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2023 Rice Football Season Preview: Defensive Line

July 29, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

Next up in our 2023 Rice Football Season Preview: defensive line. Let’s dive into the position and break down the Owls’ plans for the group this year.

No Rice football position group will look more different than it did a year ago than the defensive line. While there is a lot of quality production returning, the Owls do have several prominent names to replace up front and a few position battles still to sort out when fall camp arrives. Here’s how the position looks in 2023.

Rice Football Preseason Preview: Check out the rest of the series here.

This piece is part of our 2023 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. 

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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: 2023 Rice Football Season Preview, Aquantis Clemmons, Blake Boenisch, Caleb James, Chibby Nwajuaku, Chris Clark, Coleman Coco, De'Braylon Carroll, DeMone Green, Elroyal Morris, Izeya Floyd, Jalen Hargrove, Jordan Campbell, Joseph Mutombo, Josh Pearcy, Michael Larbie, Rice Football, Van Heitmann

Rice Football 2022 Season Preview: Defensive Line

July 23, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

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

Following years of injuries and inconsistencies, Rice football has now accumulated a surplus of riches along the defensive line. Defensive coordinator Brian Smith will have to decide how he’ll deploy so many proven commodities and that’s never a bad problem to have. Here’s our 2022 Defensive Line Preview.

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Breaking down the defensive line position

Rice football has found itself between a rock and a hard place in recent seasons. The depth the Owls had hoped to have accumulated in the front four simply wasn’t there. That gave way to an ever-lingering dance between rotating in someone who might not be ready and sticking with the same guys for too long and risking exhaustion.

In an ideal world, Rice would be able to play seven or eight defensive linemen significant minutes through a game. At this position, perhaps unlike any other, Rice wants to continuously be bringing fresh legs onto the field. And they may be able to do just that this year.

If they can, they’ll help bolster a pass rush that had already shown its first meaningful signs of progress last season. The Owls’ 2.25 sacks per game ranked seventh in Conference USA and were almost a full sack per game better than their previous three seasons.

The run defense has always been solid, although it remains to be see how the front four will compensate for the loss of Elijah Garcia, who signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent this offseason. To that end, this unit isn’t without its questions, but there are many more potential answers than there were in recent years.

Projected Starters – Trey Schuman, De’Braylon Carroll, Ikenna Enechukwu, Kenneth Orji

Even though they were missing Trey Schuman and De’Braylon Carroll from practices, the Rice football defensive line put together an impressive showing this spring, At that time, it was Ikenna Enechukwu on the end, with Izeya Floyd and Blake Boenisch in the middle and one of Kenneth Orji or Josh Pearcy flying in off the edge.

That’s six names already mentioned. There are four “starting” spots.

Schuman has struggled with injuries over the last several seasons. It might make sense for him to share time with Enechukwu on the end, although we’ll probably see both on the field at times given Enechukwu’s position flexibility.

Carroll should be the rock the rest of this amoeba forms around. Fully healthy from an injury suffered in the summer of 2021, he’ll be a fixture in the interior of the line. When Enechukwu hasn’t slid inside, Floyd should fill the other spot. He had a fantastic spring after moving back over from the offensive line. He and Carroll were recruited in the same class but haven’t played alongside each other yet. That will change this season.

Then there’s the edge. Nobody wants anyone to lose their job because of injury, but that happened to some degree with Orji who, through no fault of his own, will move into a much more even split with Pearcy. The newcomer made his mark last season and earned more time on the field.

One solution? Play them both. At some point, the Owls will step up to the line like this: Pearcy, Enechukwu, Carroll, Orji. And that leaves quality players like Schuman and Floyd waiting in the wings. Sheesh.

Rest of the Room

Boenisch is probably the odd man out here because of the depth, not because of his ability. He arrived at South Main with an intimidating frame and took significant series with his game this spring. He’s a candidate to earn some specialized situational roles and he will push Floyd for snaps on the interior of the line.

The other name of note here is Quent Titre. The Abilene Christian transfer didn’t pick Rice to ride the pine. He played in 36 games with ACU over the past four seasons and tallied 65 tackles. He expects to play at South Main and should provide some utility along the interior. How he progresses during fall camp will be huge. The position is flush with talent.

Caleb James, Cole Latos and Elroyal Morris would be the third wave of players who could each see a handful of spot snaps on a game-to-game basis.

Player to Watch – Van Heitmann

Barring a wave of injuries, it looks like there shouldn’t be more than a few cameo appearances from incoming freshmen or other underclassmen along the defensive line this season.

Van Heitmann really hasn’t had his name called in his two-year Rice career thus far, but the sophomore defensive end posted a strong outing in the spring game and made a few big plays throughout the course of spring practices. He was a special teamer last season and should see frequent action there again this year. If he continues to play well there, he’ll be in the conversation for more time with the defense as well.

