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Rice Football: What we know about the Owls quarterback battle

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Rice football is back on the practice field and, once again, the Owls are holding auditions for their starting quarterback job. Here’s the latest entering camp.

What do we know?

The Rice football staff kept things close to the vest when it came to selecting a starting quarterback last season. Vanderbilt transfer Shawn Stankavage wasn’t officially named the starter until after the season had begun and he’d led the team to their first victory. The players in the mix for the 2019 job are different, but the staff intends to approach things the same way.

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Bloomgren refused to rule anyone out by name at the start of fall camp, saying “They all bring something to the table. It’ll be interesting to see how this thing unfolds. We’re going to give them really good chances to get reps with the first group.”

When pressed on who was going to get those chances, Bloomgren highlighted incumbent starter Wiley Green as well as Evan Marshman and incoming grad transfer Tom Stewart from Harvard. Those were the three who took reps with the first team out of the gate. That’s the pool the staff is looking for to start the season opener against Army. Sort of.

Who is Jovoni Johnson?

Johnson was the only quarterback Rice signed in the 2019 class. He’s got a long way to go to learn the offense, but he’s done everything he can since arriving on campus. Quarterbacks coach Robbie Picazo called him “a special, special human being and a great leader that guys really gravitate to.” Bloomgren said he was “seemingly special” and a phenomenal athlete with “a howitzer for an arm.”

That leads to excitement. From what I’m hearing, no member of the incoming class has been more impressive since arriving on campus than Johnson. But, we’re just days into fall camp.

Read more about each of the Owls’ quarterbacks in our 2019 Rice Football Season Preview

Green, who won the starting job at the end of last season, didn’t appear in a game until late October. His hindrance wasn’t ability — the staff always believed in that aspect of his game — but rater his ability to process and work through the offense.

“This is a complex offense for the quarterback,” Picazo said, “We put a lot on their plate which I think is outstanding, but it does mean there’s a learning curve.”

More than likely we’ll continue to hear a lot about Johnson as camp progresses. As of right now, though, I’d peg his chances of winning the starting job in August at 5 percent. That’s not because he’s not talented enough to do so, but because of that learning curve and the significant head start of the veterans competing with him. It’s a situation to monitor. Things could change by the time October arrives.

Who is Tom Stewart?

Stewart was the offensive MVP for Harvard last season, an offense which included a host of talented playmakers. Now he’s looking to follow in the footsteps of Shawn Stankavage and win the Rice job in his lone season on campus. He’s got work to do before he achieves that goal.

“I’m just trying to take that one day at a time,” he said after the first practice session. “Today was kind of humbling, getting back on the field.” Stewart broke his foot in the offseason. He doesn’t show any signs of wear now, but the long road back to recovery has been challenging.

He’s going to have his work cut out for him, but it’s too early to rule him out of the competition yet. The coaching staff is just now getting their first looks at him in person and evaluating what he could bring to the offense.

Stewart is confident, but at the end of the day, he wants to make the team better however he can. “I think we’re all naturally competitive guys. We’re all college quarterbacks. We all want to be the best we can be and having a high standard in that room makes everyone better,” he said. “I think all of us approach it the right way and we’re just really focused on making the team better.”

What happens next?

Bloomgren summed up the battle with his trademarked one-liner: “It’s going to be a meritocracy”. That comes as no surprise. I’d be surprised if we get a clear indicator from the coaching staff any time soon. Until then, we’ll keep you posted as this battle continues into camp.

If the Owls had to play a game tomorrow, this is how the depth chart would most likely look:

  1. Green
  2. Stewart
  3. Marshman
  4. Towns
  5. Johnson

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Rice Football: Early Takeaways from Day 1 of Fall Camp (8/1)

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The first Rice football practice of fall camp is in the books. The Owls had plenty of energy as they flew around the field at Rice Stadium.

The first day of fall camp is in the books. It’s way too early to make any critical observations, but this is the time to offer some guiding thoughts as camp continues to progress. Bloomgren was the first to offer a definitive statement about his teams’ progress to this point. “Today, I got to see a much better product than I did on Day 1 last year in training camp. It’s what we expected, but it’s great to see it,” he said following the conclusion of the Owls’ first practice.

In addition to the overarching positivity, Bloomgren offered a few things he wanted the team to achieve. He set success as the point when the team is “handling their if/then functions” and is able “to make those processes happen even faster.” That’s going to take time, but we’ve got a long way to go before the team kicks off against Army at the end of August.

