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Rice Football: 2020 Spring practice closing thoughts

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Rice Football snuck in six spring practices before they were canceled by Conference USA. Here are a few things we learned and questions still unanswered.

My notebook is an organized mess every time Rice football practice is underway. I have notes from each session I attend. Those range from individual moments that impressed me to far-reaching questions that I’ve yet to reach a conclusion. Sometimes coaches or players can shed light on my queries, other times they’re left to ruminate until next session, next week, or longer.

More: Erica Ogwumike talks end of season, Rice career on The Roost Podcast

Rice is fortunate they got to practice at all. Several Conference USA teams called off all sessions before they ever stepped foot on the field. There are a lot of question marks scribbled in the pages from the Owls’ six spring practice sessions. In this case, some clarity is better than none.

Depth Charts

I hesitate to put out defined depth charts, especially from spring ball. Players are cycling in and out, some are learning new positions. The alignment of the team on any one play varies tremendously. Starters are easier to determine. Backups are … well, an exercise best guessing. With that caveat, take these words as being scribed in pencil.

Rice Football First Team Offense

QB | Collins OR Johnson
RB | Otoviano
WR | Trammell, Rozner, Pitre
TE | Myers
OL | Servin (LT), Garcia OR Sheriff (LG), Klarkowski (C), Baker (RG), Woolford (RT)

Rice Football Second Team Offense

QB | McMahon
RB | Montgomery OR King
WR | Knipe, Bailey, Palmer
TE | Bull OR Bradley
OL | Ferraro (LT), Riddle (LG), Baker (C), Floyd (RG), Peterson (RT)

Offensive depth chart notes

I hate OR designations, but I really do believe there are several open spots on the offense right now. Quarterback is the most obvious. If Rice football had to play tomorrow, I’d bet Mike Collins is the guy, but it’s close. That’s not to say he stole the show this spring — he and JoVoni Johnson were both solid — but I like Collins’ combination of size and elusiveness. I’m still looking to see who can make more consistent plays downfield between those two. The more accurate passer could win the job in fall camp.

Cam Montgomery looks really good. Really good. Rice had a deep backfield last year and Montgomery fumbled away some of his opportunities, leaving him buried on the bench. He’s probably the fastest player on the team right now (or at least in the top five). He’ll be the third down and pass catching back. There’s plenty of room for Jawan King to carve out a role as well.

Not much changed on the pass catching front outside of some good plays from sophomore tight end Jack Bradley. He was on a very short list of true freshman that played every game. They’d like to see him more involved this year. August Pitre had a great showing, too. He was much more aggressive in the air, fighting for the football and winning one-one-one matchups.

On the offensive line, it’s encouraging to see Izeya Floyd running with the twos. So far, the transition seems to be going well. Klarkowski as the starting center surprised me a bit, but I attribute that more to the need for answers at guard. If someone emerges there, Baker more than likely moves back to center. JoVaun Woolford is an impressive human being. If he adds another 15 to 20 pounds this offseason he’s going to be a huge asset at the tackle spot.

Rice Football First Team Defense

DL | Schuman, Hubbard, Carrol, Orji
LB | Alldredge, Montero
CB | Devones, Thornton
Saf | Smith, Nyakwol, Chamberlain

Rice Football Second Team Defense

DL | Doddridge, Enechukwu, Garcia, Page
LB | Morrison, Grammer
CB | Bird, White
Saf | Calderon, Lockhart, Richardson

Defensive depth chart notes

The defense looks pretty cookie cutter from how Rice football ended last season. De’Braylon Carroll will slide up into a starting spot replacing the departing Myles Adams. Kenneth Orji will become the full-time man at rush end with Anthony Ekpe gone. The rest of the first team is essentially unchanged.

Myron Morrison has entrenched himself as a rotation player at linebacker. The coaches love his work ethic and he made several big plays this spring. He and Garrett Grammer will back up Antonio Montero and Blaze Alldredge.

There’s a pretty clear delineation from the first and second teams in the secondary, but the top 10 guys are solid. Rice is bringing in some talented playmakers in the secondary, but this shouldn’t be a situation where anyone is forced to play early from necessity. They’ll have to earn it, which they very well might do.

The defensive line is a spot to monitor. I loved what I saw from Kebreyun Page, and Ikenna Enechukwu has been steadily improving from last season until now. I’m not sure about the defensive end spot. Joshua Pearcy and Jacob Doddridge both took some time there during the spring.

Special Teams

There are a few certainties on special teams.

  1. Austin Trammell will be the punt returner
  2. Stanford transfer Collin Riccitelli will be the place kicker
  3. Charlie Mendes will be the punter
  4. Cam Riddle will be the long snapper

There really won’t be any competition whatsoever at those four spots. That leaves kickoffs and the holder as the only real question marks. Those auditions will continue into the fall.

