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Quarterback depth chart, practice update (10/15)

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Rice football returned to practice on Monday with plenty to work on following the Owls loss to UAB plus a quarterback position up in the air.

Starting quarterback Shawn Stankavage was initially diagnosed with a high ankle sprain and underwent an MRI this weekend. The results are pending, and while he has not yet been officially ruled out, he is not expected to be available for the Owls’ upcoming game against FIU.

Stankavage left the UAB game with the injury midway through the second quarter. Redshirt freshman Evan Marshman replaced him and fared no better moving the ball down the field. Stakavage spent practice sidelined with a walking boot while Marshmann and true freshman Wiley Green worked with the first team offense in his place.

Jackson Tyner practiced with the second team offense. Bloomgen had said he would reopen the backup quarterback job prior to Stankavage’s injury. That has this case, but at this time all signs point to both Marshman and Green being ahead of Tyner. One of those two will be in line to make his first career start Saturday on the road.

Green had a strong fall camp and continues to play well in practice. He was considered to be a prime candidate for the newly instituted redshirt rule that allows players to play four games without forfeiting a year of eligibility. Bloomgren is going to do whatever it takes to win Saturday, so don’t expect to see a potential redshirt play a meaningful role in the decision making process.

Special teams

The first drills of practice focused on special teams. Even though Jack Fox racked up punt yardage in bunches the unit was far from excellent against UAB.

The most glaring issue came on a blocked up, recovered by UAB for a touchdown. That’s exactly where the team started, address any protection issues to ensure that doesn’t happen again.

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Owls defense looks to build on promising showing against UTSA

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Rice football is on to Week 7. The loss to UTSA was tough to swallow, but the Owls defense has plenty to be happy about moving forward.

Lost in the midst of a negative result for the Owls against UTSA was a defensive awakening. It’s true the Roadrunners don’t pack the same punch on that side of the ball as some of the others teams the Owls have faced so far. Still, the results speak for themselves.

The UTSA offense tallied 178 total yards, was 5-for-16 on third down, averaged 3.6 yards per carry and 2.0 yards per pass attempt. With the exception of a few short-field points, the Rice defense was nearly perfect, allowing one sustained scoring drive in 60 minutes, which ended in a field goal.

The UTSA offense ranks near the cellar of most metrics. The Rice defense needed to prove they could silence a mediocre unit, and they did.

Assessing the results

Defensive coordinator Brian Smith was pleased with how his unit played, but knows they have a lot of work left to do on both sides of the ball. Even with the step forward against UTSA, the defense was back to what Smith dubbed the fundamentals on Monday – tackling, running to the football, getting off of blocks and footwork.

According to Smith, there was no switch flipped before the game or any secret sauce. His defense just came out and played sound fundamental football. “Guys have been in position to make plays, but we haven’t made them. That was the biggest difference between this week and previous weeks. The guys in position to make the plays actually made the plays.”

One of those guys that made the biggest plays was redshirt junior cornerback Justin Bickham. He led the team with three pass breakups and was critical in the secondary’s first shutout of the season. Rice allowed 43 yards through the air and zero passing touchdowns. Bickham had a hand in that, swatting away and endzone target and locking down his side of the field.

“We put our corners in tough positions,” said Smith, “[The corners] are a key to the success of this defense. If they hold up outside if gives us the freedom to do a lot of different things up front to make us more successful.”

That success was evident, and it’s a building block for this unit moving forward. “At the end of the day, it’s all about winning and losing,” Smith concluded. “If we don’t win none of the other stats matter.” In one important sense, he’s right. This team and coaching staff will be judged on wins and losses. As for incremental progress, this unit took a significant step forward on Saturday.

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Two freshmen break through defensive depth chart, Practice notes (10/4)

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Rice football is getting younger. Freshman linebacker Antonio Montero and safety Prudy Calderon are set to start on defense against UTSA.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren has been adamant that every player on this team has to earn the right to be on the field. Only a few young players have done that so far, but the starting units are getting younger, a trend that is likely to strengthen in the coming weeks.

Linebacker Antonio Montero and wide receiver Brendan Harmon became the first true freshman to start a game for the Owls in 2018, suiting up with the first team against Wake Forest in Week 5. They follow a pair of redshirt freshmen, cornerback Tyrae Thornton and receiver Rhett Cardwell each of whom have drawn spot starts earlier this year.

Montero credits his insertion into the starting lineup with the tremendous progress he’s made since the start of fall camp. “I’m playing a lot faster and more physical,” he said, “I’ve been getting a lot better with the mental aspect of the game, too.” He’s not alone, joining him and the other starters on defense in Week 6 against UTSA will be his roommate, safety Prudy Calderdon.

This will be Calderon’s first start of his collegiate career. He will be the 17th different Rice player making their first career start so far in 2018. Getting this opportunity required work, and Calderdon says he knows it’s going to have to continue to push himself if he wants to maintain his starting job going forward. “I can’t slack off for one second. This makes me want to go even harder now knowing what’s on the line,” they young safety declared, adding “I just have to go out and prove myself.”

