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The Roost Podcast | Ep 56 – 2020 Rice Football Preview with JP Heath

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Rice Owls voice JP Heath returns to the show to discuss the upcoming Rice Football season and what it’s going to look like from his booth.

Returning for his second appearance on The Roost Podcast, Rice Owls voice JP Heath joins Carter and Matthew and shares his thoughts on the 2020 Rice Football Season. The trio talk through the biggest news from the previous week — the emergence of Mike Collins as the starting quarterback and the opt-out of wide receiver Bradley Rozner — as well as a few items near and dear to JP’s heart.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 56.

Episode 56 Notes

  • Housekeeping — Don’t miss this opportunity to subscribe on Patreon. You’ll get practice reports, recruiting news and the latest analysis and updates on all things relating to Rice Athletics.
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  • Rice Football breaking news!
    • Mike Collins has been named the starting quarterback
    • Wide receiver Brad Rozner will not participate this season, instead choosing to opt out
  • Conference USA news and notes
    • UTSA salvages a “moral victory” against BYU
    • FAU has only played one more game than Rice
    • Louisiana Tech leads the West. FAU and Marshall lead the East
  • JP Heath joins the show and shares his thoughts on:
    • Rice football fall camp including standout freshmen, position groups of worry and the quarterback battle
    • What the broadcast is going to look like this fall, and what’s still up in the air
    • Mental Health week and his plan to raise awareness

What do you think?

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Rice Football 2020: Owls get multiple starters back to practice this week

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Rice football has been hit hard by injuries prior to their season opener. Several of those players were back at practice this week.

Rice football is less than two weeks away from their first game of the 2020 season. The Owls remain on track to host Middle Tennessee on Oct. 24, with no fans. If you haven’t yet, check out some of the virtual offerings Rice has put together for the game. There should be a few more things in store this week.

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Perhaps the most notable happening in prior Rice football practices was the number of players who weren’t on the field. The injury bug hit Rice hard during fall camp. It’s already cost them the entire seasons of Cam Montgomery and Bradley Rozner. The Owls’ are still a ways from being fully healthy, but this week brought with it much more encouraging news.

First, Rice football is COVID-19 free after reporting one positive test on Oct. 3. They do not have any players unavailable because of positive tests or contact tracing right now. In non-COVID related news, we’ve seen a turn for the better with several key players who were on the field this week after missing time earlier in camp.

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What’s coming next?

I’ve got a few breakout freshmen that I’ll be sharing soon. It’s probably safe to say a few of them could play important roles this fall, especially if the Owls enter the season banged up. I have some more depth chart updates that I’ll work to have finalized following the third and final scrimmage on Saturday. Stay tuned for another update then, the last before we get to game week against Middle Tennessee.

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Rice Football 2020: Practice Notes, starting quarterback and projected depth charts

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Rice football has two scrimmages in the books. Mike Collins has been named the starting quarterback and the depth chart behind him is starting to materialize.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren has been cautiously optimistic in each of his previous post-practice media sessions. “We’re not where we need to be to play a football game, but thank God we’re not where we used to be,” he said following Saturday’s scrimmage. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last week and we’ve got a lot of progress we need to make in the next two weeks.”

Among the most notable points of progress this week was the official endorsement of a starting quarterback. Grad transfer Mike Collins has officially won that job. As for takeaways from the rest of Saturday, injuries and the announcement of wide receiver Brad Rozner’s opt out took center stage.

After seeing both scrimmages and talking with those close to the program, I’ve put together my first pass at what a depth chart for the Rice football’s season opener against Middle Tennessee might look like.

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For those on the fence when it comes to subscribing, you’ll get access to all previous practice reports and special features throughout the season. Plus, you’ll get to see which true freshmen I think could be starting against Middle Tennessee.

Defense wins the day

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BREAKING: Mike Collins named Rice Football starting quarterback

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Mike Collins has won the starting quarterback job for Rice football in 2020. The TCU transfer will be the man under center when the Owls open the season.

Rice football will have a new starting quarterback when they open the 2020 season. Graduate transfer Mike Collins will be the Owls’ starting quarterback this fall. He beat out redshirt freshman JoVoni Johnson who had been competing with Collins for the starting job through the spring and into fall camp.

Throughout camp, head coach Mike Bloomgren was clear Collins had the leg up. “I think Mike Collins is just a little bit ahead still.” Bloomgren said, “Pretty much every day he’s just a little bit ahead.”

His arm strength and ability to command the offense has been noticeable thus far. For a bigger guy, he’s pretty fleet of foot too. Rice won’t lose too much in terms of mobility from the position by opting for the 6-foot-5, 225-pound TCU transfer.

Bloomgren noted earlier this year the Owls were guaranteed to have the starting quarterback on campus this spring. Rice did not bring in any new passers over the summer, a decision that proved fortuitous given the rapidly changing environment. Collins was present for spring practice, an added benefit the staff believes will pay dividends in the coming weeks.

Collins will become the latest new face to start a season opening game for Rice football. Prior to his forthcoming debut, Rice has started a different quarterback in their opening game every year dating back to 2015, when Dryphus Jackson returned as the Owls’ QB1.

From 2015 on, Rice turned to Tyler Stehling (2016), Sam Glaesmann (2017), Shawn Stankavage (2018) and Wiley Green (2019) in their openers. Only one, Stehling maintained the starting job for the entirety of the year.

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes: Quarterbacks, specialists and injuries

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Rice football is nearly halfway through fall camp. The quarterback situation is clearing up but the running back depth chart is heating up.

On Monday, Rice football had its first practice following Scrimmage No. 1. That extra session, combined with time to break down the scrimmage film, gave head coach Mike Bloomgren a better feel for where the team stands as the midpoint of fall camp approaches.

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The quarterback situation is starting to crystalize, but Khalan Griffin is making the running back depth chart extremely hard to parse out. I’ve got more notes on both position battles, how the special teams situation is looking right now and an update on injuries including three players that I haven’t seen take the field for the Owls this fall.

Timetable for a QB1 decision

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