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Rice Football 2023 Offensive Player of the Year: Luke McCaffrey

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In only his second year at the position, wide receiver Luke McCaffrey was a gamebreaker for this team and a surefire pick for our 2023 Rice Football Offensive Player of the Year.

For as much as he may have been able to rely on his innate athleticism and find instant success, Rice football wide receiver Luke McCaffrey would never be content with a singular standout season.

After transitioning from quarterback to pass catcher before the 2022 season, McCaffrey was learning on the fly as he posted a team-leading 58-reception season with a team-best 903 all-purpose yards all while missing the last few games of the regular season. McCaffrey’s beginnings as a wide receiver set the stage for a stellar senior season.

“Every rep is gold, from an experience standpoint. Being able to go through a whole season, being able to go through a spring ball, fall camp and another spring ball and this year, capping it off with another great month of training is so helpful,” McCaffrey said on the cusp of the 2023 campaign. “From a preparation standpoint, [I feel] better than I ever felt.”

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Following a quiet start in the Owls’ opening game against Texas, McCaffrey turned those positive offseason feelings into game-changing production. His helmetless touchdown grab against rival Houston in Week 2 earned him Pop-Tarts “Crazy Good” Play of the Week honors and helped propel the Owls past the Cougars for the first time since 2010.

“I don’t know that he has an easy catch,” head coach Mike Bloomgren would later joke. “He certainly doesn’t have an easy touchdown catch on the year. Every one’s contested, his helmet is coming off, someone’s poking him in the eye. It’s crazy.”

McCaffrey would build on those theatrics with a career-best 199-yard game against USF, mixing in seven yards on the ground to go above 200 total yards for the day. Week after week, McCaffrey continued to raise the bar.

The senior receiver would only continue to heat up from there. Beginning with a two-touchdown day against UConn, McCaffrey would register nine touchdowns in the final eigth games of the season. His second half score in the Owls’ regular season finale against FAU would put Rice ahead for good, clinching a sixth win and back-to-back bowl game appearances.

All that, in just his second year playing the position.

“There’s usually a drop off somewhere,” offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo said of McCaffrey’s ascendance. “But he was lights out really… He was locked in, focused. He kept pushing. That to me is what puts him in that upper echelon.”

Eight yards shy of a 1,000-yard season, McCaffrey has accepted an invitation to the East-West Shrine Bowl and is off to the NFL. In just two years, he’s climbed into the top 10 in several all-time program-receiving ranks. With a touchdown in the SERVPRO First Responders bowl, he has clinched the third most touchdown receptions in program history.  He ranks ninth in yards and 10th in receptions.

More: Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year — Sean  Fresch

Three years ago, McCaffrey committed to Rice football with aspirations to play quarterback. He leaves South Main as one of the most productive wide receivers the school has ever seen. McCaffrey was a team captain and a leader, someone his teammates and the entire coaching staff leaned on in big moments. Time and time again, he delivered.

“We talk about Luke McCaffrey so much, and we don’t talk about him enough,” Bloomgren said upon the conclusion of McCaffrey’s final regular season game against FAU. “I think that couldn’t be more true. The impact that he has on our team and the player that he is. I feel so blessed to be able to work with him.”

** Photo credit: Mara Lysaker **
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Rice Football 2023 Defensive Player of the Year: Sean Fresch

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Sean Fresch took his game to new heights this season, earning our highly contested 2023 Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year award.

The 2023 Rice Football defense was filled with standout performers. The entire defensive line played well, veteran linebacker Myron Morrison was a stabilizing for in the middle of the field and defensive backs Gabe Taylor and Tre’shon Devones made big plays in big moments. Picking a Defensive Player of the Year was incredibly challenging, but Sean Fresch ultimately earned the nod partly because of his journey to this point.

A season ago, there were games in which opposing offenses chose to build their entire game plan around Fresch, and not in a complimentary way. They viewed him as a player they could beat, pushing the ball in his direction. Fresch was hunted, not feared, and to some extent, that’s what to be expected when a 5-foot-8 defensive back takes on FBS-caliber wide receivers. That’s where this story starts.

Rice hired Jeremy Modkins to coach corners in the offseason. Through his work with Modkins and a personal rededication to bettering himself, Fresch made a leap players make in their fourth collegiate season. Even before the games began, the buzz around South Main regarding Fresch’s improvement was inescapable.

“Sean Fresch is playing the most outstanding football I’ve ever seen him play,” head coach Mike Bloomgren declared before the season-opening game against Texas. Expectations and pressures were already mounting. Top corner Jordan Dunbar had taken a leave of absence from the team in the week prior to the season, thrusting Fresch into the spotlight. He did not blink.