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1. The freshmen look the part

The new additions to the program all seem to be the kind of “first off the bus” guys, the kind of players who seem to belong on the college field from the start. Guys like Jake Bailey, who battled through multiple vomiting incidents and stayed on the field, learning and cheering on his teammates. Like De’Braylon Carroll who looks like a tank plowing through the line. Like Jovoni Johnson who looked every bit as comfortable in the offense as the vets running drills alongside him.

Several freshmen flashed, making plays throughout practice. The depth chart is more firm entering this season than it was last year, but a few newcomers might force their way into playing time sooner than later. Many are a step ahead of where some of their predecessors were at this point last year — and that class was full of talented players, too.”

2. The wide receiving corps sans Aaron Cephus

There was no sign of Cephus at practice. When asked about Cephus’ status, Bloomgren was mum:

As mentioned in Episode 1 of The Roost Podcast and in our updated 2019 Rice Football Season Preview, August Pitre III was the first man up to fill the open spot on the first team. He, Austin Trammell and Brad Rozner took the majority of the reps with the starters. Behind them, Zane Knipe, Jake Bailey and Chris Boudreaux worked with the twos.

3. Plenty of experienced hands

This team is still going to be young, but there was a noticeable infusion of experienced talent that flashed on the field. Harvard transfers Tom Stewart (quarterback) and Charlie Booker (running back) and Stanford transfers Reagan Williams (fullback) and Brian Chaffin (offensive line) spent time working with the first team. So too did JUCO additions Nick Leverett (offensive line), Naeem Smith (safety) and Rozner (wide receiver).

When asked about his impressions of the first day, Chaffin was all smiles. “I thought it was a great day one,” he said, “It was good to be back on the field.”

Chaffin is one of two transfers who were recruited by Bloomgren at Stanford. His decision to follow his former coach to Houston and help him rebuild Rice seems to already be paying meaningful dividends. Chaffin called the opportunity “a huge honor” adding his endorsement of what the Owls are building. “I think this place is the same model as Stanford. You got great kids, hard working kids who want to do great things on the field and in the classroom. I think that model can happen here… It’s the same mold. We can definitely do big things here. It’s headed in the right direction.”

4. Way too early starters

An official depth chart hasn’t been released yet, but here’s how the first team looked like on both sides of the ball today:

Offense

QB| Green
RB | Otoviano/Booker
TE | Bull
FB | Williams
WR | Trammell, Rozner, Pitre
OL | Servin, Leverett, Baker, Garcia, Osuji

Defense

DL | Orji, Garcia, My. Adams, Schuman
LB | Alldredge, Montero
CB | Ellis, Bird
Saf | Nyakwol, Calderon, Chamberlain (Viper)

All practice updates will be available for all to see during fall camp. Once the regular season starts they’ll be reserved for members. Becoming a member is 100% FREE and takes 30 seconds. You can register here.

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Rice Football: Note from first day of spring practice

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Rice football returned to practice for the first of several weeks of spring ball. Here are a few notes from the Owls’ first day back on the grass.

First off, it might not be purely football related, but Antonio Montero was wearing short sleeves and shorts in 40-degree weather. The Minnesota native was giving his more southern teammates a hard time.

1. Position changes, notes

  • Cam Montgomery is at running back.
  • Sam Glaesmann remains at wide receiver
  • Cameron Valentine moves to nose tackle
  • D’Angelo Ellis at corner, not listed on the offensive depth chart
  • Cole Garcia and Nick Leverett only players listed as starters with no backup on the two-deep

2. Offensive line and running backs

Juma Otoviano, Aston Walter and Cam Montgomery all had explosive plays during practice, bursting through big holes and accelerating downfield. That’s a credit to their speed, but also because of a more physical offensive line. JUCO transfer Nick Leverett is entrenched along the right side, most likely at right guard. Clay Servin looks like the real deal at left tackle.

Nashon Ellerbe missed most of last season with a nagging lower-body injury. He doesn’t appear to be 100 percent this spring. With Jawan King on his way, he’ll have to battle to get meaningful minutes.

3. All three JUCO transfers flash

In addition to Leverett, Naeem Smith and Bradley Rozner both made a few nice plays on their respective sides of the ball. Smith won the offseason conditioning program and has drawn rave reviews from several coaches all spring. Rozner made an impressive athletic catch down the sideline and seems to be slotting in well on the outside.

