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Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 8: Defensive Takeaways

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Now led by defensive coordinator Jon Kay, the Rice football defense made strides this spring. Here are a few things that stood out the most.

The Rice football defense lost a lot of leaders to graduation this offseason. Having a familiar face in Jon Kay take over as the coordinator helps, but there was still plenty of dust to knock off as the Owls went through spring practices over the last several weeks. With new staff and new players, the program had plenty to work on from a defensive perspective.

More: Rice Football Spring Game Takeaways

“I think there’s a fair amount of new,” Kay said, addressing those changes during the offseason. This spring practice review tackles some of that new, some of the old and takes a more holistic look at what this side of the ball looks like with spring practices complete.

Ty Morris, you’re up

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Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 7: Offensive Takeaways

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The new-look Rice football offense was installed this spring and we learned a lot about what this side of the ball will look like under head coach Scott Abell.

It was mostly encouraging news regarding the Rice football offense as head coach Scott Abell and his staff started installation this spring. In his words, they got “probably 60 percent” of the way toward where they need to be while he’d been hoping for the group to get to 75 percent by the end of the spring.

More: Rice Football Spring Game Takeaways

“The meat and potatoes are in,” he teased, reinforcing the team had gotten the bones of the offense installed. With those pieces in place, it’s time to step back and make an assessment of how this side of the ball is doing and what we learned from it during the spring.

Off to the races

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New-look offense shines at 2025 Rice Football Spring Game

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The 2025 Rice football spring practices concluded on Saturday with the spring game, a more condensed version this year, but still rich with things to learn.

An open quarterback competition, a new offense and plenty of new faces made for an exciting night at Historic Rice Stadium for the Owls’ first spring game under head coach Scott Abell on Saturday night. Marketed as more of an open practice, the Owls went through some drills before going through a handful of drives in front of the assembled crowed.

More: Spring Practice Notebook 6 — Big moves in the trenches

This update focuses on what took place in that scrimmage, hitting on some takeaways from the game and how those items compare to the totality of the spring.

Mission Accomplished

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Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 6: In the Trenches

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The Rice football offensive line has impressed this spring as the group evolves into the Owls’ new offensive scheme one practice at a time.

Watching the offensive line transition from a West Coast scheme to a spread option offense has been one of the more intriguing journeys of Rice football spring practice. Every group has been learning a new language and a new way of doing things, but the way the offensive line has had to adapt and how effectively they’ve turned the page has been notable.

More: Spring Practice Notebook 5 — Slot School

This update dives into the progress the offensive line has made, what’s going to look different when it comes to how they’ll play on Saturdays and an early look at what players are lining up where this spring.

Impressing up front

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Rice Football 2025 Spring Practice Notebook 5: Slot School

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There’s been a lot to learn with this new-look Rice Football offense during spring practices, including the introduction of a new position: slot.

Keeping track of where players are lining up and where they go after the snap has been an adventure in the new offense Rice football is installing this spring. Head coach Scott Abell, renowned for his offensive system, has engineered a scheme that is fascinating to watch, but sometimes hard to follow. That confusion often stems from the slot position and how many different ways it’s utilized in this offense.

More: Spring Practice Notebook 4 — QB Battle and Scrimmage Thoughts

This update dives into what that slot position does, how the Owls use it in the offense and which players are going to be lining up at that position in the fall.

So…. what’s a slot?

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