Fresch began the season strong, tallying three pass breakups in the Owls’ upset win over the Houston Cougars and leading a secondary that would go on to finish second in the AAC in yards per game allowed through the air. Fresch started every game and provided a spark on special teams with his dynamic punt return abilities. Opposing defenses didn’t key in on him anymore. In fact, they started going the other way.

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“He doesn’t get the [pass break ups] because he’s covered the guy,” coach Modkins would joke midseason.

Whether the ball was headed his way or not Fresch, played like a new man.

“How I feel. How I play. How I carry myself around this building. How I carry myself with my teammates. The leadership role that I have, I walk around and the confidence is there,” Fresch said. “I’m just playing different.”

Fresch started every game this season, posting career highs in tackles, tackles for a loss, punt returns and punt return yardage. He also had his first sack on a big third down play against Charlotte. He was so amped up that he almost forgot to sprint down to the other end of the field and return the ensuing punt. It soon became just another exciting moment for Fresch in an incredible season.

Modkins, in his first season working with Fresch, didn’t have a full perspective of what Fresch looked like a year ago compared to the player he became under his tutelage. Nevertheless, Modkins says he never doubted Fresch putting together the kind of year that he did.

“He’s a tremendous competitor. He works his tail off. He does whatever you say to do and he wants to get better. He listens. He works,” Modkins said. “The proof is kind of in the pudding with him. I’m not surprised by the results he’s having at all.”

More: Rice Football Rising Star — Dean Connors

A surprise or not, Fresch’s resurgent season made this defense function at a high level. Defensive coordinator Brian Smith has built his scheme around having two strong cover corners who can win one-on-one battles on the outside. When the corners do that, in this scheme, it frees up the rest of the defense to pressure the quarterback and make plays.

Through it all, Fresch credited confidence and discipline as the driving force for his sustained improvement. “Just trusting that and falling back on my technique every single play,” he said. “Staying disciplined and finishing.”

One needs to look no further than the season finale against Texas State in the SERVPRO First Responders Bowl. Although it wasn’t a banner day for the team as a whole, the secondary held a potent Texas State offense to 150 yards passing with eight three-and-outs. It was a fitting end for Fresch and a strong defensive season.

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Rice Football 2023 Rising Star: Dean Connors

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From JUCO playmaker to bonafide FBS superstar, running back Dean Connors is our 2023 Rice Football Rising Star.

If Dean Connors had gotten tired, he would never tell you so. “The energizer bunny” who “doesn’t have an off switch” as offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo called him, Connors emerged as the newfound star Rice football running back this season. It was quite a long journey from the JUCO ranks to get him to where he is today, but the winding path is finally paying dividends.

In 2020, his senior season of high school was canceled and moved to the spring. He played a shortened season in March and April of 2021, then enrolled at Riverside City Junior College where he played a full 13-game schedule that fall. By the time he arrived at South Main, he’d played 18 football games in the span of six months.

Wary of overworking their new investment, the Rice coaching staff utilized Connors sparingly in his first year with the Owls. He carried the ball just 28 times for 128 yards and scored just one touchdown via a reception, not a carry.

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If Connors was ever frustrated by the slow start to this Rice career, he never showed it. By his own admission, he spent his first season trying to soak in as much football knowledge as possible. “Up until now, I’ve really kind of just went out there and played,” Connors said this past spring. “But I think once I got here I’ve been really expanding my knowledge of the game.”

He stole the show in spring practices and operated as the co-starter with veteran Juma Otoviano through fall camp. When the season arrived, Connors exploded with 145 all-purpose yards in a win over crosstown rival, Houston and scored his first FBS rushing touchdown a week later against Texas Southern.

Still, everyone in the offensive meeting rooms felt like Connors and the offense could do more. Following that game against Texas Southern in which the Owls hung 59 points on their opponent, Connors said he and the offense were “not close at all” to reaching their ceiling.

Connors had runs in that game he wanted to have back. The offensive line was working through some early season challenges. Everything wasn’t lining up just yet. But rather than get discouraged, Connors got to work.

“When Dean Connors does it the way he’s coached, it’s pretty impressive,” running backs coach John Settle said around that time. “Good Dean, is really good.”

More: Rice Football Special Teams Player of the Year — Peyton Stevenson

Bit by bit, play by play, Connors started to find his groove. He hauled in an 80-yard touchdown reception against USF, the longest play from scrimmage Rice football had this year. A few weeks later, he exploded for 120 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries during a Thursday night primetime game against Tulsa.

