Next up for Rice football, a road game against South Florida. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.
Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped the North Texas game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with South Florida.
We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:
Press Conference Quotes
We’re still learning how to handle the ebb and flow of a game. Offensively, I’ll speak on that because I think both sides handle things differently. Offensively when the rollercoaster goes downhill and a drive stalls, we let that impact us mentally more than we should. That is why I say I think we held ourselves back offensively Saturday and the key is not to do that this week. The key is we need to make them defend all parts of the offense. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the growth of the offense
We’ve played an incredible schedule. We don’t go into this game intimidated. It’s just to me, we’re playing another Top 25 caliber program. I can list them all. We start Louisiana at the beginning of the year was being touted as a top 30 program to UConn, to Memphis, to North Texas and now here we go to South Florida. We’ve been battle tested and I’m excited now to see, here we are game 12, playing for the opportunity to go to a bowl game and what will we learn from all those tests throughout the year.” Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on being battle tested
I do think one of the differences will be, they have one of the best players in the country at quarterback. What makes him so dangerous in who he is is his ability to hurt you with his legs and his arm. That’s different than last week. Last week, very comfortable just standing in the pocket and getting rid of it quick. No really quarterback run game. This week it’ll be more quarterback run game and the passing game probably isn’t that diverse, not quite as exotic, because of the quarterback run game with that and to me, that’s the key. We need to make them one-handed on that side of the football. To do that, you’ve got to control the line of scrimmage and you’ve got to tackle him well, which is a really big challenge, but that’s our challenge.- Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the USF offense
Putting it all together, man, what an opportunity for us. I think if we can do that – and we’re better in a lot of areas than we were week one, we’ve grown so much, but then there’s some areas because of injuries or season and stuff that we’re still trying to search for answers for – but if we can put it all together, man, what an exciting Saturday. We want to make them uncomfortable. WE want to get them in the fourth quarter. And that opportunity is there if we can now establish ourselves, play four really good quarters of football in all phases. And that’s what it’s going to take. We’ve seen all phases be really good this year. It would be nice and it would be imperative for all of our three phases to be in sync, play quality football at the same time Saturday in South Florida. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what it will take to win on Saturday
Everything jumps out. They’re flaying to the ball. They’re playing for each other. They’re playing with a lot of pride. They’re still trying to fight for a conference championship, so you see the effort out there, it jumps out. They’re front seven is good. DBs can run. They can tackle as well. I think for us, it’s just going out there like every week, matching their intensity, matching their physicality. But they’re a good team. They’re still fighting for a conference championship and even the College Football Playoff so we know we’re going to get their best effort. We gotta go out there and play our game, like we did last week but we gotta take the punches and we gotta throw punches back. – Running back Quinton Jackson on USF
He’s really able to use his legs really well so we just wanna focus on containing the quarterback, pressing the pocket and just making throws difficult for him because we know he’s a dual threat. We want to make sure that he doesn’t affect the game with his legs. – Defensive lineman Tony Anyanwu on USF QB Byrum Brown
Full Press Conference
Depth Chart
Depth Chart Notes
There was one change to the depth chart this week, the removal of Braylen Walker. As The Roost reported last week, Walker was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, so this change was not unexpected and is more reflective of how that room has looked over the course of the last several weeks.
Any other adjustments will likely be injury-related or driven by the subtle schematic shifts the Owls employ for this game. We’ll cover those in depth on this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon, which should be out later this week.
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.
Next up for Rice football, a home game against North Texas. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.
Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped the UAB game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with North Texas.
We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:
Press Conference Quotes
The advantage we got in this bye week compared to the first one is that we were healthier going into it. The first bye week, three weeks ago now, it became more how do we catch our young football players up? How do we manage the roster to try and get ourselves healthy to head into the back half of the season? This time we hit the bye week, we were fairly healthy, so we could grow in the bye week. We could really take a hard look at what we’re doing. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the bye week
I see a football program, they’re playing with a ton of confidence. Incredibly skilled on both sides of the football. They recruited players that fit their scheme… and here they are now, they’re playing as good of football as anybody we’ve played all year.”– Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the UNT program
They’re very opportunistic. They’ve forced 24 turnovers on the year, defensively. We need to take care of the football. That’s been a secret sauce that probably doesn’t get talked about. Their offense overshadows their defense but their defense has 24 takeaways on the year. That makes every offense better. That makes every program better. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the North Texas defense
[QB Drew Mestemaker and RB Caleb Hawkins are] just two really talented people. When I look at their offensive roster, you gotta talk about [Wyatt] Young, right? He’s a deep ball threat. He’s incredibly athletic and really fast. They find really creative ways to get him the football… they give you a lot to defend. Mestemaker, he does a really good job of getting the football to all of his athletes. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the North Texas skill players
My time at Rice has been unbelievable. It’s taught me so many lessons. I’ve been through so many trials and tribulations and those trials and tribulations ultimately got me to where I am today. Without God, I wouldn’t be here standing at this podium right now. If you would have told me two years ago you would be standing here, you would be a captain of the Rice football team, I would have said, you’re a liar. Because of God and because of people that he brought to my life like coach Abell I’m able to stand at this podium right now and be a captain of this Rice football team. – Tight End Micah Barnett on his time at Rice
They do have a good quarterback They’ve got a pretty good running back as well. I just feel like they all complement each other very well. In some offense you see some groups doing better than others and some not, but I feel these are very well put together team, a very experienced team. I feel they all mesh together as a unit and come together very well. – Defensive lineman Blake Boenisch on the North Texas offense
Full Press Conference
Depth Chart
Depth Chart Notes
There were two minor changes to the depth chart this week, both accounting for injuries that were preexisting before the Rice football bye week. Tackle Brad Baur was removed with freshman Justin Michaelis inserted in his stead. On defense, Daveon Hook was removed with Jack Kane sliding up and Bailey Fletcher re-enntering the two deep behind him.
