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Rice Football 2019: Quarterbacks, redshirts and UTEP practice notes šŸ”’

November 29, 2019 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football wants to close out its 2019 season on a high note. The Owls haven’t slowed down as the work through Thanksgiving week to prepare for UTEP.

It’s hard to believe we’ve almost reached the end of the Rice football regular season. Be sure to check out the game preview and this week’s podcast.Ā Here are some of the most notable takeaways from practice this week.

Development of the offense and game-planning for the second half

The emergence of Bradley Rozner has been crucial over the last month of the season. Being able to throw the ball up to him on third down and watch him win one-on-one battles has changed the Rice offense. “[Rozner has] really given our offense another threat that we didn’t really know we had early,” wide receivers coach Mike Kershaw admitted. “[Rozner has] really helped us … stretch the ball down the field, flip the field.”

Rozner’s growth has been a boon to the rest of the receiving corps as well. Austin Trammell had more than six receptions for just the second time this season in the win over North Texas, including a wide-open 31-yard gain on third down in the second half.

The Roost Podcast | Episode 19 — North Texas recap and UTEP Preview

Trammell has noticed the added space, saying “It’s nice having more options and be able to make plays down the field.” Even still, the team captain has higher aspirations for himself and this offense. “We just can’t get complacent,” he said of the second half scoring droughts, which by the time the team takes the field against UTEP, will have grown to 35 days without a point scored after halftime.

As for new wrinkles, we might see against UTEP, the speed of Zane Knipe should get more opportunities to flash. Kershaw called him “a different type of weapon,” adding that, “that’s rare to have a guy that has that type of speed [at Rice].”

Quarterback

Bloomgren confirmed during his Tuesday press conference that Tom Stewart would remain the starter for the final week of the regular season. He has taken the majority of the reps with the first team early in the week and performed well. His deep ball continues to be an asset to his game and he’s proven comfortable in the offense.

As good as Stewart has been, there’s a good chance we still see JoVoni Johnson on Saturday. The reps Stewart hasn’t gotten with the one’s have been held for Johnson, who’s worked primarily with a read-option and more run-centric packages.

The running game with Johnson seemed to be the best thing the offense had going for it before the bye. Instituting some of those plays, particularly during any second half stalls could be extremely beneficial. Two quarterbacks shouldn’t be the norm, and I think Bloomgren and his staff will be judicious about how and when they employ their second signal caller against UTEP. They’ve had plenty of learning opportunities.

Redshirt watch

Rice has already begun to shuffle in some of their younger players as the season has progressed. There wasn’t a sudden deluge of new faces when Rice reached the last four games of the year, rather the staff has done a good job of getting many of the freshmen experience in meaningful moments.

These players have played in their allotted four games. I wouldn’t expect we see any of them on Saturday:Ā Jacob Grams, Kebreyun Page, Cole Garcia, Josh Pearcy, Joshua Landrum, Miles McCord, and Brandt Peterson.

Black Friday

As for those who have played in fewer than four games, there should be several players who get into the game in some form or fashion.

On offense, keep an eye on the aforementioned JoVoni Johnson as well as running back Juma Otoviano (game time decision), wide receiver Zane Knipe and walk-on offensive lineman Isaac Klarkowski. On defense, Chike Anigbogu and Izeya Floyd were both singled out by members of the coaching staff this week as players who could see bigger roles.

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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: Austin Trammell, Bradley Rozner, Chike Anigbogu, Isaac Klarkowski, Izeya Floyd, Jovoni Johnson, Juma Otoviano, Rice Football, Tom Stewart, Zane Knipe

Rice Football Film Room 2019: North Texas Review

November 27, 2019 By Carter

Rice Football is on a winning streak and the offense is starting to click. Take a look at some of the highlights in this week’s edition of the Film Room.

Hey y’all, welcome back to the Rice Football Film Room. Great to be celebrating another win, ain’t it? Rice’s defense put on a master class in this one, holding Mason Fine and the North Texas Mean Green offense to under 250 total yards and a mere 14 points. In celebration of that effort, we’ll highlight the early pick from Rice’s starting Swiss Army Knife . . . er, Viper Treshawn Chamberlain

You Had Me At A Glance

Setup

It’s UNT’s second offensive drive following a punt and a Rice field goal. So it’s 3-0 Owls, and Fine & Co. have the ball 1st and 10 at their own 25, less than five minutes into the game. They’re in a pretty standard 11 personnel shotgun look, with the TE lined up off the line and outside the LT at H-back.