Unanswered questions

1. Who is going to be the starting quarterback?

Collins and Johnson separated themselves this spring, but neither “seized the job” as coach Bloomgren has often wished of his quarterbacks. They’re both great on the ground with Collins getting a slight edge because of his size. Johnson may not be injury prone, but he’s slimmer and did get forced out of his start against Marshall last year with an injury. I still think we could have one guy before the season opener, but don’t expect the competition closed before a week or two of fall camp.

2. Which offense will Rice run?

The way Rice lined up against Army was night and day different from how they played against Middle Tennessee. Bloomgren will stick to his guns and run the football, but he’s not going to discount the success they found through the air. The offensive line might be the key determinant in how Rice attacks on offense. But we still don’t know how that unit will be pieced together quite yet.

3. Where are the gaps that incoming players need to fill?

In previous springs, it’s been fairly evident where the team needs an impact player. Given the little sample size this time, it’s hard to know which of the incoming signing class is going to have the clearest path to playing time.

I have a hunch someone is going to emerge from the running backs. Kobie Campbell and Khalan Griffin are special talents that could impact the game on special teams or as offensive weapons. On defense, I want to see what happens in the secondary. Can someone like Lamont Narcisse work his way onto the field? That might depend on a few factors. On both sides of the ball, we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the fall.

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Rice Football 2019 Defensive Newcomer of the Year: Naeem Smith

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It didn’t take long for Rice Football safety Naeem Smith to earn his place at South Main, easily earning the title of 2019 Defensive Newcomer of the Year.

2019 Defensive Newcomer of the Year Naeem Smith is what Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren likes to call one of his needles in a haystack. No, the moniker has nothing to do with the locale of Smith’s previous football team in Iowa. It references the transition from the team Smith once played for to the blue and gray uniform he wore at South Main this season.

Smith spent 2018 as a member of the Ellsworth Community College football team, a junior college tucked away in Iowa Falls, IA. There are thousands and thousands of JUCO athletes long for the opportunity to play at the next level. The best make the jump. The top JUCO prospect in Smith’s class, Jermaine Johnson, signed with Georgia. Other top junior college athletes ended up at Texas A&M, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee and Texas.

The list of junior college players who enrolled at high-caliber academic institutions like Rice, Stanford, Northwestern, Vanderbilt or Duke is much shorter, almost nonexistent. Finding a JUCO product with the talent level to play D1 football and the grades to get into Rice is almost impossible. Almost.

Enter Smith. Alongside fellow JUCO products Brad Rozner and Blaze Alldredge, Smith represents some of the most remarkable recruiting work the current staff has done. Not only did Smith leap the academic hurdles, he passed the on-field challenges with flying colors.

Smith enrolled early and was on campus for spring ball. It was there he began the process of assimilating into a defensive scheme flush with complexities. At that time, Rice football had incumbent starters at the safety spot. George Nyakwol was one of the few veteran defensive backs that had retained his starting job through the coaching transition. Prudy Calderon, dubbed the 2018 Defensive Rookie of the Year by The Roost, had emerged beside him. There was no rush to get Smith onto the field. Smith had other plans.

To some extent, Smith spoke his own future at Rice into existence. “We have one goal, and that’s to get better each day,” he said prior to his first game at South Main. That mission, to always improve, has paid it’s dividends.

Calderon started the first game. Smith started the remaining 11. It wasn’t so much that Calderon’s production had slipped — he was the same centerfielder-type safety that led the team in interceptions last season — Smith was just better.

Smith is a dual-threat asset. He’s as comfortable playing near the line of scrimmage as he is in the back of the secondary. He moved downhill fast, engaging blockers and ballcarriers with a fury that few expected from the 5-foot-11-inch dynamo.

Like Calderon the year prior, Smith led the team in interceptions (tied with fellow defensive back Treshawn Chamberlain). He tacked on 50 tackles, fifth-most on the team, 3.5 tackles for a loss and one sack. He also forced a fumble and had three pass break ups. Smith gave the secondary an edge, propelling everyone lined up with him to play to their absolute best.

Smith and the secondary capped off their season with a near-perfect outing against preseason Conference USA Player of the Year Mason Fine on Senior Day. The North Texas quarterback was held without a touchdown pass, in a game in which he attempted at least 15 passes, for the first time since Sep. 16, 2017 at Iowa. Nobody keeps Fine out of the endzone, but Rice football did. And Smith was a crucial piece to that puzzle.

As dominant as he felt he and the secondary had played, Smith still wanted more. “I really wish we would have gotten a shutout,” he said, a perfect snapshot of his laser focus. It’s also a sign that 2019 could be the beginning of a very special career. Smith is already one of the best defenders Rice football has, and he’s on a mission to get even better.

