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Rice Football Stat Pack: Mobile quarterbacks a must for Owls

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Moving the ball on the ground is crucial to the success of the Rice football offense. That goes for the quarterbacks, too.

Five different quarterbacks saw action for Rice football in 2019. No matter who was under center, it was clear this offense valued a quarterback who was able to move in the pocket and make plays with his feet. Versatility and options are extremely important. Keeping the defense honest and forcing them to account for all 11 players on the field gives the offense an added advantage.

Bloomgren confirmed the need for that advantage on offense throughout the season, saying more than once he was counting on his passers to steal two or three first downs on the ground each game. That expectation proved true. As a unit, the Rice quarterback position accounted for 300 yards rushing (before sacks), an average of 3.66 yards per carry.

Evan Marshman is the most mobile and, unsurprisingly, led the Owls quarterbacks with a 5.39 yards per carry average. Although Shawn Stankavage and Wiley Green aren’t generally viewed as running threats, both averaged more than three yards per carry. Rice doesn’t need track stars in shotgun, but having statuesque figures isn’t conducive to how this offense wants to operate.

Green and Marshman had two rushing scores apiece. Those four quarterback rushing touchdowns tied Austin Walter for the team lead. When the quarterback position is challenging the most productive running back in rushing production their importance in the offense can’t be dismissed.

Neither Green or grad transfer Tom Stewart are dual-threat guys — at least not on the same plane as incoming freshman quarterback Jovoni Johnson. Still, whoever wins the starting job will add a rushing component to the offense. That’s what the job requires.

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Football: Quarterback depth gives Owls options in 2019

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A year removed from starting a rotation of unproven passers, Rice football has a quarterback room with plenty of depth entering 2019.

Wiley Green was the scout team quarterback during fall camp last season. By the time the Owls played their final game, he was the starting quarterback. The reasons for Green’s ascent are two-fold. First, he’s really good at football. Second, the depth chart ahead of him became a MASH unit by season’s end.

Shawn Stankavage and Evan Marshman both suffered multi-week injuries. Jackson Tyner and Parker Towns had work to do in other areas. That propelled Green, a player whom the coaches still had complete trust in despite his standing on the depth chart, into the starting role.

He’ll be the frontrunner for the job entering 2019, but he’ll have company. Harvard transfer Tom Stewart has a live arm and didn’t come in to sit. Marshman will be back and healthy, as will Towns. And last year alone is proof that incoming freshman Jovoni Johnson could play his way to the top spot if the right circumstances arise.

More: Takeaways from Blue – Gray Spring Game

Ideally, Johnson gets at least one year in the system under his belt before playing meaningful snaps at Rice. Even still, the combination of Green, Stewart and Marshman gives Rice three starting caliber players who’ve played meaningful college football games. Entering last fall the Owls really only had one proven passer, Tyner, and he wasn’t able to win the job. It’s not too much of an overstatement to say Rice has more than doubled their depth at quarterback in one offseason.

Green, Marshman and Towns got their feet wet this spring. Now it’s time for each of them to hit the books and learn this offense inside and out. If they can master the mental aspect of the game the results will be felt in tangible ways this fall.

Having lots of quarterbacks doesn’t win you games. Head coach Mike Bloomgren found that out the hard way in 2018. But having multiple quarterbacks who have played “big-time college football”, as Bloomgren is known to say, could be the difference in multiple close finishes. The pecking order isn’t set, but the depth at the quarterback position is better than ever.

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Rice Football: Offense dominates their first spring practice

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The Rice football offense had their best offensive showing of the spring, capping off Monday’s practice with a near-perfect redzone performance.

Touchdown. Touchdown. Touchdown. The Rice offense had started to forget what the endzone felt like after a dominant start to the spring by the defensive unit. The offense managed a single field goal in their scrimmage on Saturday, failing to reach the endzone at all. They made up for their absence then, and the rest of the spring, with an impressive showing during Monday’s practice.

Bradley Rozner broke a few ankles, carving up the secondary on his way to six. Aaron Cephus high pointed some passes in the endzone. Ari Broussard was almost impossible to bring down. Evan Marshman took a keeper to the pylon. And all of that happened in the span of 20 minutes.

Breakthrough was coming, it was only a matter of time. Finally, something clicked. Cephus called it “a thin line between regular and great” which the offense had surpassed. There was no secret weapon, rather it was the culmination of weeks of learning and practice finally coming together at once. A slowed down game plus, as Cephus called it, “a lot of nastiness and grit”, gave the entire offense a much-needed confidence boost.

