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2024 Rice Football Season Preview: Safety

June 30, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

Next up in our 2024 Rice Football Season Preview: safety. Here’s our breakdown of the Owls’ plans for the group this season.

One of the younger rooms on the Rice football roster, the safety position boasts an interesting mix of established veterans and up-and-coming players looking to make a name for themselves. Gabe Taylor is the household name here, but he might not be the only man at this position to make a significant impact on the field this fall. Who else will step up beside him?

Rice Football Preseason Preview: Check out the rest of the series here.

This piece is part of our 2024 Rice Football Season Preview. Get access to it, as well as all other preview posts such as positional breakdowns, depth chart and schedule analysis and more when you subscribe on Patreon today. 

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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: 2024 Rice Football Season Preview, Ashton Ojiaku, Chris Bruce, Christian Edgar, Daveon Hook, Gabe Taylor, Jabari Ellison, Jojo Jean, Joshua Williams, Marcus Williams, Peyton Stevenson, Plae Wyatt, Rice Football, Tyson Flowers

Rice Football 2024 Spring Practice Notebook 1: Spring Intros

March 8, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

The 2024 Rice Football spring practices are officially underway. Here’s the latest on the roster and their plans this spring.

Rice football was back on the grass for the first week of spring practices this week. The Owls will have a short hiatus for spring break, then return to finish the final four weeks of camp and conclude with their spring game on April 13. That’s a short window to accomplish a lot. Stay tuned here for updates throughout the weeks ahead, starting right now with more on their starting point, some news faces, a notable position change and more.

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Quarterback-to-wideout conversion continues

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Baseball blows past PVAMU at home
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls
  • Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte
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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Alex Bacchetta, Blaise Tita, Brad Baur, Braedon Nutter, Brank Bants, Charlie Looes, Chase Jenkins, Chibby Nwajuaku, Chike Anigbogu, Chris conti, Coleman Bennett, Cooper King, Daelen Alexander, EJ Warner, Ethan Onianwa, Ethan Powell, Justin Williams, Lavel Dumont, Michael Daley, Mike Leone, Peyton Stevenson, practice notes, Rice Football, Shepherd Bowling, Spencer Cassell, spring practice, Trey Phillippi, Tyson Thompson, Van Heitmann

Rice Football 2023 Special Teams Player of the Year: Peyton Stevenson

January 12, 2024 By Matthew Bartlett

Peyton Stevenson was a bright light during an up-down season for special teams and our 2023 Rice Football Special Teams Player of the Year.

Outside of the punter, kicker and return men, those who play special teams seldom get name recognition. Although there are 10 other men on the field, the non-specialists who make the rest of the play possible don’t get the limelight very often, with rare exceptions. One of those shining standouts this season was Peyton Stevenson, our 2023 Rice Football Special Teams Player of the Year.

A wide receiver when he arrived on campus, Stevenson converted to safety this past season. While learning a new position during the spring, it was special teams where he really found his niche. Stevenson was a standout member of multiple block and coverage teams and rose through the ranks quickly.

When special teams coordinator Pete Alamar arrived on campus, Stevenson’s fresh start was met with fresh eyes.

“I purposefully did not watch a bunch of their film. I didn’t look at their depth chart,” Alamar said this spring. “I want to see them out here. I want to evaluate them based on what I see.”

What Alamar saw in Stevenson was an irreplaceable piece of his special teams fabric. By the time depth charts began to take shape in earnest, Stevenson was an integral part of the Rice special teams and someone Alamar and the coaching staff relied on to lead the unit. He and captain Chike Anigbogu became part of what Alamar liked to refer to as “four-teamers”, players utilized across four special teams units: kick off, punt, return and field goal.

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In the fall, Stevenson would help lead player-only meetings at the team hotel on Friday nights before the game. “They talk through everything,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said, lauding Stevenson and others for their dedication to their craft. The meetings weren’t required. It was just another of example of players caring deeply for their craft. And Stevenson was at the core.

