Next up for Rice football, the home opener against Houston. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.

Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped the Louisiana game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with Houston.

The Roost Podcast: Rice Football vs Houston Recap

We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

I loved our poise and composure as we opened the game. I think it’s really difficult for what we do offensively, going into week one, because the opponent has four or five weeks to prepare for our option schemes. That’s very advantageous for your opponents in our style offense. And so to have the composure and to execute at the high level we did to start the game in that first half, I’m incredibly proud of, and I thought our guys did a great job. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what the team did well against Louisiana in Week 1

We missed some really, really good opportunities for some explosive plays, and we just missed them. A block here or there, a decision here or there and that’s an area that we really want to grow in. We loved that we controlled the clock. I thought it set the tempo of the game… But at the end of the day, the opportunity to score points is real and we didn’t take advantage of all those opportunities in week one. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what his team can improve moving forward

I’ll leave that up to the powers of the two campuses, to be honest. My job is to get our football program ready each week, no matter who we’re playing. I’m going to focus on that. I will be grateful that I’m part of this rivalry and I have this opportunity this year. We’ll see what the future holds for both programs. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the future of the Bayou Bucket Rivalry

If you know Coach Fritz, you know the defensive-minded coach that he is and his defenses are always very athletic. They use a variety of schemes to disguise stuff and they fly to the football and that’s the first thing that jumps off to me. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what stands out about Houston

I played against Connor Weigman in high school actually. He has a strong one. He can extend plays with his legs, make good reads, poised in the pocket. So it’s gonna be a fun matchup to go against.– Linebacker Ty Morris on Houston quarterback Connor Weigman

It’s big, starting off the season with a win. The first game means a lot, as far as momentum and how things are going. Especially with Coach Abell coming in. His first game, it definitely means a lot. We want to keep the win train going. – Running back Daelen Alexander on the importance of starting 1-0

Depth Chart

Rice football released a late version of a depth chart in the days prior to the Louisiana game, but it did not feature some of the changes we’d seen up front, primarily on the offensive line. This week’s depth chart seems unchanged in that specific area. The more representative expectation for the starting line remains Sean Sullivan and Luke Miller at tackle with John Long and Patrick Valent at guard.

As for wide receiver, this is the first time that room has been split out with X and Z position. The reality is Aaron Turner, Drayden Dickmann, Landon Ransom and Tyson Thompson are the names to know there with Artis Cole the backup for Braylen Walker on the outside.

The defense looks more representative with what we saw on Saturday with Jack Kane earning a starting spot and shifting Marcus Williams over. Both were on the field against Louisiana and will remain fixtures on this unit, but it’s hard to keep Kane off the field right now with his penchant for big plays.

Stay tuned to practice notes later in the week for more commentary on how these deployments and rotations will be carried out on Saturday against Houston. As a quick reminder, you can get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today.

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Next up for Rice football, the season opener against Louisiana. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.

Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped the end of fall camp and then looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with Louisiana.

The Roost Podcast: Previewing the Rice Football defense this season

We touch on those items, touch on the lack of a Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

Let’s be clear, Louisiana is a 10-win team from last year opening up a brand new stadium. My guess is expectations, what they’re feeling, is probably a little bit more anxious that what we’re feeling. We’re excited to play football. We’re excited to now put everything we’ve installed to work and see what it looks like at a very hostile environment on the road. I think all the pressure’s on them. I think for our guys, let’s put his shoes on, let’s lace them up, let’s tie time, and let’s go have some fun. Let’s get after and compete. That’s what I want to see. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on pressure in Week 1

I’m incredibly comfortable going into each week not really sure what we’re gonna see. When you’re a little unique offensively, game plans are unique against you. That is nothing new to me… How someone defends the previous week’s offense, it’s not going to look like how they defend us, so to me, these adjustments will be the same as I look at each and every week. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what he’s expecting from the Louisiana defense

He’s incredibly multiple. He’s a guy that can get on the edge. He can be involved in the passing game and he can be a downhill guy. And man, that’s a really nice thing for any offense. He brings a lot of tools to that unit, now how do we utilize all those tools to make everything around him execute on a high level. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on running back Quinton Jackson

