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Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 7: Big picture questions

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The last practice before the 2023 Rice Football spring game has wrapped up and there are several questions that still need answering as spring ball ends.

All eyes were focused on the arrival of transfer quarterback JT Daniels, who took the field for the first time this spring. Would he live up to expectations? Early returns have been superb. But with quarterback (thankfully) solved, there are other outstanding questions that Rice football hasn’t found the answers to just yet and spring is rapidly drawing to a close.

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The roster is strong, but is the depth there?

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Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 5: Emptying the Notebook

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We’re midway through the 2023 Rice Football spring practices and notes are piling up. Here’s a grab bag of several from the past few weeks.

From the defensive line to the wideouts. From the stars to the up-and-comers, there’s been a lot to pay attention to as Rice football progresses through spring camp. This update features a collection of nuggets that haven’t made it into an update quite yet and a few updates following the first scrimmage last week.

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Don’t believe the depth chart

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Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 4: Scrimmage 1

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The first scrimmage of 2023 Rice Football spring practice is in the books. Here are a few individual standouts and some big-picture takeaways.

As is typically the case, the Rice football offense was doing push ups at the end of spring scrimmage one, losing the day to the defense. Head coach Mike Bloomgren admitted it would have been a rarity to see the offense come out faster than the defense to start any camp session, but was quick to level some specific critiques as well. This update breaks down some individual standouts on both sides of the ball and their ramifications on the team thus far.

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Rice Football 2022 Defensive Player of the Year: Josh Pearcy

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A first-year team captain, Joshua Pearcy did not disappoint, leading the team in sacks on his way to becoming our 2022 Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year.

Having too many good players is a coach’s dream. That’s one of the reasons head coach Mike Bloomgren wasn’t too worried about how the preseason rotation on the edge would play out. Regardless of who “won”, Rice would be better. Joshua Pearcy emerged from the competition and parlayed that into an outstanding season worthy of being named our 2022 Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year.

Through camp, the conversation at Pearcy’s position centered around how the defensive staff would get both Pearcy and fellow edge rusher Kenneth Orji on the field. Pearcy was coming off a tremendous 58 tackle, four sack performance when the competition began to heat up in earnest this spring.

It was during those spring sessions that defensive coordinator Brian Smith began to drop some breadcrumbs. “He’s playing better than he ever has,” Smith said of Pearcy, going on to detail what sort of packages they could use to get both him and Orji on the field. In the end though, not only did Pearcy win the job, his rapid ascent just continued to reach new heights.

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Pearcy was named a captain prior to the season, in part because of his impressive work on special teams. Special teams coordinator Chris Monfilleto singled him out as one of the key voices of the unit. Pearcy had tied for the team lead in special team tackles the season before.

In addition to his special team’s work, Pearcy became a leader of the defense too. He finished fourth on the team in tackles in 2022, the most among any defensive lineman on the roster. His 10 tackles for a loss and 6.5 sacks put him in the top seven in both categories among all Conference USA defenders. He had become a force.

“We got to stop the run [and] make the plays that we’re supposed to make,” Pearcy said of the defense heading into the regular season finale. “But when it comes down to those plays where talent takes over, beyond just doing your job, you got to make those plays too.”

Those plays, the ones that prove differential, game-changing. Those are the plays that Pearcy gravitated to the most.

More: Offensive Player of the Year — Luke McCaffrey

It’s no coincidence that Pearcy started in what was arguably the most emphatic defensive play of the season, cementing an upset win over UAB for the second consecutive year. The Blazers had the ball on the Rice 35-yard line with time ticking under one minute to play. After a sack by Trey Schuman on first down, Pearcy was credited with a forced fumble on the next play, forcing third and long.

UAB nearly converted a game-winning hail mary to upend the Owls last season, but Rice was saved via penalty. This time, it was Pearcy, who sacked quarterback Dylan Hopkins on the final play of regulation to secure the win and enable Rice to move to 3-2 on the season.

Pearcy would go on to make more plays, including tying a season-high seven tackles with one sack and 1.5 tackles for a loss in the Owls’ Lending Tree Bowl matchup with Southern Miss. All three of those measures tied or lead the team outright. In another big moment, Pearcy showed up. Because that’s what great players do. The answer to the preseason musings had been solved. No matter what Rice football chooses to do, they’d better make sure Josh Pearcy is on the field.

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The Roost’s 2022 Rice Football Season Superlatives

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The Roost’s 2022 Rice Football Season Superlatives exist to honor exceptional Owls who made a difference on the field this season. Here’s the complete list.

There were many individual performances worth recognizing in the 2022 Rice Football season. In addition to the more traditional awards below, make sure to check out The Roosties, our fourth annual award show from The Roost Podcast, which features a different angle of honors. From our favorite plays to the players that surprised us the most, we cover some of the more creative superlatives on the show.

Offensive Newcomer of the Year — WR Isaiah Esdale | Full Story

Excerpt: “Esdale would go on to catch 42 passes as a Rice Owl. 25 of them went for a first down. 13 of them were for 15+ yards or longer. He was a chain mover and a big-play maker, coming through in clutch moments time and time again. While Bradley Rozner and Luke McCaffrey were the wideouts that most often found paydirt and racked up the yards, Esdale’s contribution was clutchness.”

Defensive Newcomer of the Year — LB Chris Conti | Full Story

Excerpt: “After a parade of reliable all-conference caliber linebackers that have passed through the Rice football locker room in recent years, finding someone who could fill those shoes was a daunting task. The Owls found at least one such man in Conti. And fortunately enough, he still has two more seasons of eligibility to make a difference at South Main.”

Sp. Teams Players of the Year  — PK Christian VanSickle | Full Story

Excerpt: “In that span, he made six kicks from beyond 30 yards. Rice had one such make all of last season. He had four go through the pipes from 40+ yards away. And this after attempting his first collegiate field goal last season. For someone brand new to the position to give his team the utmost level of reliability was truly remarkable.”

Rising Star — DL Blake Boenisch | Full Story

Excerpt: “The kid is a freak of nature,” fellow teammate and captain Trey Schuman said of Boenisch. “He’s 6-3, 330 and can move. It’s not every day that you see somebody like him. Really the thing about Blake is his maturation process has been insane.”

Iron Man — OL Shea Baker | Full Story

Excerpt: “When Baker donned his helmet for the final time against Southern Miss in the Lending Tree Bowl he put an exclamation point on a Rice football record that won’t soon be broken, if ever. Baker leaves Rice as the all-time leader in career starts, making 53 starts over his six-year career.”

Off. Player of the Year — WR Luke McCaffrey | Full Story

Excerpt: “The emergence of McCaffrey coincided with an offensive awakening that never seemed to be fully realized. Rice football is better with McCaffrey on the field and the Owls are fortunate he’s got more eligibility to spend catching football at South Main.”

Def. Player of the Year — LB Josh Pearcy | Full Story

Excerpt: “Pearcy would go on to make more plays, including tying a season-high seven tackles with one sack and 1.5 tackles for a loss in the Owls’ Lending Tree Bowl matchup with Southern Miss. All three of those measures tied or lead the team outright. In another big moment, Pearcy showed up. Because that’s what great players do.”

Team MVP — WR Bradley Rozner | Full Story

Excerpt: “Making it back to the field in any capacity and contributing to the offense would have been a relief for Rozner who hadn’t seen the field in such a long time. Becoming a go-to game-breaker was even more impressive. In many ways, it’s just like that game-winning score against UTEP. Someone gave Rozner a chance. He did the rest.”

Check out the 2021 Rice Football Season Superlatives here.
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