It should have come as no surprise then when Stevenson’s preparation manifested itself on the football field. Stevenson blocked a PAT against UConn, keeping the Owls in a game that was in danger of going lopsided in a hurry. Then, a few weeks later, Stevenson blocked a punt against SMU that was recovered by a teammate for a Rice touchdown.

The blocked punt score was the first for the Owls since Sam McGuffie in 2012. It was Stevenson’s second blocked kick of any kind, a first for any Rice player since Christian Covington blocked a pair of kicks in 2013. Already in rarified air amongst Rice history, Stevenson was one of just four players in the country this season to have blocked both a punt and a place kick.

More: 2023 Rice Football Defensive Newcomer of the Year — Coleman Coco

Following the season, Bloomgren would identify four key performers on special teams: Stevenson, Anigbogu, Sean Fresch and Geron Hargon.

Stevenson was never called upon for a postgame press conference. He didn’t get the attention other specialists did, for better or for worse. But he made Rice football special teams better every time he was on the field, perhaps just as much on the dozens of other routine plays when kicks weren’t blocked. The entire operation continued to soldier on, thanks in large part to Stevenson.

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Filed Under: Archive, Football Tagged With: Peyton Stevenson, postseason awards, Rice Football

Rice Football 2023: UTSA Game Week Practice Report

November 9, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football visits UTSA this weekend seeking to snap a losing streak. Here’s what we learned from the Owls at practice this week.

It’s mid-November and we’ve got a situation in the Rice football quarterback room. An unwanted, annual tradition has returned to South Main as the Owls prepare for the possibility of a game without quarterback JT Daniels at the helm.

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This week’s roundup focuses on what the Owls plan to do if Daniels is ruled out, what additional adjustments they’re having to make because of injuries and some closing thoughts on the importance of this matchup.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

The Plan at Quarterback

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Baseball blows past PVAMU at home
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls
  • Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte
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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: AJ Padgett, Andrew Awe, Brad Baur, Chase Jenkins, Dean Connors, DJ Arkansas, Ethan Onianwa, Gabe Taylor, Jojo Jean, Josh Pearcy, JT Daniels, Lavel Dumont, Lloyd McFarquhar, Luke McCaffrey, Marcus Williams, Matt Sykes, Max Ahoia, Peyton Farmer, Peyton Stevenson, Plae Wyatt, practice notes, Rice Football, Ty Morris, Tyson Flowers

Rice Football 2023: Tulsa Game Week Practice Report

October 17, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice football is off the bye and headed to Tulsa for a prime-time conference game. Here’s what we learned from practice this week.

Following two weeks of prep, Rice football is on its way north to play Tulsa in what has the makings of a pivotal AAC game for both squads. The Owls got started on their game plan last week and added the finishing touches over the last several days, including some hotly contested special teams battles and some potential playing time risers over the last several practices.

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This week’s roundup focuses on those potential changes over the bye week, what the Owls might do differently from a personnel standpoint and as always, a few injury notes, both good and bad.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Bye week adjustments

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Baseball blows past PVAMU at home
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR David Kasemervisz commits to Owls
  • Hickson gem propels Rice Baseball to series win over Charlotte
  • Rice Football Recruiting: WR Artis Cole commits to Owls

Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: Aquantis Clemmons, Ari Broussard, Ashton Ojiaku, Beau Barton, Boden Groen, Chase Jenkins, Chris Bruce, Chris conti, Conor Hunt, Daelen Alexander, Daveon Hook, DJ Arkansas, Elijah Mojarro, Elroyal Morris, Gabe Taylor, Jack Bradley, Jojo Jean, JT Daniels, Justin Williams, Marcus Williams, Matt Sykes, Myron Morrison, Peyton Stevenson, Plae Wyatt, practice notes, Rawson MacNeill, Reese Keeney, Rice Football, Tim Horn, Tyson Flowers

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