Any other adjustments will likely be injury-related or driven by the subtle schematic shifts the Owls employ for this game. We’ll cover those in depth on this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon, which should be out later this week.
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.
Next up for Rice football, a home game against UAB. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.
Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped the Memphis game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with UAB.
We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:
Press Conference Quotes
We’re looking at everything from, what’s our Saturday morning schedule to what is our Friday evening schedule with our guys to what is our pre-game schedule? To what music are we warming up to? We are really tackling every possible thing that we have control over so we can get out the gate a little better. Because that’s been a common theme. I’ve stood here before and said we’ve played some really good football after the first quarter. This is not the first time I’ve said that. Some of that is our opponents and some of it is ourselves. So what can we control? – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on getting the team to start faster
He gives them the ability to expand their running game and still keep the pass game concepts that they’ve worked hard on in place. I think he’s a little more mobile. I think he makes plays with his feet. He improvises. I think that’s a challenge for your defense that maybe you don’t get that full range with the other two guys. I think he gives them a well-rounded picture of being more balanced and getting a run game going because I think they have some talented running backs. I’m not surprised that he got most of the snaps last week. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on UAB quarterback Ryder Burton
We gotta control the line of scrimmage. We gotta start fast. You’ve heard me talk about that a lot these last couple weeks. We gotta find a way that when that clock starts that we’re ready to roll and play our best football and then maintain that. The third thing for me, we’ve got to generate some turnovers and we have to protect the ball. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on keys to victory over UAB
Our mindset is to go 1-0 each week. I feel like if we keep that mindset and block out any external noise, anything like that, just keep our head down and work, we’ll be happy with the result, come Saturday. – Quarterback Chase Jenkins on the team’s mindset right now
They have good athletes all over the place, some really good athletes at receiver. … I think they’ve got some good backs. On the quarterback side, they have two guys that can go in there and get the job done. Like I said before, we can’t take any position, any situation lightly and I think they’ll be ready to come out here and compete. – Safety Marcus Williams on the UAB offense
Full Press Conference
Depth Chart
Depth Chart Notes
There weren’t any major changes to the depth chart this week, just one change of any kind, actually. Semaj Pierre has moved in front of Landon Ransom. Any other adjustments will likely be injury related or driven by the subtle schematic shifts the Owls employ for this game. We’ll cover those in depth on this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon, which should be out later this week.
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.
Next up for Rice football, a home game against Memphis. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.
Head coach Scott Abell and a set of players met with the media for their customary weekly availability. They recapped the UConn game and looked ahead at their upcoming matchup with Memphis.
