when Patterson hauled in a pass with grass in front of him. The speed was always evident, but his maturation as a student of the game who knew where he was supposed to be and how to best execute his responsibility on any given play began to set him apart.

When Jake Bailey went down against UTEP and Myers was banged up down the stretch, it was Patterson asked to be the guy who carried the passing game. And despite being tasked with catching passes from a myriad of different quarterbacks, Patterson was able to grab the proverbial baton and run with it.

Patterson embraced every moment. “We knew it was going to be on us,” he said of the receiving corps when the Owls entered the fourth quarter facing a double-digit deficit. “We don’t want it to be easy,” he continued. “We like it being exciting. It was fun, a test of our character, a test of our will. This is what we work for.”

As if it wasn’t obvious enough that Patterson welcomed the pressure. Patterson would close out his discussion of adversity like this: “We eat that for breakfast.”

Big moments. Big plays. All smiles. Cedric Patterson inked his name onto the Rice football depth chart and more than earned this year’s honors as the 2021 Rice Football Offensive Newcomer of the Year.

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Rice Football: After-season Transfer Portal updates

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Rice football has lost a handful of players to the Transfer Portal this week. Who is heading out and how what impact will that have on the Owls?

If the Rice football season spans from August to November, December is Transfer Portal season. The Owls aren’t alone in this modern college football phenomenon. There have been more than 250 transfers in the past week across the country and more are certainly coming.

Why now? At first glance, the end of the regular season seems to be a natural breakpoint in the calendar, but it’s what coincides with that break that is the more likely impetus. College programs around the country hold what many call “exit interviews” where players and staff sit down and talk through the season with individual players and discuss the future. If that future doesn’t align with the desire or expectations of a particular student-athlete, some will choose to part ways.

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That sort of changeover is happening at Rice right now, just as it’s happening in football facilities around the nation. To this point, Rice football has largely benefited from this process. For every Blaze Alldredge that enters the portal, Rice has found a Bradley Rozner or Naeem Smith. Current NFL offensive lineman Nick Leverett was a transfer addition, too, as have been five Rice starting quarterbacks.

With that as a preamble, here is the latest list of Rice football players that have reportedly entered the Transfer Portal this week:

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TJ McMahon, defense lift Rice Football to come-from-behind win

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It wasn’t easy, but a Rice football fought to the end for a gritty win over Louisiana Tech, capping off a 4-win season for the Owls.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Rice football quarterback TJ McMahon stepped up in the pocket and unleashed a bullet… right into the waiting arms of a Louisiana Tech defensive back. A turnover committed by the former fourth-string quarterback with the season on the line seemed a fitting way to a season that did not go according to plan. Except that’s not where this story ends.

McMahon and Rice needed to be perfect from that point onward to win. They were. Not only did Rice rally to overcome the deficit, they held on, intercepting Louisiana Tech with the clocking winding down to clinch an improbable victory. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Secondary slump continues

The Rice secondary has been picked apart by their opponents this year. Seeing Bailey Zappe carve them up a few weeks ago was understandable, but allowing the likes of JD Head to lead a mediocre Louisiana Tech offense up and down the field was particularly discouraging. Injuries or not, this defense was largely unable to find a way to get off the field on third and medium and third and long, scenarios in which they should be more likely to succeed than not.

A former Pearland High school product, Head entered Saturday with minimal collegiate experience. He threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns against UAB earlier this season. Against Rice, he more or less had this way. He wasn’t perfect, but he guided the Bulldogs down the field with regularity.

The secondary stepped up and made plays when they needed to. Had it not been for two fourth quarter picks, Rice would not have won this game. It’s better to win ugly than not win, so this unit should get credit for the outcome on Saturday.

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

Getting De’Braylon Carrol and Treshawn Chamberlain back next season will help, but it’s starting to look like something more drastic needs to be done. Rice has done a fairly decent job of keeping receivers in front of them and limiting the 75-yard bomb touchdowns, but its come at the expense of being picked apart at the intermediate levels of the field.

Some sort of answer needs to be found going forward. It’s not fair to blame the Owls’ struggles on a unit that largely carried them for the prior two seasons, but had the Owls been just a little bit more sturdy on the back end, Rice probably squeezes out another win, or two.

Slow and steady, with some pop

Luke McCaffrey played well during his first start in more than two months’ time, showcasing patience through the air and incredible vision on the ground. Head coach Mike Bloomgren mentioned earlier this week that McCaffrey didn’t fully comprehend the full breadth of the offense, but he did showcase a remarkable ability to execute the plays he was asked to run on Saturday.

Rice mixed a heavy rotation of running backs with some razzle-dazzle and picked their moments when it came time to take shots down the field. The result was an offense that, while not quite electric, was able to produce enough explosive plays to take pressure off the running game and open up space for McCaffrey to maneuver.

The first home run was a perfectly blocked run by Cameron Montgomery:

Rice came back quickly afterward to take the lead thanks to McCaffrey getting just enough mustard on this pass to Cedric Patterson, and perhaps a fortunate whiff by the Louisiana Tech defensive back.

The Rice football offense is still a ways away from putting up video game numbers, but they’ve showcased they can get points without needing a 16-play, 8:00 minute drive. The quick-strike ability is an important sign of growth this season.

And then there was this: a perfect strike from backup TJ McMahon to Cedric Patterson to go ahead in the fourth quarter.

Check the clock

After weathering the early onslaught, the Rice defense picked up a few stops and the offense adding some touchdowns. All was working well with Rice driving and looking to extend its lead. Rice faced 1st-and-10 from the Louisiana Tech 36-yard line with a minute and a half to play in the first half and three timeouts.

Not only did Rice not score, but the Owls did manage to burn through the 90 seconds left on the clock quicker than a West Texas brush fire. Rice found themselves attempting a hail mary on fourth and 10 with two seconds on the clock and multiple timeouts left uncalled.

Clock management is a learned skill, but this isn’t the first time this season Rice has utilized their timeouts ineffectively. Rice spiked the ball multiple times on the fourth quarterback comeback drive against North Texas despite having timeouts to burn.

Even if they had managed minimal yardage and settled for a 40ish yard field goal, Rice had a golden opportunity to go into the break leading by a touchdown or more with the opportunity to extend that lead when they received the kickoff to start the second half. Instead, McCaffrey took a sack and Rice ended up with nothing. For a team looking to learn how to win, they have to start winning on the margins. That includes managing the clock more effectively.

Out on a high note

This game was important for the seniors, for players like Jordan Myers and Elijah Garcia who saw this program bottom out and slowly begin to climb back upward. Rice football hasn’t won four games in a season until this year. It’s not the bowl trip they aspired to, but it is tangible concrete evidence that these seniors have left things better than they found them.

For those remaining, it speaks of a future still in progress. Yes, there are questions — there will be plenty of time in the offseason to address those — but for those searching for reasons to keep the faith, Saturday delivered. This mixture of four wins, two overtime losses and a slew of injuries will prove to be tough to swallow, but the framework to become what this program seeks to become is still in place.

Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard and head coach Mike Bloomgren must sift through the mess and determine what changes need to be made for Rice football to take that next step. Just about everything should be on the table, but expect the approach to be as measured and thoughtful as it is thorough. No hasty decisions will be made, but proof of course corrections will be needed. This team is capable of more, and everyone at South Main believes it.

Digging deeper

Every week we’ll have a stat, storyline or key learning from the game reserved for our subscribers.

Find a quarterback, please

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