Mike Bloomgren called the sudden onslaught of offense “the spark” that “lit a fire”, setting up a battle between both sides of the ball on Thursday. That will be the last true practice before Rice holds their spring game on Saturday.

Several alumni and letterman will be in attendance then, some of which have already paid visits this spring. Sam Pierce stopped in to check out practice on Monday. Peter Godber, Calvin Anderson, Jack Fox and others have been by over the past week.

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Owls on pace to improve passing stats amidst quarterback shuffle

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Rice football played four quarterbacks last season and four quarterbacks in 2018. Even in challenging circumstances, the Owls are finding positive results.

In fall camp head coach Mike Bloomgren said he’d love to see one guy grab control of the starting quarterback job and carry it through the season. Vanderbilt transfer Shawn Stankavage looked to be that guy early on, but an injury suffered against UAB forced Bloomgren and the offensive staff to go further down the depth chart.

Evan Marshman started against FIU. Wiley Green will start against North Texas. Jackson Tyner’s turnover concerns have kept him as a reserve player for the time being, but he’ll be in the mix alongside some former high school quarterbacks that have played various other skills positions for the Owls.

Here’s how the Owls’ passers have faired thus far in 2018:

Player Cmp Att Pct Yds TD Int
Shawn Stankavage 99 174 56.9 1011 9 7
Jackson Tyner 9 19 47.4 132 0 1
Evan Marshman 17 31 54.8 164 0 1
Wiley Green 1 6 16.7 8 0 2

That’s a mixed bag, especially considering the various different scenarios and game situations each of those quarterbacks experienced. All told, though, Rice is actually on pace to produce better numbers from the quarterback position in 2018 than 2017, even with another lengthy list of participants.

Year Cmp Att Pct Yds TD Int
’17 Rice QBs 121 244 49.6 1721 6 16
’18 Rice QBs 126 230 54.8 1315 9 11
’18 Projected 205 374 54.8 2137 15 18

At a bare minimum, the improved passing numbers in such challenging circumstances has to be encouraging. Preparing an offense for “three vastly different quarterbacks in three different weeks” isn’t easy, and what the offensive staff has been able to do this month has been nothing short of incredible.

Bloomgren detailed the team’s mental processing that has to go on with they insert yet another new face under center against North Texas on Saturday. “It’s always going to be next man up,” Bloomgren said, “but anytime you have a next man up, especially at that position, everybody has to tighten their belts. Everyone has to play better and do your job that much better to make that person comfortable so they can do their job.”

The job on Saturday will be to get true freshman Wiley Green plenty of space in the pocket to deliver a calm, accurate throw. Green has an arm that can get the ball anywhere, but as we saw against FIU, that can include the wrong hands if he’s pressing. He has the talent and the coaching that’s produced encouraging results from a few passers already for Rice this season. Now it’s his turn to take the reigns.

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Owls to start Wiley Green vs North Texas

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Rice football has been forced to dig deep into the quarterback depth chart. Wiley Green will start for the Owls in lieu of an injured Evan Marshman.

Wiley Green started the fall as the fifth quarterback on the Owls’ roster. On Saturday he will start against North Texas because of injuries suffered by Shawn Stankavage and Evan Marshman in successive games.

Marshman started the Owls’ Week 8 game against FIU and played well. He completed 11-of-15 passes for 107 yards and threw one interception. He was even more productive on the ground, rushing for 68 yards and two scores. Unfortunately for Marshman and the Owls, his final run proved to be dangerous.

Marshman took off, found space and was greeted with a flurry of opposing jerseys at the goal line. He plunged through the scrum for the touchdown, landing awkwardly before being immediately rushed to the medical tent. He did not return to the game, and he won’t suit up again for the Owls any time soon. Precise details of his injury have not yet been made public, but like Stankavage, this injury will cause him to miss multiple weeks if not longer.

That makes Green, the former scout team quarterback, the next man up for the Owls against North Texas. After him, the depth chart gets murky. Jackson Tyner is one of the few men standing at the position which has prompted the coaching staff to dig deeper for possible solutions. In addition to Tyner, wide receiver Austin Trammell and running back Juma Otaviano will take reps at quarterback this week.

Rice will play its third different starting quarterback in three weeks against North Texas. That’s not what any coach would hope for, but the raw talent Green possesses makes Bloomgren hopeful. “He can spin it,” Bloomgren said, adding that he’s been impressed with his progression this fall.

Green understands the gravity of the situation, but say’s his preparation remains the same.  “At the end of the day, it’s football. No matter if it’s the ones or the threes it’s football and I’ve been playing it since elementary school.” That may be true, but this weekend won’t be just another game. It will be his first collegiate start.

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