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11 Days: Tracking all 11 Owls in the NFL

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Rice football boasts 11 active NFL players and coaches, spread across 10 different teams. Where are they and which players are making noise at the next level?

The NFL Preseason is underway. As the first kickoff of the season approaches teams will be forced to cull their pool of players down to their final 53-man roster. That final cut will be official on Sept. 1, giving a few Owls a chance to earn their spot in the NFL.

Along with a few new faces, Rice football has some veterans in the league as well. Here are the Owls 11 NFL personnel:

1. Chris Boswell, Kicker, Pittsburgh Steelers

Bowell entered the NFL in 2015. After a brief stint with the Houston Texans he made his way up north to join the Steelers where he’s been the primary kicker for three seasons. He owns a career 89.5 field goal percentage with a long of 53 yards.

2. Bryce Callahan, Corner, Chicago Bears

A reserve corner for the Chicago Bears, Callahan is also in his fourth professional season. He’s become more and more active with Chicago each year in the league. In 2017 he played in 12 games, registering two interceptions, a forced fumble and 25 total tackles.

3. Christian Covington, Defensive End, Houston Texans

A Canadian native, Covington stayed close to campus after being drafted in the sixth round by the Houston Texans in 2015. In limited action, he’s picked up four sacks, and 50 total tackles in his three year NFL career.

4. Emmanuel Ellerbee, Linebacker, Atlanta Falcons

Ellerbee signed with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent and is working to earn his way onto the roster in 2018. He led the Owls in tackles last season with 95.

5. Phillip Gaines, Corner, Buffalo Bills

A third round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014, Gaines saw sporadic action (16 starts over four seasons) with the Chiefs before signing with Buffalo this offseason.

6. Larry Izzo, Assistant Special Teams coach, Seattle Seahawks

After playing 13 seasons in the NFL, winning three Super Bowls and earning three Pro Bowl nominations, Izzo retired from the NFL and quickly took a coaching position with the New York Giants. He went from the Giants to the Texans before being hired by the Seahawks this offseason.

7. Vance McDonald, Tight End, Pittsburgh Steelers

McDonald was a second round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2013. McDonald was a productive offensive cog for the 49ers in four NFL Season before moving to the Steelers in 2017. He’s caught 78 passes for 1,054 yards and eight touchdowns in his pro career.

8. Andrew Sendejo, Safety, Minnesota Vikings

After a brief start to his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, Sendejo has been with the Minnesota Vikings since 2011. During that span, he’s accounted for 237 tackles and six interceptions. He most recently made news with his reaction to the league’s new helmet contact rule.

https://twitter.com/Asendejo/status/1025466588424597504

9. Jordan Taylor, Wide Receiver, Denver Broncos

A nice depth piece behind Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, Taylor has seen modest action in two NFL seasons. He caught 16 passes in 2016 and 13 more in 2017, totaling 251 receiving yards and two career touchdowns.

10. Luke Wilson, Tight End, Detroit Lions

A five year veteran with the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson moved on to a new team this offseason, signing at 1-year $1.5 million deal with the Detriot Lions. He’ll be in the mix with the rest of the Matt Stafford’s pass catchers this season.

11. Brian Womac, Defensive End, Los Angeles Rams

The No. 2 tackler for Rice football in 2017, Womac is fighting for a roster spot with the Rams after going undrafted following his senior season with the Owls in 2017. He finished with a team-best 21 tackles for a loss and 10 sacks.

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12 Days: Owls have been to 12 bowl games in school history

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Rice football has been to 12 bowl games in school history, most recently earning a bid to the 2014 Hawaii Bowl where they defeated Fresno State.

Rice is 7-5 in the postseason, dating back to their first bowl game ever, a victory over Colorado in the Cotton Bowl in 1937. That win was the first of three Cotton Bowl victories for the Owls and the start of a winning postseason tradition for the Owls.

It wasn’t that long ago that trips to the postseason were an annual affair for Rice Football. Former head coach David Baliff took the Owls bowling three consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2014, the longest streak of consecutive bowl appearances in school history.

Baliff finished 3-1 in Bowl games, the best postseason mark outside of Jimmy Kitts who led the Owls from 1934 to 1939. Baliff and Kitts join Rice legend Jess Neely and one-year head man  Todd Graham as the four men who have ever led Rice to a bowl game.

Year Conf W L T AP Post Coach(es) Bowl Result
1937 SWC 6 3 2 18 Jimmy Kitts (6-3-2) Cotton Bowl W
1946 SWC 9 2 0 10 Jess Neely (9-2) Orange Bowl W
1949 SWC 10 1 0 5 Jess Neely (10-1) Cotton Bowl W
1953 SWC 9 2 0 6 Jess Neely (9-2) Cotton Bowl W
1957 SWC 7 4 0 8 Jess Neely (7-4) Cotton Bowl L
1960 SWC 7 4 0 Jess Neely (7-4) Sugar Bowl L
1961 SWC 7 4 0 17 Jess Neely (7-4) Bluebonnet Bowl L
2006 CUSA 7 6 0 Todd Graham (7-6) New Orleans Bowl L
2008 CUSA 10 3 0 David Bailiff (10-3) Texas Bowl W
2012 CUSA 7 6 0 David Bailiff (7-6) Armed Forces Bowl W
2013 CUSA 10 4 0 David Bailiff (10-4) Liberty Bowl L
2014 CUSA 8 5 0 David Bailiff (8-5) Hawaii Bowl W

Rice’s heyday might have come several decades ago, but the Owls have been competitive for the last two decades or so. In fact, Ken Hatfield, who led the Owls from 1994 to 2005, had three seasons of seven or more wins, including an 8-4 finish in the WAC in 2001. Had there been enough bowl games in the late 90’s and early 2000’s Hatfield could have thrown his name onto the list of postseason coaches.

