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Rice Football 2021 Fall Camp Report: 5 Position battles to watch

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Rice football has finished a handful of practices in fall camp and several position battles at key spots are starting to get interesting.

Four practices into fall camp, a handful of position battles are starting to get particularly interesting. Everyone’s eyes will turn to the quarterbacks, naturally, but they’re not the only players fighting for reps come September. Here are five positions I’ll be watching closely as the first scrimmage approaches at the end of the week.

This is our second camp update. You can read the first update from the start of camp here.

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For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Practice reports are reserved for our subscribers. If you want updates on the quarterback battle, camp standouts, injuries and more, this is your go-to source. You can get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

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Rice Football 2021 Spring Ball Review: Defense

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The Rice football spring practices are complete. What did we learn about the defense and where does it stand entering the summer?

There wasn’t much mystery with the Rice football defense entering spring practices. The Owls finished the 2020 regular season ranked 12th nationally in scoring defense and returned the vast majority of their starters and depth. Beyond filling an open spot at linebacker, spring was about tidying up loose ends and building depth. From the line to the secondary, here’s where each position group ended up.

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The Roost has you covered from the start to end of spring practice and takeaways still to come. Subscribers get access to all spring practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

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Rice Football 2021: Spring Practice Week 1 Notebook

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Rice football returned to the practice field this week. Here are a few initial reactions from the first week of spring ball.

For the first time in three months, Rice football put on the pads and hit the practice field. It was a refreshing sight that seemed almost normal after a winter that was anything but conventional.

There were a few new faces this time, including quarterback Jake Constantine. But there were things to be learned from players head coach Mike Bloomgren would dub “the old heads” as well. We dug into some initial thoughts on the depth charts earlier this week. This edition will focus on what transpired on the grass itself.

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The Roost will have you covered every step of the way. Subscribers get access to all spring practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

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Rice Football: 10 Takeaways from 2020 season

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The 2020 Rice football season was filled with highs and lows. After time to reflect, what can we take away from the Owls’ five-game campaign?

From rocky beginnings to the National Championship Game, the 2020 season is finally in the books. Rice football participated in five games, experiencing the full range of emotions. There was the quadruple-doink and an upset for the ages.

For those that haven’t relive some of the highpoints in the season with The Roosties, an annual Rice football awards show from The Roost Podcast. You can also check out our 2020 Rice Football Team Superlatives, featuring more traditional awards like Team MVP, Offense and Defensive Player of the Year and more.

And with that, a few final thoughts on the 2020 season with some forward-thinking questions about how the Owls’ former season will impact the ones to come.

1. Rice proved they can score

Rice football played 24 games against FBS opponents in Bloomgren’s first two seasons at South Main. The Owl reached 30 points in just two of those contests. Those two occasions came in the midst of their three game winning streak that capped off the 2019 season. Rice opened 2020 with back-to-back 30-point performances. That marks five outings of 30 or more points in the Owls’ most recent eight games compared to zero in the first 21. That’s a pretty stark difference.

2. Rice has some weapons on offense

Part of the reason for further optimism with the offense is the playmakers Rice will return in 2020. Even if they do lose senior Austin Trammell, wideout Jake Bailey proved to be a chain mover and a big play threat this season. Andrew Mason showed sparks. Running backs Juma Otoviano and Khalan Griffin were both productive. And more talent is on the way, especially in the wide receiving corps.

3. This defense could be the best in C-USA

The 20-0 shutout on the road at Marshall will forever be etched among the best wins Rice has seen in this century. The list of accolades and firsts from that game was exhausting (in a good way), but the performance also served as an exclamation point on work Rice was already building. Rice finished third in scoring defense, fourth against the run, sixth against the pass and third in total defense this season. And they have lots of depth returning in 2021.

4. The Transfer Portal has been kind to the Owls

Hitting on more than half of your transfers is a fairly robust number. Rice has batted much closer to 1.000 in Bloomgren’s tenure than many might realize. Mike Collins was tremendous in his three games. Former JUCO addition Miles McCord was a crucial starter for the Rice secondary this year. Jovaun Woolford played well on the offensive line. Once more, Rice filled the holes they needed with talented additions from the portal.

5. Rice is close

Rice won by three scores in both of their wins in 2020. They lost by a touchdown or less in two contests and fell by 10 points in the other. A cruel field goal bounce separated the Owls from a 2-3 season and a possible bowl berth. The Owls’ only 10 point win in 2019 came in their season finale against UTEP. They lost by more than a touchdown five times in nine defeats. The wins are getting better and the losses are getting closer. A few better bounces and the record should come around, too.

Rice Football, postseason survey

Areas of Concern

6. The offense wasn’t nearly as good without Mike Collins

The drop off in production was stark when Mike Collins was not on the field. When JoVoni Johnson and Wiley Green were taking snaps the same offense that averaged 30 points per game with Collins dropped to 14.5 offensive points per game without him. If Collins does not return in 2020, Rice is going to have to find a way to get better production out of the quarterback spot. The addition of another grad transfer quarterback certainly suggests that room may look different in 2021.