4. Quarterback remains a wait and see

Wiley Green will enter spring as the QB1 with Evan Marshman his primary competition. We really won’t know for sure if Green has secured the starting job before grad transfer Tom Stewart and freshman Jovoni Johnson get to campus later this summer. Still, Green threw some nice balls and made a few plays with his legs on Monday.

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Retooling the offense, practice notes (11/15)

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Rice football is going to need to pull out the whole bag of tricks if they want to beat the LSU Tigers on the road, and that starts at practice.

In a season full of silver linings, the offensive adjustments and changes have been encouraging to see in practice over the last few weeks. The team isn’t sticking to the same ‘ol, same ‘ol, rather they’re adapting and adding to their repertoire week after week.

That was evident with their insertion of D’Angelo Ellis at wide receiver and the incorporation of Aston Walter in the running game, allowing Austin Walter to be split out wide. There were more wrinkles put into the gameplan for LSU this week, several of which the Owls haven’t put on tape at all this year.

There will be a few trick plays up Mike Bloomgren’s sleave, but most of the additions are schemes and plays designed to maximize the opportunities for the Owls to break big plays.

Looking for the fourth option in the passing game

Three different pass catchers — Austin Trammell, Aaron Cephus and Austin Walter — have caught 72.8 percent of the Owls’ passes this season. That speaks to the reliability of each of those players, but also the void that exists elsewhere in the offense.

None of the tight ends have really made their presence felt yet and the high hopes the coaching staff had for receiver Brendan Harmon have been put on hold via injury. D’Angelo Ellis has begun to play the lion’s share of reps on the outside and Jordan Myers is settling into the primary tight end role. Both had flashes during practice on Thursday, but someone is going to have to step up and help quarterback Shawn Stankavage.

All-Academic teams announced

Bloomgren recognized both Jorian Clark and Parker Hanusa who were named Google Cloud Academic All-District 7 team. Those selections were made by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

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Adjustments on offense, practice notes (11/12)

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Rice football went back to work on a wet and cold Monday evening, working as hard as ever to play LSU in Week 12.

It was 45 degrees, raining and all around ugly outside. The Rice football team showed up and they worked. Head coach Mike Bloomgren has made the promise week in and week out that his team would put in the effort to get better. On an evening when they could have done the bare minimum they ground it out til the final whistle.

There are no participation trophies for good days of practice and this team is through with moral victories. Still, they keep showing up and putting in the work. That’s the mark of a culture shift that will hopefully lead to results on the field soon enough.

How many more quarterback can the Owls play?

Seeing Shawn Stankavage back at the helm of the Rice offense was a return to business as usual. Parker Towns being the next signal caller brought into the game was an unexpected curveball. He completed 1-of-3 passes for 10 yards and picked up 10 yards on the ground on two carries.

Quarterbacks coach Robbie Picazo said the insertion of Picazo into the offense was sparked by Evan Marshman‘s success in the run game. Having that dimension in the arsenal was something the staff liked and Towns did enough during practice to earn the shot at his own package on Saturday.

If the Owls did need to turn to a backup at quarterback behind Stankavage, Jackson Tyner is still expected to be the next man up. Picazo said Towns is “doing a really good job wholeheartedly attacking the package we give him” and they’re not going to put too much on his plate just yet.

Aston Walter seized his chance

Another somewhat unexpected development from the Louisiana Tech game was the career-high in carries for Aston Walter. Taking over the lead back duties for his brother Austin Walter, Aston started the game and led the team in carries with 17. Juma Otoviano, the Owls’ wildcat quarterback had four rushes and Austin didn’t carry the ball at all.

The driver for Aston’s uptick in work was his dependability. Running backs coach Drew Svoboda used that word multiple times to describe Aston’s reliability and role in the offense. “He’s been a guy that’s always been there and been ready when called upon,” Svoboda said, “He got a little bit more opportunity and he took it and ran with it.”

Putting Aston on the field at running back lets the staff move Austin to the slot, a position he’s more comfortable with and can play extremely effectively.

More young guns

With two games remaining on the season the opportunity to give younger players more reps and maintain their redshirt is being evaluated by the staff. If there is an opportunity to give some freshman and lesser-utilized players a look in the LSU game there could be several Owls that get increased minutes.

Freshman corner Andrew Bird figures to be near the top of the list of newcomers. He hasn’t seen game action yet this season and participated with the second team some during practice. Sophomore linebacker Garrett Grammer has seen brief playing time on the field this season but has the potential to get an extended look against LSU.

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