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Rice Football: Texas overwhelms Owls in lopsided affair

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Rice football couldn’t get things going on either side of the ball as the Owls fell in a one-sided game to the Texas Longhorns at NRG Stadium.

It was a tough night in Houston for the Rice Owls. Texas controlled the game against the hometown team from start to finish, thwarting the Owls every bright spot with a painful counterpunch of their own. After two “moral victories” this defeat stung a little bit more than the previous two. There will be plenty more to dissect in the coming days, for now, a few immediate reactions:

1. Offense comes out flat

Whether it was the absence of starting quarterback Wiley Green or the overt athleticism of the Texas front, Rice got nothing going on the offensive side of the ball. Rice went into halftime with 56 total yards of offense. The Owls ground game, their staple which kept them in a one-score contest against Army, was limited to 35 yards on 13 carries (2.7 yards per attempt).

The first down efforts bring into question something for which the Owls have yet to identify an answer: what do you do when you can’t run the ball? Against Wake Forest the Owls tested the waters threw the air and found moderate success. They didn’t try to attack the Longhorn secondary like they’d opened things up against Wake Forest, both times with backup Tom Stewart at the offensive controls.

The bright spot was a 45-yard bomb from Stewart to Trammell midway through the third quarter. The play was Trammell’s longest reception of his career. Rice wasn’t able to capitalize with points on the drive, a missed opportunity.

The offensive metrics weren’t good.

  1. 266 total yards
  2. 12 complete passess
  3. 2.8 yards per carry
  4. 5-of-13 on third down

This was a night where the Owls’ offense would gladly take a mulligan.

2. Pass rush woes

Good quarterbacks with time to throw are a bad combination for a defense. Rice found themselves in that uncomfortable situation throughout their Saturday tilt with Texas. The Owls tried a fair amount of things — different looks, stunts, extra rushers — the Texas offensive line held.

Ehlinger’s second touchdown pass of the day highlighted this struggle. You can count six different Owls around the pocket. Then Ehlinger unloads his big arm and sails a bomb over the head of Prudy Calderon, into the waiting arm of Jake Smith for a 53-yard touchdown.

Rice didn’t register any sacks against Army, understandable given the extremely few passing opportunities. The Owls were shutout in the sack department again in their second game against Wake Forest. It took 12 quarters, but Blaze Alldredge broke through with the Owls first sack of the season, taking down Texas backup Casey Thompson in the fourth quarter.

By and large, the front seven has been exceptional against the run. They just need to find a way to get to the quarterback more than once every three games.

3. Making them work for it on the ground

For as much as the struggled to generate a pass rush, the Rice front seven played the run well against an extremely talented Texas offensive line. Keaontay Ingram’s 26-yard fourth down touchdown run in the second quarter was well blocked and could have been mitigated had their not been a missed tackle in the secondary by Andrew Bird.

The talent discrepancy between the Owls and the Longhorns was clear when Texas through the ball. It wasn’t as apparent when they tried to run. Ingram’s touchdown was the longest Longhorn run of the night.

Film Room | Breaking down the Owls’ fourth down stop against Army

The grind of the game resulted in a smattering of 10-12 yard carries in the second half, inflating what started off a sub-three yards per carry allowed metric to 4.8 yards per carry by the end of the game.

When Texas tried to run up the middle, they didn’t get very far. The edge held well, too. Texas isn’t known for their power running, but the level to which the Owls were able to win on the line of scrimmage and clog rush lanes was impressive. That bodes extremely well for conference play.

4. Not there yet

In a season full of optimistic losses, this game didn’t feel nearly as rosy. Rice was competitive against Army and Wake Forest. They weren’t against Texas. The Longhorns were better on all phases and the results on the field showed that. Rice has a long way to go before they’re ready to go toe to toe with Texas, but that’s okay.

Rice knew how challenging the nonconference schedule was before the season started. An 0-3 start matches where most projections had the Owls at this point. If anything, one could argue the team is punching over their belt given how close they’ve come to winning any of these first three games.

There’s no rest for the weary. Rice will return to action next week against a Baylor squad that outscored SFA and UTSA by a combined score of 119-31. The Owls’ coaching staff will be back to the drawing board, tasked with correcting the offensive struggles and defensive breakdowns over the next week.

Beating Texas isn’t the measuring stick for this team, not yet. Let’s not throw out the positives from the first few weeks of the season because Rice lost to a team ranked inside the Top 15. Last year’s Conference USA Champs, UAB, trailed Texas A&M 34-7 after three quarters, and their season ended up being a tremendous success. The year is young. And hey, the Owls are winning in the classroom.

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Rice Football: Safety battle a source of strength for Owls’ secondary

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Prudy Calderon and Naeem Smith hope to start for the Owls at strong safety next season. No matter what happens, the Owls’ secondary will be in good hands.