“Dean is such a proven commodity to this coaching staff that anything he does in a game now, it doesn’t surprise any of us,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said that night. “We expected that of Dean.”

With the Owls’ backs against the wall, in need of two wins in two weeks to clinch bowl eligibility, Connors delivered a combined 33 carries for 259 yards, the best two-game stretch of his entire career. Rice won both games and made it to the postseason, thanks in large part to Connors’ efforts.

Even with his meteoric rise, Connors remains level-headed and focused on what’s in front of him. A comment he made in the preseason rings true. “I can’t really think about starting or how many carries I’m gonna get,” he said. “I just gotta come here and work like I’m just that JUCO kid that just got here.”

That JUCO kid amassed the most scrimmage yards on the team and the fifth most yards in the American Athletic Conference. A relatively unknown commodity outside of Houston, Connors had officially arrived. He won’t be flying under the radar for much longer.

** Photo Credit: Maria Lysaker **
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Rice Football 2023 Special Teams Player of the Year: Peyton Stevenson

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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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Rice Football 2023 Defensive Newcomer of the Year: Coleman Coco

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Coleman Coco arrived at South Main as another transfer in an impressive signing class. He then became the clear-cut 2023 Rice Football Defensive Newcomer of the Year.

Thousands of players enter the Transfer Portal every offseason. The coach’s job is to find the right ones that fit the program and get them on campus. Hit rates are mixed. Some wash out before they ever play a down. Others help change the trajectory of the program itself. Colgate transfer Coleman Coco did just that and was an easy pick for our 2023 Rice Football Defensive Newcomer of the Year.

From the moment Coco arrived on campus, he couldn’t be missed. Spring practices were filled with his commanding voice followed by impressive plays on the field. Defensive coordinator Brian Smith called him an “alpha kind of guy”, praising his leadership right out of the gate. That gave the staff hope. Perhaps they’d found a keeper at a coveted position, defensive end.

Week by week, Coco continued to turn heads. Teammate Blake Boenisch called him “the fastest learner” he’d seen at Rice. His position coach Cedric Calhoun was wowed by his ability to make adjustments. “Once he’s seen it once [on film], he’s good,” Calhoun remarked.

Coco finished the spring strong, notching a sack in the spring game and entering the fall as the projected starter and would go on to start every game. In large part due to Coco’s presence, a defensive line that was forced to replace three veteran starters from a year ago played even better.

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Coco led the team in sacks (four) and tackles for a loss (nine) while also finishing sixth on the team in total tackles, no small feat from the defensive line. In his first season on campus, Coco posted career bests across the board, graduating from an All-Patriot League player to someone who probably deserved postseason recognition of some kind in the American.

To get that level of play from a transfer with Coco’s resume was incredible.

“He’s been such a home run,” head coach Mike Bloomgren after the season. “He’s just been amazing with his play. His passion for this game is contagious. He immediately fit right into what we’re doing.” Bloomgren would also call Coco “a walking advertisement for our program,” lauding how well Coco assimilated into the culture and became a champion of those ideals.

One needed to look no further than Coco’s own comments following the Owls’ bowl-clinching victory against FAU. “361 days ago Rice offered me when I jumped in the portal,” Coco said. “It was kind of a no-brainer from the start and to be a part of it and be with these guys and have the opportunity to have a winning season for the first time in long while, it’s great. I’m very, very thankful for the coaches, the staff and everybody to be here. It’s pretty awesome.”

Always the first to credit his coaches for his growth and his teammates for an assist that set up a big play, Coco’s energy was contagious. It seemed impossible to be morose or downtrodden when he was next to you and his mentality permeated the locker room. No matter the score or the situation, Coco was convinced Rice would come out on top. And he hasn’t stopped preaching that message.

More: 2023 Rice Football Offensive Newcomer of the Year — Boden Groen

“If you would like a world-class education and to be a part of football team, that is going on the up-and-up, and doing things that people cannot think that you can do, it’s the place to be,” Coco said following that FAU game, making his pitch for Rice football to all who would listen.

“We know we have a talented ball club. We know we’re going to be even better next year. So if you if you want to be a part of a winning team, a part of a great culture, it’s the place for you. I’m so thankful to be here. When [the media] talked to me after Houston, I said ‘I love it here’. Eleven weeks later, I love it even more.”

Rice football certainly loves Coleman Coco. They wouldn’t have had the season they did without him.

* Photo Credit: Maria Lysaker *
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