While he might not see much action early, watch out for Davion Carter. The incoming true freshman is listed at 5-foot-11 and 304 pounds. He’s going to be a difference maker.


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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium, Reserve Tagged With: 2022 Rice Football Season Preview, Blake Boenisch, Caleb James, Cole Latos, Davion Carter, Elroyal Morris, Ikenna Enechukwu, Izeya Floyd, Josh Pearcy, Kenneth Orji, quent titre, Rice Football, Trey Schuman, Van Heitmann

Rice Football 2022 Spring Practice Notebook 2: Depth Chart

March 21, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

The first Rice football depth chart of the spring has been released featuring several shakeups across the board at a variety of positions.

So the saying goes, a depth chart is worth the price of the paper it’s printed on. If that’s how we feel about these prescribed lineups in the regular season, we ought to put much less stock in their scribbles in the spring. It’s with that important caveat I share the first Rice football depth chart of the spring.

More: Rice Football Spring Notebook 1 – Introductions

There are a few things we can glean from these tiered position groupings, starting with who isn’t listed on the roster and venturing to the host of new faces that are cracking a Rice two-deep for the first time in their careers. And that’s before reinforcements show up in the form of graduate transfers this summer. With that in mind, here are five important takeaways from the Rice football spring depth chart.

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Baseball 2023: MLB Owls Update – Sep 12
  • Rice Football 2023: South Florida presser quotes and depth chart
  • The Roost Podcast | Ep 160 – Rice Football blasts TSU
  • Rice Football 2023: NFL Owls Week 2 Roundup

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

February 28, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

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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Recent Posts
  • Rice Baseball 2023: MLB Owls Update – Sep 12
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Rice Football 2021: Captains, position battles and practice notes

September 2, 2021 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football announced captains this week and solidified some of the final starting spots for Saturday’s opener against Arkansas.

The 2021 Rice football season is approaching quickly. Rice football has wrapped up its final full practice prior to their flight to Arkansas. And has been customary over the last several years, the Owls announced their captains for the season at what is officially the end of fall camp.

This update will kick off with more on who those captains, including a significant quarterback inclusion, then we’ll turn our attention to (primarily) good news on the injury front, updates on key position battles at linebacker and corner and some last-minute notes from practice before the season begins on Saturday.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on how Rice football plans to deploy its quarterbacks, position battles, standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe to our All-American Tier on Patreon today.

2021 Rice Football Captains Announced

As has been customary under Mike Bloomgren, Rice football announced its 2021 captains after wrapping up the final full practice prior to their season-opening game.

Introducing our 2021 Captains.|

? »https://t.co/zgRuBdNl4i#GoOwls? x #RFND pic.twitter.com/t8mDTRG9Zs

— Rice Football (@RiceFootball) September 2, 2021

Jordan Myers and Cam Riddle are making repeat appearances after being chosen as captains by their teammates last season. Wiley Green, Trey Schuman and Naeem Smith are new additions this season.

This is Schuman’s fifth season at Rice. He made his collegiate debut at Stanford as a true freshman in 2017 and a fixture in the starting lineup when healthy since 2019.  Smith arrived at Rice in 2019 and became a vocal leader for the defense quickly. Like with Myers and Riddle, their teammates are quick to listen when they offer advice.

The Roost Podcast: Arkansas Game Preview

Green’s journey has been somewhat unique. He began his Rice career as the scout team quarterback in 2018, rising to starter midseason. He battled for the top job in 2019, making seven starters before falling behind in the pecking order in 2020, seeing only one relief appearance.

Many college football players have thrown in the towel after much less daunting odds, but Green persevered and remains the most probable man to get the opening snap against Arkansas. That speaks volumes to Green’s character and perseverance and how highly his teammates value his leadership. Starter or not, Green’s spot in the captain’s circle is significant.

Key players returning to practice

Rice has seen significantly better injury luck during fall camp this year compared to last year, but there have been some bumps and bruises along the way. It’s likely Rice will be without a handful of players on Saturday — but some good news, too — a few key players did return to practice this week.

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Baseball 2023: MLB Owls Update – Sep 12
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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aidan Siano, Andrew Bird, Antonio Montero, Brendan Suckley, Cam Riddle, Cole Latos, Desmyn Baker, Elijah Garcia, Elroyal Morris, Faaeanuu Pepe, Jason White, Jerry Johnson, Jordan Dunbar, Jordan Myers, Jovoni Johnson, Kenneth Orji, Luke McCaffrey, Miles Mccord, Myron Morrison, Naeem Smith, Rice Football, Sean Fresch, Terreance Ellis, Tre'shon Devones, Trey Schuman, Wiley Green, Zane Knipe

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