We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:
Press Conference Quotes
I think it’s much needed when you play your best opponents. You want to go into your Saturdays against your best opponents with momentum and confidence, and that we have coming out of Saturday. And we’ll need that. This is a Top 25 team and we’ll need to play with confidence. We’ll need to carry over that momentum from last Saturday into this week. That’s going to be important. It also enables us to be able to grow. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the confidence the program gained from the UConn win
They’re a complete football team. And for me, it starts in two areas. They run the ball really well and they defend the run really well. I think whenever you do that, you give your program a chance to win a lot of football games, and they’ve done that. They’re an established program. Coach Silverfield has done a fabulous job. He’s the a longstanding standing coach in our conference, and he’s won a ton of games. There’s a lot of 10 winning seasons around him. The formula of running the football, establishing a run game, defending the run. Once again, it’s not sexy out there when you talk about it, but it gives your program a chance to win a lot of football games and he’s done that. That’s what jumps off the tape to me. They’re very well-rounded. They good in every phase, but they do a great job of defending the run, and they do a really nice job of running the football. They can put points up, but they do a really nice job of running the football. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what Memphis does well
They have designed runs for him. They have some read schemes for him as well, and he’ll take off in their passing game. And when they’ve done that, that’s probably to me when they’re most dangerous, because it forces you to get an extra hat to the game. If you’re gonna put your quarterback in a running situation, you gotta defend that a little bit different. They’re getting the running back involved in their blocking scheme somehow, someway. I think that’s a different challenge for our defense. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on Memphis QB Brendon Lewis
We’re going to have to be great tacklers. We’re going to have to be physical up front and we’re going to have to limit the big play. To me, that’s the key to [Friday]. How do we limit explosive plays? And can we control the football, can we control the tempo and the pace of this game? And I think they want to do the same. –Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the keys to beating Memphis
I feel like this Rice team, they’re playing like we got something to prove. The schedule right now, we’re blessed with having four straight home games. We don’t got to go nowhere. This is where we live at, we eat at, we sleep at, we breathe. Just being here and just planting our flag in the middle of the field and saying, whoever comes, they gotta come through us. I feel like we’re taking that personal. We don’t want to let nobody walk into our house and just do whatever they want, take whatever they want. It’s really a big pride thing. You can just see it. Guys in the weight room, guys on the practice field, guys are going harder. We only get one shot. Especially at a great team like this, you only get one shot. No second chances. – Safety Plae Wyatt on the program’s mentality heading into the Memphis game
Full Press Conference
Depth Chart
Depth Chart Notes
There is only one change to the official two-deep this week: John Long has been added back to the depth chart. He’s been out the last couple of weeks and his reinsertion points towards him being available on Friday. We’ll dig into that, as well the status of others like Braylen Walker who missed the UConn game in this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon, which should be out later this week.
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.
Next up for Rice football, a home game against UConn. Here’s what head coach Scott Abell had to say about the matchup and a few depth chart notes.
Head coach Scott Abell, this time with no players alongside him, met with the media for his customary weekly availability. He recapped the UTSA game and the bye week before looking ahead at the Owls’ upcoming matchup with UConn.
We touch on those items, then dig into the Rice football depth chart and what the team looks like heading into the weekend. First, the quotes:
Press Conference Quotes
You got to tackle better. You got a block better. and those are two fundamental things of football that will never change. Those are things that we worked on the entire bye week as we prepared for our next opponent. we’ll really find out when we step on the field the next time if the work pays off. I’m going to tell you I’m really excited about the work that we got done. I anticipate that you’ll see a much different football team when we step on the field Saturday against UConn. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on what they team is taking away from the UTSA game
When you see them on film, they are a unit that, they know exactly who they are… They understand their scheme really well and they fit. Teams that want to be multiple have to fit. Because if you’re multiple, but yet you don’t fit, then you open yourself up. They fit really well with all their multiplicity and their blitz and stunt packages that they use with their front, their front six. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the UConn defense
He doesn’t make mistakes, takes care of the football. It’s what we all want our quarterbacks, no matter what system you run, you want to protect the football. [He] does a phenomenal job doing that. – Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on UConn quarterback Joe Fagnano
Without mentioning specific things right now, all of them have some type of day-to-day with whatever they’re dealing with underneath their name. Whatever that looks like, maybe it inhibits one of them from doing something, but another one can do something [else]. You could see multiple quarterbacks in a game because of what they’re capable of, health-wise. I won’t know that, probably until we get closer to the end of the week… PJ [Crayton] had stitches when he went out. He’s fully cleared. He’s one on the [depth] chart that really has no restrictions. Everyone else, we’re day-to-day. How close can we get them to full reps as we get to the weekend will probably determine who gets the nod and what set of schemes do they get the nod in. But we’ll be prepared. Whatever they’re capable of, we’ll figure out what they can do best. –Rice Football head coach Scott Abell on the state of the Owls’ quarterback room
Full Press Conference
Depth Chart
Depth Chart Notes
This week’s depth chart looks significantly different than it did heading into the bye week. At center David Stickle is listed for the first time since his injury. Netane Fehoko fills in for the spot vacated by John Long, who’s availability this week is uncertain. Also on offense, Landon Ransom-Goelz makes his first appearance since his injury several weeks ago and Semaj Pierre moves into the two-deep at slot.
The quarterback position doesn’t have any listed changes just yet, but Abell addressed the availability of those players specifically in his remarks above.
On defense, a healthy safety room moves Peyton Stevenson to Viper and Daveon Hook back to their starting free safety spots. At corner, the indefinite suspension of Khary Crump pushes Jerrick Harper into a potential starting spot ahead of Lavonte Johnson.
Whether or not all of these new faces will see action, how much they’ll be able to do and what additional permutations could happen — particularly at quarterback — will be addressed in this week’s practice report, available to those subscribed to our Starting Lineup Tier on Patreon. That will be published later in the week.
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.