Rice responds with a 3-3-5 look, with 3 linemen, Antonio Montero and Blaze Alldredge in the box, and Kenneth Orji playing the edge at off-ball strongside linebacker. Rice has two safeties: Chamberlain is lined up in the middle of the field about seven yards off the ball, and the other (I can’t see the number but I’m pretty sure it’s George Nyakwol) is deeper and just inside the numbers to the boundary.

The Play

Hey, we know this one, don’t we? It’s the Glance RPO, a play Rice has run to much success this season, usually to Brad Rozner. The single receiver runs a skinny post (or ā€œglanceā€) route, and if the safety to that side stays deep (either to bracket him or bail into a deep zone), the quarterback throws. If he comes downhill to play the run, the quarterback hands it off. Nyakwol flows to the line at the run action, so Fine thinks he has an easy read, pulls the ball, and throws the glance.

The key here is some trickery by Rice DC Brian Smith and Chamberlain. Presnap, Fine and the UNT offense don’t see Chamberlain as likely to impact this play. He’s lined up to the strong side and fairly shallow, so they may expect him to move into the box to give Rice numbers against the run. He could also be bailing into a deep zone: perhaps to the middle of the field if Rice is in Cover 3, or maybe even all the way to a deep quarter in the wide side, if Rice is playing Cover 6 (Cover 2 to the short side and quarters/Cover 4 to the wide side).

More: Previewing Rice Football vs UTEP in Week 14

But Chamberlain does neither of those things. Instead it looks like he’s playing a sort of Robber coverage, meaning that he sticks in the shallow middle of the field, reading the QB’s eyes and ā€œrobbingā€ any shorter crossing routes. This, I assume, was a look by Smith intended specifically to counter RPOs, which are often run out of these 11 personnel spread looks. Nyakwol moves to the box to play the run option, and Chamberlain is in place to cover the shallow crossing routes these plays involve (often slants), while also being able to fill late against a run to his side.

Fine actually does a really good job selling the run action, and you can see Chamberlain briefly biting on it before realizing that the QB still has the ball. But at that point, he knows exactly where the ball is going and makes a brilliant break on the ball to grab the pick.

I’ve mentioned on The Roost Podcast before how difficult it is for QBs to process in real time when a defense changes its look post-snap, particularly on quick-read plays like these. This time, it’s Rice that uses that to its advantage. The ensuing interception sets up a crucial early touchdown for the Owls.

Plenty of big plays

Here’s where I note that I wanted this to be an all-Chamberlain column and break down his game-sealing pass breakup, but I couldn’t find video of it anywhere. Disappointing!

I’d give you the big Rozner catch on Rice’s final drive, but it was more of the same of what we’ve seen lately: Stewart put a catchable ball in the area of a single-covered Rozner, who boxed out like a power forward and came down with the ball. Great play but nothing I haven’t shown you before, and the camera is zoomed so tight at the beginning you can’t even see the formation.

So! We’ll give Rice’s other Harvard grad transfer his props. Here’s Charlie Booker’s first Rice touchdown.

Let’s Hit the Book . . . er

Setup

It’s the very first play of the second quarter. Rice has the ball 1st and goal from the 8, up 10-0. They’re under center in 22 personnel, with Booker at RB, Brendan Suckley at FB, Jaeger Bull at inline TE to the right, Jordan Myers being the other TE to the left (I’d say at H-back but he’s so far outside the tackle he’s really more of a slotback), and Rozner as the lone receiver. UNT responds with a five-man front and a whopping ten total players in or very close to the box.

The Play

This is an ISO run, which I believe I’ve mentioned briefly before. The difference between ISO and most plays using a blocking back (ā€œleadā€ plays) is that lead plays are designed for the blocker to hit the hole and block whomever he sees first (most of these are gap runs, like power or counter), whereas in ISO the blocker has a specific player he’s aiming to block right from the beginning (usually, and in this case, the middle linebacker). ISO is designed to go up the middle, through an A-gap (to either side of the center, i.e.).