Special teams

Special teams continue to get plenty of emphasis during practice. One of the few things the Owls’ highly ranked unit hasn’t accomplished so far is a kick return touchdown. Austin Walter and Austin Trammell have solidified themselves on the first team with Nashon Ellerbee and Aston Walter backing them up. That’s a lot of speed and quickness. Sooner or later, one of them is going to take one to the house.

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Potential depth chart changes, practice notes (10/1)

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Rice football returns to conference play against UTSA in Week 6. Recent results should play an impact in which players see the most of the field against the Roadrunners.

As of Monday, there were no official changes to the starters on either side of the ball. But, that doesn’t mean new faces won’t be involved against UTSA on Saturday. Prudy Calderon has seen an uptick in time with the first team and could push for a starting spot in the coming weeks.

Mike Bloomgren directly made mention of left guard Cole Garcia and fullback Gio Gentossi. Garcia is challenging Jack Greene along the interior of the offensive line whereas Gentossi. Gentossi is in the mix with several guys at fullback and tight end has seen some playing time this year. The injury to Jordan Meyers has opened up more opportunities for him, and he’s taken advantage of those. He’s another guy that will continue to see more snaps.

Outside of those areas, I don’t expect to see many wholesale changes against UTSA. Antonio Montero, Kebreyun Page and Jason White are a few guys to keep an eye on for down the road.

Bloomgren says the goal of opening up position battles during the season is to “make people the best version of themselves” and “get everyone else to play at the level of our leaders.” Competition makes everyone better, and this team still has plenty of room for improvement.

Senior linebacker Martin Nwakamma echoed the need for improvement and thinks the team is headed in the right direction. As one of the teams eldest members, Nwakamma would know as well as anyone what progress looks like. He said there was “no silver bullet”, but he could see things like turnovers and big plays begin to happen more frequently when the team studied and executed the gameplan more carefully.

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Owls to focus on themselves, Practice notes (9/24)

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Focus was the mantra of Rice football practice on Monday. After a disappointing performance against Southern Miss the Owls are ready to make some changes.

“The only thing you can do in a situation like this is work, so we’re just going to get to work and do everything we can do to fix it and not have that kind of result again.” That was offensive lineman Sam Pierce’s purposeful remarks on Monday following the Owls’ disheartening loss to Southern Miss. The team came out strong but didn’t punch back with the same verve that kept them in games against Houston and Hawaii well into the fourth quarter.

The same refrain was echoed by the rest of the offense, who went three-and-out for times against the Eagles. “If everything is going well, we put our head down and continue to work. If everything is going bad, we put our head down and continue to work,” said lead running back Emmanuel Esukpa, “We just have to continue to work and focus and it will turn around.”

The change in effort was noticeable. Aaron Cephus was vocal during drills, coaching up the younger receivers. Shawn Stankavage was dialoguing with his coaches, working with a concerted effort to get better. This team knows they can play better, and their performance against Southern Miss wasn’t up to their own standards.

Offense

Aaron Cephus continues to develop as a pass catcher. The raw physical tools have always been there, but now we’re starting to see them put to use. He’s grabbed hold of Intellectual Brutality and tailed his game to match that theme.

That was put on display Saturday when Cephus pulled in not one, but two goal line touchdowns. The first multi-touchdown performance of his career, he’s working to make sure it’s not his last. He’s gotten much better at attacking the football in the air and has learned how to position his body to keep defenders away from the football. With a 6-foot-4 frame, boxing out most of the corners he’ll see in Conference USA should be easy work.

Along the offensive line, the focus of the day was unity. “If we’re all five working together we’ll be fine. We just have to get on the same page, communicate and work within ourselves and do what we know what we can do,” declared Sam Pierce, who went on to remark he’s seen the progress made by the younger players.

Only a few freshmen have played key roles on the team thus far, something that could change going forward as the newcomers continue to adapt to the college game. That’s something to monitor on both sides of the ball going forward.

Defense

I delved into the good and bad of the secondary in the Southern Miss post-game recap. A bright spot for the Owls against Southern Miss and again at practice on Monday was linebacker Blaze Alldredge. Playing in place of veteran Dylan Silcox, out sick on Saturday, Aldredge stepped in front of a Jack Abraham pass, registering the Owls’ first interception of the young season.

Alldredge was at it again in practice, tipping a pass over the middle into the air and watching it fall into the open arms of one of his teammates who raced back the other way with an interception. The defense tallied a few interceptions, a positive sign that that unit is working to become more opportunistic in the coming games.

 Injuries

  • LB Dylan Silcox – Questionable to play against Wake Forest. Bloomgren is “hopeful”, but Silcox has yet to be cleared
  • TE Jordan Myers – Injured shoulder against Southern Miss. No further information at this time.
  • WR Cam Montgomery – Sidelined this fall with a back injury. He remains “out for the foreseeable future”
  • CB D’Angelo Ellis – Ellis returned to practice in non-contact jersey, actively participating in team drills with the defense. He’s not been cleared by doctors and still has a ways to go, but getting him back on the field was a positive first step.
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