Jon Kay Archives - The Roost

Rice Football has its next defensive coordinator. Sources confirm to The Roost that linebacker coach Jon Kay is expected to be promoted to the position.

It didn’t take Rice football head coach Scott Abell to find a replacement for former defensive coordinator Brian Smith. Sources tell The Roost that Abell zeroed in quickly on current linebackers coach Jon Kay and moved to elevate him to the role quickly following Smith’s departure, moving quickly to name Kay his replacement. The news was first reported by Zach Barnett of Football Scoop.

Kay was initially the first position coach Abell decided to retain when he was hired. Now he’s set to take over a collegiate coordinator role for the first time.

Formerly the head coach at North Shore High School, Kay went 117-18 in nine seasons, winning four state championships. He just completed his second season at Rice where he helped transform the Owls’ linebacking corps into one of the most productive units on the team.

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The Rice Football defense once again had a productive spring. Here’s what we learned about that side of the ball.

Despite coming out of the wrong side according to the final score in the 2023 Rice Football Blue and Gray Game, the defense had a largely positive spring. They asserted their will in the prior two scrimmages and made plenty of noise along the way, but they have questions still to be answered as spring winds down. Here are 10 closing thoughts on the defense from the totality of the spring.

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