This is excellently blocked to the playside, with true freshman walk-on center Isaac Klarkowski and RG Brian Chaffin double-teaming the nose while LG Nick Leverett does a brilliant job getting inside of his man and sealing him off to open the gap.

More: Isaac Klarkowski, the latest Rice Football walk-on successĀ 

Suckley blasts the MIKE back four yards and to the opposite side of the field. The weakside ā€˜backer for UNT has actually done a nice job sifting through the wash and is in position to make the play, though; it kinda looks like Chaffin was going to come off the double on him, but he diagnoses the play too quickly for that to happen. But Booker does a nifty jump cut and slaps him aside as he bursts through the hole. From there it’s all green grass.

Boy it sure was nice to break down plays from two successive wins. Here’s hoping Rice Football can close the season with a third in El Paso this weekend.

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Filed Under: Featured, Football Tagged With: Antonio Montero, Blaze Alldredge, Brendan Suckley, Brian Chaffin, Charlie Booker, Isaac Klarkowski, Jaeger Bull, Jordan Myers, Kenneth Orji, Nick Leverett, Rice Football, Treshawn Chamberlain

Rice Football: Center Isaac Klarkowski latest of Owls’ walk-on successes

November 27, 2019 By Matthew Bartlett

For Rice football, recruiting efforts go well beyond scholarship players. Freshman center Isaac Klarkowski is the latest in a growing line of walk-on successes.

It’s harder for Rice football to win than it is for some other state schools with deep pockets and fewer academic restrictions. Head coach Mike Bloomgren knew that when he took the job; he faced similar constraints in his prior stint at Stanford. To compete against the schools who don’t face those challenges, Bloomgren and his staff were going to need to find unique advantages.

When walk-on center Isaac Klarkowski took the first snap in the Owls’ most recent game against North Texas, one of those advantages was thrust into the spotlight.Ā  Finding and/or equipping walk-on players like Klarkowski, Chris Barnes and Tre’shon Devones — all of whom started against North Texas — is something Rice football likes to think they do better than most. The results so far speak for themselves.

A team that had their fair share of struggles protecting the quarterback this season with their staters healthy didn’t seem perturbed by the last-minute substitution in the heart of the offensive line. Instead, the low-profile, scout team defensive lineman became the hero of the Owls’ first home win of the 2019 season.

There were plenty of places and people Bloomgren could have keyed in on following his team’s win on Senior Day. The most notable was probably Treshawn Chamberlain, who arguably won the game with a stadium-shaking endzone pass break up. But Bloomgren opened his comments on the win with a nod to Klarkowski.

“I know many of you might not have known his name until he started on Saturday,” Bloomgren said. “He is a walk-on true freshman from Green Bay, Wisconsin who joined our team three days before camp. We’re sure glad he did.”

Klarkowski had a tough decision to make on his way out of high school. An All-State wrester from the midwest, he was entertaining multiple Big Ten wrestling scholarship offers when he got the call from Rice. Suddenly he was faced with a decision, which ultimately ended up with a commitment to play for the Owls with no scholarship promised.

Preview: Rice Football vs UTEP in Week 14

The out of state product is studying mechanical engineering with aspirations of working for NASA, who sets up shop not far from Rice campus. Klarkowski wants to be a rocket scientist and he’s a D1 caliber athlete. Somehow, someway, programs around the country didn’t prioritize him to the same degree Rice did.

The intelligence was crucial to his big moment on Saturday. With starter Shea Baker sick with the flu and backup Brian Chaffin injured, Klarkowski wasn’t notified he would officially be the guy until Saturday. He didn’t take first-team or second-team reps during the week when the team implemented their game plan.

Klarkowski’s training came by way of a crash course hotel room session with Chaffin. Arguably as well versed in this offense as any of the coaches, Chaffin’s fifth year in Bloomgren’s system gave him ample knowledge to impart. The pair moved the beds to the side of the room and drilled down on every play. That process took less than an hour. Then Klarkowski strapped on his pads and took the field to snap the ball for the very first time in a college game.

