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Rice Football Practice Notes 2020: What to look for after the off weeks

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Rice football has suffered back-to-back postponements. The bulk of the schemes will be the same, but improvements have been made over the last two weeks.

A lot can change in three weeks. That was true of Rice football from the start to end of fall camp. Players came in and out of the lineup, adjustments were made. This time Rice has the added benefit of live reps as a baseline.

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To be clear, I don’t expect seismic change when Rice takes the field next (hopefully on Saturday against North Texas). But there have been a few things over the last few weeks of practice that should look different, most of them for the better.

A breakout from the trenches

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes, Presser Quotes and the next men up

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After another postponement, Rice football is ready to take the field again, hopefully as soon as this weekend against North Texas. Here are the latest practice notes and press conference quotes.

Rice football is two weeks removed from their most recent football. Oddly enough, the Owls’ first game against Middle Tennessee was the week following a matchup between North Texas and Middle Tennessee. The Mean Green haven’t returned to the field since.

Owls’ head coach Mike Bloomgren met with the media today to share some of his thoughts on the game ahead.

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There is a lot of encouraging news on the injury front. Bloomgren said the team didn’t have “many people left to get healthy.” That should include a few starters returning to the field soon as well as a practice sighting on the offensive side of the ball. Injuries and depth chart fluidity has afforded several players additional opportunities. We’ve also got some notes on a few guys that have stepped up in the interim.

Press Conference Quotes

“We want to make this the most exclusive offer in the country… one out of every four offers is committed to you or signing with you, we feel good about that because we get a chance to really develop real relationships, get to know the parents, the families and otherwise.” – Director of Recruiting Alex Brown on the upcoming 2021 class

With the way we prepare and with our process and what it’s all about, I don’t know if I’m real excited about those possibilities… I really would like more than 48 hours of notice that you saw UCLA and Cal last week. I certainly think that that would cause a lot of coaches in this building not to sleep for 48 hours. But hey, we’ll make it work if that’s the case. We want to play a game. And right now, we’re certainly planning on playing Seth Littrell and North Texas.” – Mike Bloomgren on the possibility of last-minute scheduling changes

“I think they probably found their guy in Jason Bean, and he’s the one that we’re going to prepare to stop. If Austin [Aune] jumps in there, their offense won’t change too much. They’re still going to try to find number one Jaelon Darden, and they should.” – Bloomgren on the North Texas offense

Who’s back and who’s not

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes: Presser quotes and o-line growth

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Rice football took advantage of the off week to rest up and get healthy. The Owls are working toward this week’s game at Louisiana Tech.

There was plenty to observe and talk about as Rice football got back to practice after an unexpected free Saturday following the postponement of the UTSA game. Head coach Mike Bloomgren shared his thoughts on the future of that matchup. I recapped those thoughts, shared a few quotes from Tuesday’s press conference and dug into some observations from the Rice o-line at practice this week.

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UTSA postponement

At this point, both UTSA and Rice have made it abundantly clear who they want to be playing on Dec. 5. The Owls were originally free that day before Conference USA slated Marshall into that open weekend only days before the Rice vs UTSA game was postponed.

UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor has gone on record saying he wants to see that game rescheduled. Bloomgren echoed those sentiments on Tuesday, saying “if we had our choice, we’d love to play the team down the road.” Bloomgren reiterated that would ultimately be a conference decision.

Notes and Quotes

“We all love the rhythm of a college football season. We love the routine, but 2020 has been anything but routine, as we all know. And something we’ve asked our players for is flexibility and adaptability … I would love to get into a routine for the next six or seven weeks … but at the same time I think we’re probably going to have more opportunities where we’ve gotta be flexible.” – Mike Bloomgren on the unexpected schedule change

“We’ve been in the system — this is our third year — now it’s just like riding a bike … They’re great young men. They have great balance on and off the field and when we come in here it’s just football.” – Defensive line coach Cedric Calhoun on the improvements this year

I know that we’ve been really efficient on first and second down and then that’s allowed us to be really efficient on third down. I think it’s been a really notable thing from this season. We’ve had a couple third and shorts that we converted on. It’s something we take a lot of pride in. But I also think what you’re seeing is that we’re finding ourselves being pretty dang dynamic, because we’re being so efficient on first and second down… if we do our job up front, this offense is really going to shine.” – Sanders Davis on the overall – on the growth of the offense

Giving some love to the offensive line

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Rice Football 2020: Post Southern Miss presser and practice notes

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There’s a lot going on in the world of Rice football. Here’s a rundown of the weekly press conference and an update from practice headed into the UTSA game.

The season is back in full swing and we’ve got a full slate of Rice football updates on deck for everyone this week. I’ll include a few snippets from today’s press conference here as well as updates from practice on Monday. The players were off on Tuesday for the Election.

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Press conference notes and quotes

Head coach Mike Bloomgren did note a few players of the week following the victory:

  • Defensive Player of the Game – Chike Anigbogu
  • Offensive Player of the Game – Austin Trammell
  • Special Teams Player of the Game – Charlie Mendes
  • Offense Scout Team Player of the Week – Caleb James
  • Defense Scout Team Player of the Week – TJ McMahon
  • Special Teams Player of the Week – Terreance Ellis

“Anytime you are giving up big plays the way we did in the first game, that’s never a good thing. I think we talked a lot about eliminating the big plays, keeping it in front of us, and I think the guys got the message and we played a lot better in those critical situations at the end of the half and on third down.” – Brian Smith on the what the defense did differently from game one to game two

It felt good to get a win, it really did. It felt great to get a win on Saturday. An incredible effort from start to finish from our guys. I think, really the opening kickoff all the way through the fourth quarter you saw a lot of strain, a lot of physicality. And I can’t say enough about how proud I am of that team for continuing to work the way they did.” – Bloomgren on the Owls’ first win of 2020

“Mike [Collins] is the biggest change. It’s the best play we’ve had out of a quarterback in our time here… Mike is changing the game for our football team. He’s giving everybody a chance to showcase their talent. And it sure doesn’t hurt that the offensive line and the blocking unit is giving him time as well. Everything’s working together, but if I were to identify one change, so far, it would be Mike Collins.” – Bloomgren on the biggest change in the offense from last year to this year

“Two games in, we’re in a good spot… I just don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves I think we’ve got so much we can improve on right now. Yes, we’re better, but that was a pretty low bar. I want to see how good this offense can perform.” – Bloomgren on how the offense meets his expectations

Practice updates and Southern Miss takeaways

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Rice Football 2020 Practice Notes: Breaking down the wide receivers

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The Rice football receiving corps is running low on bodies. How will the Owls move forward and who will take the field against Southern Miss?

I was paying close attention to the wide receivers at practice this week and had some time to catch up with Rice football wide receivers coach Mike Kershaw. Between the injuries Rice had coming into the season opener against Middle Tennessee and the loss of a starter in the opener itself, the need for answers at the position has never been more pressing.

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Beyond the individuals, there’s also some insight below on the offense as a whole as a result of the thinned out receiving corps. How the Owls will line up against Southern Miss could be impacted by their limited numbers. If you’re looking for a deeper dive, I dug into the reasons I believe the offensive uptick can continue despite the injuries in this month’s All-American Q&A.

And then there were five…

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