7. The running game hasn’t really broken out

Rice averaged 2.8 yards per carry this season, a fair deal below the 3.5 and 3.9 yards per carry they averaged in 2019 and 2018, respectively. For an offense as committed to moving the chains on the ground, coming in below three yards per carry should sound some alarms. That number is skewed to some degree, by a disastrous game against North Texas, but Rice didn’t run the ball particularly well against UAB either.

8. Rice saved all their turnovers for one game

The Rice defense picked off six passes in 12 games in 2019. They had five in one afternoon against Marshall in 2020. Beyond that, Rice only had one other interception in four additional games. They added three fumble recoveries. Turnovers are somewhat of a fluky stat, but Rice has consistently finished in the bottom half of the league in takeaways in recent years.

9. Too many special teams mistakes

Rice has been among the league leaders in special teams over the last three years. NFL Pro Bowler Jack Fox helped the Owls get there, but the rest of the coverage and return units have done their part even with him in the pros. The return units did not deliver this season. Rice fumbled three punts and had a return touchdown called back via penalty.

10. Uncertain 2021 roster makeup

2020 was circled as the year Rice would have all of their proverbial ducks in a row. Then the pandemic hit. Then the injuries came. Rice did the most with what they had, snatching a marquee win, but it wasn’t quite the season anyone expected. The senior class has another free year of eligibility, should they chose to exercise it. The unknown of who will (and won’t) be back, makes it hard to look to far into what rosters will look like in 2021.

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Rice Football 2020 Defensive Newcomer of the Year: Miles McCord

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Thrust into a starting job, corner Miles McCord made the most of it, earning the title of 2020 Rice Football Defensive Newcomer of the Year.

McCord began his collegiate career at Gold West College in 2018. He was a rotational defensive back that year, but did enough to give himself a chance to play at the D1 level. He joined the Rice football team in May of 2019, shortly before offseason workouts began.

When McCord arrived, he was a work-in-progress player, a guy that wasn’t expected to be in the starting lineup any time soon. He was a depth piece with good athleticism and untapped potential, a raw talent, ready to be molded.

McCord appeared in four games his first season at South Main, primarily playing on special teams. By the time spring ball arrived in 2020, he hadn’t cracked the two-deep. The casual fan wouldn’t have paid much attention to McCord, No. 24, but his coaches noticed.

They noticed his intellect, the way he understood the scheme and where he was supposed to be. They noticed him come off the field during practices, identifying missed assignments and improper reads. By the time fall camp finally came around, McCord had made a tremendous leap from where he was as a late-summer flier more than a year ago.

Meanwhile, transfers and injuries ravaged what was expected to be a rather deep position group. Tyrae Thornton was gone. Collin Whitaker was off the roster. Andrew Bird was hurt. Jason White was hurt. Tre’shon Devones would be in and out of the lineup as he battled injuries of his own. Newcomer Sean Fresch played in one game before missing the rest of the regular season, injured.

At times it felt like McCord was the only man left standing. At times, he was.

“His confidence is growing. He’s mastered the defense,” cornerbacks coach Gerard Wilcher said midway through the season. Wilcher noted that McCord was behaving much more like a veteran in terms of his understanding and communication than the junior college player the Owls’ had initially recruited.

If McCord fell upward into the starting corner job, he didn’t stick there by default. As his teammates returned to practice, almost of all which fall above him in the original pecking order, it was McCord who stayed on the field. McCord was the only corner on the roster to appear in every game the Owls’ played in their abridged 2020 season. No other corner played in more than three. McCord played—and started—every contest.

McCord had the Owls’ first interception of the season, snagging a deflected pass from Southern Miss’ Jack Abraham late in the first quarter of that game. The redzone pick led to a Rice field goal on the ensuing drive, the first points in what would be the Owls’ first win. McCord’s takeaway also played a role in one of the team’s most impressive defensive statistics: Rice allowed zero points in the first quarter all season.

It wasn’t always perfect, but McCord proved himself as a trustworthy starting corner in the bumpiest season he and the Owls will likely ever experience. He had two passes defended along with the interception. His 14 tackles were the most of any corner and the 10th most of any player on the team, an impressive mark for someone who plays as far away from the ball as corners typically do.

But the most impressive contribution McCord produced in 2020 can’t be found on the box score. He was a tremendous asset in coverage, limiting opportunities for opposing offenses. Rice needs true man-on-man cover corners to execute their defensive scheme. The Owls had exhausted all other options. They desperately needed McCord to rise to the occasion. And he did. Again, and again, and again.

McCord’s rise is a feel good story. He’s another junior college player turned into a Conference USA mainstay by this coaching staff. But more than anything, he kept an elite defense operating at the same level through a year flush with challenges. When Rice needed someone to hold the line, McCord stepped in and elevated the play of those around him. The Owls will be glad to have him patrolling the boundary for years to come.

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