Every walk on doesn’t turn into a starter. In actually, the hit rate leans heavily toward microscopic. But as more players like Klarkowski show up, it might be time to give credit to where credit is due. Rice football has a way with walk-ons. And those walk-ons just helped win some important football games.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Filed Under: Archive, Football Tagged With: Isaac Klarkowski, Rice Football

2019 Rice Football Season Preview by The Roost

July 8, 2019 By Matthew Bartlett

 

The staff of The Roost is pleased to announce the release of the 2019 Rice Football Season Preview, a 143-page digital magazine detailing everything you could imagine about the Owls’ upcoming season.

This preview is the culmination of months of research, interviews and analysis. Consider it your one-stop-shop as you prepare for the Owls’ 2019 season.

Available as a downloadable PDF for on-the-go access, this preview contains the following:

1. A breakdown of every position group on the team

Who are the favorites to start entering fall camp? What sort of production should you expect from returning starters? Which of the incoming transfer players should make their mark the quickest? Answers to all of those questions are included, as well as notes on every single player on the 102-man roster.

2. An exclusive interview with head coach Mike Bloomgren

We sat down with coach to get his honest evaluation of where the Rice football program is right now and how he views the progress the team is making as they approach 2019. He’s sticking to a process, one which he remains confident will bring success to South Main.

3. Previews of each 2019 opponent and all 14 CUSA Teams

Supported by local beat writers and experts who cover each team, this section has a wealth of knowledge about every CUSA Team and all the Owls’ 2019 opponents.

Rice fans will want to familiarize themselves with the teams they’ll be facing this year. Get to know which players each squad will have to replace, which newcomers could make noise in 2019 and what outstanding questions those in the know have about their respective squads.

4. A complete 2019 Conference USA Football Preview

Available separately to purchase, everyone who purchases the 2019 Rice Football Season Preview will also get The Roost’s 2019 Conference USA Football Preview. We made our picks for preseason honors, top games to watch in 2019 and a closer look at how every team in the conference stacks up.

Don’t need any more convincing? Get a copy for yourself today

Buy Now

 

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Filed Under: Featured, Football Tagged With: Adam Nunez, Adrian Bickham, Andrew Bird, Anthony Ekpe, Antonio Montero, Ari Broussard, Aston Walter, August Pitre, Austin Conrad, Austin Trammell, Ayden Noriega, Bennett Mecom, Blaze Alldredge, Bradley Rozner, Brandt Peterson, Brendan Suckley, Brian Chaffin, Cam Montgomery, Cam Riddle, Cameron Valentine, Charlie Booker, Charlie Mendes, Chike Anigbogu, Chris Barnes, Chris Boudreaux, Clay Servin, Cole Elms, Cole Garcia, Collin Whitaker, Connor Hughes, D'Angelo Ellis, Dasharm Newsome, De'Braylon Carroll, Derek Ferraro, Dylan James, Dylan Silcox, Edmond Lahlouh, Elijah Garcia, Evan Marshman, Garrett Braden, Garrett Grammer, George Nyakwol, Hunter Hanley, Hunter Henry, Hunter Jones, Isaac Klarkowski, Isaiah Richardson, Izeya Floyd, Jack Bradley, Jacob Doddridge, Jacob Grams, Jaeger Bull, Jake Bailey, JaQuez Battley, Jashon Palmer, Jason White, JaVante Hubbard, Jawan King, Jerry Johnson, Jonathan Sanchez, Jordan Myers, Josh Landrum, Josh Pearcy, Jovoni Johnson, Juma Otoviano, Justin Gooseberry, Kebreyun Page, Kenneth Orji, Kirk Lockhart, Luke Armstrong, Matthew Sams, Miles Adams, Miles Mccord, Myles Adams, Myron Morrison, Naeem Smith, Nahshon Ellerbe, Nick Leverett, Nick McQuarry, Nick Wagman, Parker Towns, Prudy Calderon, Reagan Williams, Regan Riddle, Rhett Cardwell, Rice Football, Robbie Blosser, Robert French, Sam Glaesmann, Shea Baker, Tom Stewart, Tre'shon Devones, Treshawn Chamberlain, Trey Schuman, Tyrae Thornton, Uzoma Osuji, Wiley Green, Will Harrison, Will Martinez, Zach Hoban, Zane Knipe

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