His ability to really utilize his legs and his arm to hurt defenses made a big impression on us. His ability to escape, to really make something out of nothing, I think is important in every offense and ours is no different. And the fact that he’s comfortable in this system. He played a similar system coming out of high school. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on Chase Jenkins winning the quarterback job

Chase is like a brother to me… I think he’s grown as a leader. He’s having fun. He has joy on his face. I’m just happy for him. People [will] get to see what I see every day in practice, his speed, his excitement for the game of football, his excitement to run his offense. I’m just happy for Chase. Glad he’s leading us and I’m willing to do anything for my quarterback, for sure. – Running back Quinton Jackson on playing with quarterback Chase Jenkins

It’s all about focusing, keeping our poise this week. I feel that’s the main thing that we’re gonna focus on this week, worrying about what we’ve got going on, not worrying about the outside noise, what other people think, because that’s just a distraction. At the end of the day, what you put on tape is your resume, so we’re just gonna focus on what we’re gonna put on tape this week. – Linebacker Andrew Awe on the team’s focus this week

Depth Chart

There was no depth chart provided in the Rice football pregame notes this week. Louisiana had previously declined to provide a depth chart of their own, likely leading the Owls to forgo issuing their first official depth chart of the season in response.

The Roost Podcast: Previewing the Rice Football offense this season

Stay tuned to practice notes later in the week for an unofficial best estimate of the current two-deep. As a quick reminder, you can get access to practice reports, analysis and special features during the week when you subscribe to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon today.

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Rice football hosts SMU this week. Here’s what Mike Bloomgren had to say about the matchup at hand and a few depth chart notes.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped the Tulane game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with SMU.

Listen Now: The Roost Pod – Breaking down Rice Football vs UConn

We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:

Press Conference Quotes

“Having watched the film, I really think what we talked about after the game was exactly right. I couldn’t be more proud of our response after halftime, the way we played in that third quarter. Unfortunately we dug ourselves a pretty big hole against the defending conference champs. We battled and battled and we came up short.”– Mike Bloomgren on the Tulane game

“They’re lighting up the scoreboard and they’re not allowing many points to be scored against them. That’s the thing that’s most evident right now. You look at their last couple games, I think they’ve given up 10 points and scored a ton. They’re a very talented, athletic group, really in all phases.” – Mike Bloomgren on SMU

“ I think it’s important more than ever to focus on us and the things that win football games and what that looks like going forward. That was the challenge to the team, understading how talented we are and how we have everything we need in this team meeting room. I still believe the Rice Owls are the only team that can beat the Rice Owls, and there’s a lot of comfort in that as we go out and work.” – Mike Bloomgren on his team’s mentality

“My grandfather played center for them back in the 70’s. My great-grandfather was part of their four-horseman with Doak Walker. I definitely have a lot of Ponies in my family and there was a lot of pressure for me when I was getting recruited to be a Pony, but that just makes this game more exciting. I’m trying to get my grandpa to come out to the game. He’ll be in the stands” – Tight end Jack Bradley on his family connections to the SMU program

“[SMU] was my first offer and then Rice came along and offered me and I committed to Rice. One of the first things that I said to my pops was that I wish we played SMU. Three or four years later, we finally got the chance so it’s time to ball.” – Safety Plae Wyatt on SMU

Depth Chart

Depth Chart Notes

The injury to Josh Pearcy, who’s status is currently unknown for this coming weekend, provided an opportunity to update the depth chart along the defensive line. Demone Green is now listed as the backup rush end, behind Pearcy, after spending much of the season to this point backing up Coleman Coco at defensive end.

Additionally, Michael Larbie has pushed in front of Elroyal Morris at defensive tackle. Larbie had a big sack against Tulane this past weekend. Rounding out the changes was the promotion of Jordan Campbell onto the depth chart behind Coco. Campbell has been used as a situational pass rusher for a few weeks now and should continue to see some run.

How that group is utilized this weekend will depend, in large part, on the availability of Pearcy. We’ll have more updates on his status and other plans for Saturday on Thursday with our practice report, reserved for subscribers.

Recent Posts

• The Roost Podcast | Ep 216 – A Night to Forget for Rice Football at UTSA
• Rice Football 2025: NFL Owls Week 6 Roundup
• Rice Football: Midseason Grades
• American Conference Football 2025: Week 7 Roundup