The duel between incumbent Prudy Calderon and JUCO transfer Naeem Smith for the starting strong safety position could be the most heavily contested position battle at Rice during fall camp. Yet, when discussing the battles to watch last week, the safety position wasn’t mentioned — and there was reason for that.

Although only one player can be listed as the starter on an official depth chart, Rice will utilize both players heavily this season. Competitors on the practice field, these teammates understand what they have to offer the Owls’ defense and are working hard to improve wherever they can.

The new kid on the block

“Prudy and I, we’ve made each other better,” Smith remarked following Saturday’s scrimmage in which he registered the defense’s only interception of the day. “We have one goal, to get better each day, and I feel like we’re headed in the right direction.”

Smith’s takeaway was indicative of that growth. Defensive coordinator Brian Smith praised Naeem, saying he “brings a physical presence to the defense.” Athletically, Smith fits more as a run-stopper. He’s the kind of player who attacks the football and moves sideline to sideline with intensity and power. That skill set has been evident since he arrived in the spring.

In 12 games at Ellsworth Community College last season, Smith registered six tackles for a loss. That mark would have put him second only to the Owls’ Anthony Ekpe’s 6.5 tackles for a loss in 2018.

Calderon has taken notice and admires that facet of Smith’s game. “He has a high motor. I see him on film and from play one to play 50 he’s the same speed, just running to the ball, flying downhill, doing something. That that kid is really talented.”

The returning starter

In many ways, Calderon serves as an excellent complement to Smith. Calderon won the job midway through the 2018 season. He quickly became the team’s deep cover man and pass defending leader. He led the team with four interceptions and seven pass deflections, showing veteran savvy as he made play after play on balls in the air.

As good as he was last season, Calderon has taken a page out of Smith’s book over the past several months. “I played the ball in the pass game pretty well [last season],” he said, “I think what I didn’t really showcase was my physicality and coming down the road game. And that’s one thing I want to do [this year].”

More: Read detailed profiles on Smith and Calderon in our 2019 Rice Football Season Preview

In many ways, it could be that simple. Rice has two extremely talented players who happen to both play the same position.

With George Nyakwol manning the free safety spot and Treshawn Chamberlain holding down the fort and the viper position, there are only so many snaps to go around. That presents a puzzle for Coach Smith to work through, but it’s a good problem to have.

“As a defense,” Calderon remarked, “our chemistry is through the roof.” Both players know that whoever wins the starting job is going to play a lot this year. Whoever “loses” is going to see plenty of the field as well. No matter who’s name is written at the top of the depth chart on a given day, neither appears intimidated or overly concerned.

The path forward

Smith is taking it all in too. “That’s one thing I’ve learned from being at a junior college, nothing is ever handed to you. So, that’s something that we gotta realize and take full advantage of. Every opportunity we step on the field, you got to make the most of it.”

So far, Smith has done just that. Calderon was honored as the team’s best freshman during the offseason. For Smith, getting to South Main in the first place represents a significant achievement. Starter or not, both Smith and Calderon will be important pieces for Rice in 2019.

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2019 Rice Football Season Preview by The Roost

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The staff of The Roost is pleased to announce the release of the 2019 Rice Football Season Preview, a 143-page digital magazine detailing everything you could imagine about the Owls’ upcoming season.

This preview is the culmination of months of research, interviews and analysis. Consider it your one-stop-shop as you prepare for the Owls’ 2019 season.

Available as a downloadable PDF for on-the-go access, this preview contains the following:

1. A breakdown of every position group on the team

Who are the favorites to start entering fall camp? What sort of production should you expect from returning starters? Which of the incoming transfer players should make their mark the quickest? Answers to all of those questions are included, as well as notes on every single player on the 102-man roster.

2. An exclusive interview with head coach Mike Bloomgren

We sat down with coach to get his honest evaluation of where the Rice football program is right now and how he views the progress the team is making as they approach 2019. He’s sticking to a process, one which he remains confident will bring success to South Main.

3. Previews of each 2019 opponent and all 14 CUSA Teams

Supported by local beat writers and experts who cover each team, this section has a wealth of knowledge about every CUSA Team and all the Owls’ 2019 opponents.

Rice fans will want to familiarize themselves with the teams they’ll be facing this year. Get to know which players each squad will have to replace, which newcomers could make noise in 2019 and what outstanding questions those in the know have about their respective squads.

4. A complete 2019 Conference USA Football Preview

Available separately to purchase, everyone who purchases the 2019 Rice Football Season Preview will also get The Roost’s 2019 Conference USA Football Preview. We made our picks for preseason honors, top games to watch in 2019 and a closer look at how every team in the conference stacks up.

Don’t need any more convincing? Get a copy for yourself today

Buy Now

 

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