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13 Days: 13 Seasons in Conference USA and counting

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Formed in 1995, Conference USA has been the home for Rice football and athletics for 13 years and there’s always been plenty of drama in the conference.

Long-standing members of the Southwestern Conference until 1996, Rice had an eight-year stint in the Western Athletic Conference before joining CUSA in 2005, a year of tremendous upheaval for the conference.

Formed in 1995, Conference USA has had 32 members across the full spectrum of athletic competitions over its 22 years of existence. Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, Southern Miss, UAB, Memphis and Tulane were founding. all sports members while DePaul, Marquette, Saint Louis, Charlotte were non-football members.

Rice joined the conference in 2005 when more than half of the founding members left for the Big East and the Atlantic 10. Joining them that year were UCF, SMU, Tulsa, Marshall and UTEP. The American Conference poached half of CUSA in 2013 and 2014, opening up the door for current members FAU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, UTSA and Western Kentucky to join across the span of those two seasons.

Conference USA has been the subject of two major realignments in the past 15 years, and more are likely coming. Rice has 13 years in the CUSA under their belt, but they too would be willing to move on if they find the right fit. The Owls, like many others among the Group of Five, are paying close attention to major television contracts as they expire and continuously looking for opportunities to improve their status.

The TCU model is where Rice is heading. The Horned Frogs parlayed success in the Mountain West with the perfect opportunity and made the jump to a better conference with more exposure and more money. If Rice wants to make the move any time soon, they’ll have to start with winning where they’re at. The rest will follow. For now, it’s time for year 14 in the CUSA.

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14 Days: A receiving record Jarrett Dillard doesn’t hold

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A Rice football record which has surprisingly stood for more than four decades, can anyone break David Houser’s record 14 catch game in 1976?

The vast majority of Rice football receiving records belong to All-American Jarrett Dillard. As fantastic as he was, there is one meaningful mark he wasn’t able to break. In a 1976 defeat at the hands of the Florida Gators, David Houser hauled in 14 receptions for 196 yards.

The Owls were forced to play catch up and Houser’s strong effort wasn’t enough to earn the victory. But even in defeat, Houser’s array of catches were well beyond what any Rice receiver has managed in any era.

That isn’t to say that Dillard didn’t come close. In a win over SMU in 2007 Dillard snagged 13 receptions for 128 yards, one shy of Houser’s record. That came a week after he caught 11 passes against SMU. Those two games, plus an 11-catch, 171 yards and three touchdown performance against Army in 2006, marked the only double-digit receiving games of his career.

Part of what makes Houser’s still-standing record all the more impressive is the era in which he accomplished it. Before the spread offense took flight at the turn of the century there wasn’t nearly as much of an emphasis on throwing the ball frequently.

Case in point: Dillard caught 91 passes and 21 touchdowns in 2006. The high-water mark of Houser’s career came in 197 when he caught 55 balls for five scores. He might have been less productive than Dillard on the whole. but for one game, Houser brought it.

A different era, but still a tremendous effort to produce a record that has stood for 42 years. The Owls haven’t had a truly dominant receiver since Dillard left for the NFL and new head coach Mike Bloomgren is going to focus on establishing the run first. That means Houser’s record is probably safe for at least a few more seasons.

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15 Days: Bruce Henley the gold standard for Owls’ defensive backs

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Rice football hasn’t seen a defensive back as dominant as Bruce Henley was with the Owls in the 1970s. His interception record likely won’t ever be broken.

Bruce Henley will forever be remembered as one of the most dominant defensive backs to ever play football at Rice University. A two-sport star, Henley was also a starting pitcher for the Owls baseball team during his time at South Main. It’s what he accomplished on the football field that he’s most well-known for to this day.

Over the span of three seasons, Henley never missed a game. He started 33 consecutive times with the varsity squad where he tallied 15 interceptions, a record which still stands to this day. And that’s not the full story.

Henley’s career spanned from 1971 to 1974. Following his freshman season in 1971, the NCAA modified their rules, ending the limitations on freshman-specific teams a year following Henley’s freshman season. His four interceptions as a freshman are not included in the official records, making his true career total 19 interceptions over four seasons. Had those four been included he’d have ended his career as the SWC leader in career interceptions.

A handful of four-year players have come close to the official number, most recently Dan Dawson who picked off 13 passes from 1998 to 2001. Huey Keeney, whose career ended in 1948 with 13 interceptions, held the record prior to Henley’s emergence. Henley remains one of just six Owls to reach double-digit interceptions in his career. As it stands, Henley’s 15 picks are tied for 12th in SWC history.

Takeaways were not a strong-suit of the Owls’ defense in 2017, putting further into perspective just how dominant Henley was in his time. The Owls three total interceptions were fewer than Henley averaged per season by himself in his time at Rice.

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