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Rice Football Recruiting: Colgate DL Coleman Coco commits to Owls

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The Transfer Portal has delivered a potential difference-maker in the trenches. Colgate defensive lineman Coleman Coco is the latest commitment to the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class.

The past several months have been focused on building a strong base of high school talent. Now with the Transfer Portal officially opened to collegiate players, the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class has added its first veteran player. Colgate defensive lineman Coleman Coco has committed to the Owls.

“I was open to deciding wherever felt like home,” Coco told The Roost. “From the start of Rice recruiting me I knew deep down that they were the best fit.”

Coco burst onto the scene in 2018 as a sophomore. He started seven games that year and led all Patriot League defensive linemen with 46 tackles. After playing a two-game schedule because of COVID-19 in 2020/2021, Coco reemerged with 40 tackles in 11 games in 2022. He brings 12 career sacks with him to South Main.

This is the second time Rice has landed a transfer from Colgate in recent years, signing offensive lineman Jovaun Woolford in 2020.

Coco was the third defensive lineman in the class at the time of his commitment, which began with a run of offensive linemen last fall. Chris Clark was the first member of the 2023 Rice football recruiting class in the trenches. He committed to the Owls this past summer. One month later, he was joined by defensive end Joseph Mutombo.

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Coco’s natural position is on the edge, but he’s fairly versatile for a man of his size (6-foot-3, 240 pounds). Perhaps his most exciting trait, though, is his drive. From the first snap on his highlights it’s evident he plays through the whistle and finishes with power.

Part of what drew Coco to this defense was its depth and his ability to be a potential game-changing piece on the outside. “I feel like the defense is one that I can make a ton of plays in and also give my teammates a lot of opportunities,” he said. “I will excel at dominating the line of scrimmage and making big time game changing plays.”

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Rice Football Recruiting: ATH Ashton Ojiaku commits to Owls

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One of the final high school additions to the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class is in the fold. Athlete Ashton Ojiaku has committed to the Owls.

The bulk of the high school recruiting for the 2023 Rice football recruiting class has been wrapped up for some time. With the exception of a few players the Owls flipped from other schools during the course of the season, the Owls had most of the prep commits accounted for before the calendar reached December before ultimately deciding they needed at least one more. Athlete Ashton Ojiaku has committed to the Owls.

Ojiaku had his pick of destinations before settling on the Owls. He helped offers from Vanderbilt, Houston, Army, Air Force and others before deciding Rice was the place for him. Head-to-head recruiting wins over any program are big for Rice, but getting the leg up on an SEC school is a decidedly important milestone.

If he does make the transition to defense, he’ll likely join fellow commit Ty Morris on the back end at safety. That tandem, along with corners AJ Stephens and Jamarion Clark gives Rice a rather robust group of defensive backs already on board.

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Listed as an athlete in some places, a running back in others, and a safety, elsewhere, Ojiaku’s athleticism leaps out as soon as you turn on the film. Rice has made a habit of finding playmakers like this in recent years, getting them to campus and finding the right role afterward.

From Luke McCaffrey, who transitioned from quarterback to running back, to Izeya Floyd who has played on both sides of the ball to multipurpose offensive weapons like Cameron Montgomery and Quentin Jackson, the Owls aren’t afraid to move people around. They’ll find the right spot for Ojiaku, who is quite simply, a really good football player.

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Rice Football 2022 Bowl Game Preview: Southern Miss

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Rice football takes on Southern Miss in the Lending Tree Bowl this week. How to watch, key stats, x-factor picks and more.

Southern Miss secured bowl eligibility on the final week of the regular season, defeating Louisiana Monroe on the road for their sixth win. Rice football wasn’t assured of a bowl trip until all of that weekend’s games had concluded and a shortage of six-win teams remained. The Owls are bowling because they were the program with the highest remaining APR score.

How they got here doesn’t matter now, though. Here’s everything you need to know about this week’s game.

Kickoff time | 4:45 PM CT
Venue | Hancock Whitney Stadium – Mobile, AB
TV | ESPN (Viewing Guide)
Radio | Sports Map 94.1 (FM) / Stretch Internet (Online)

Audio / Visual Preview

We’ll preview Rice football vs Southern Miss on this week’s episode of the Blue and Gray Preview Show, streaming live on Wednesday at Noon on the Rice Athletics YouTube channel. Look for a recap of the game on the site afterward as well as on The Roost Podcast, which should be released early next week. Find us on the podcast page or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. (And consider leaving us a 5-star review while you’re at it.)

Sizing up the contenders

This is a bowl game that means a lot to both programs, despite the appearance of modest stakes. The Owls and Mike Bloomgren are looking to secure win number six, something that many around South Main viewed as an understood prerequisite to even be in this game. Southern Miss, on the other side, could clinch a win season for the first time under coach Will Hall with a victory.

Series History

All Time | Tied, 6-6
Last Five | Southern Miss leads, 3-2
Last Meeting | Home 2021, Rice won 24-19

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Rice Football Stat Notables

Passing | Padgett – 20/40 (50.0 percent), 339 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing | Montgomery – 86 carries, 498 yards (5.8 yards per carry), 0 TD / Otoviano – 65 carries, 391 yards (6.0 yards per carry), 1 TD
Receiving | Rozner – 41 receptions, 834 yards (20.3 yds/rec), 9 TDs / McCaffrey – 51 receptions, 656 yards (12.9 yds/rec), 6 TD / Esdale – 39 receptions, 461 yards (11.8 yds/rec), 0 TD
Tackles | Conti – 69 / Morrison – 66 / Taylor – 55
Pass Breakups | Dunbar – 8  / Taylor – 6 / Fresch – 5
Interceptions | Taylor, Morrison – 2 / Nyakwol, Chamberlain, Fresch, Narcisse – 1

Southern Miss Stat Notables

Passing | Lowe – 55/103 (53.4 percent), 795 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing | Gore Jr. – 207 carries, 1053 yards (5.1 yards per carry), 7 TD / Dean – 58 carries, 179 yards (3.1 ypc), 3 TD
Receiving | Brownlee – 52 receptions, 819 yards (15.8 yards per reception), 7 TD / Mims – 23 receptions, 361 yards (15.7 yds/rec), 2 TD
Tackles | Shorts – 91 / Latham – 81 / Gill – 76
Pass Breakups | Stanley – 6 / Latham – 4 / Shorts – 3
Interceptions | Stanley – 4 / Shorts – 3 / Scott, Brooks, Harrell – 2

Southern Miss X-Factor | Limit the big play

Southern Miss is going to try and make this a defensive struggle. The Golden Eagles lauded “Nasty Bunch” defense has made a significant jump this year, climbing to No. 80 in the nation in scoring defense to No. 43. The Golden Eagles allow 23.5 points per game. Keeping opponents out of the endzone is something they’ve largely excelled at compared to their peers.

The path to those points, has been suspect, though. Southern Miss ranks 12th of 14 teams in the Sun Belt in plays allowed of 20 or more yards with 63, an average of 5.3 such occurrences per game. Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina — the two defenses in their conference that allow more explosive plays — each rank worst than 100th in the nation in scoring defense.

To some extent, the way this defense has been winning is unsustainable, but something is undeniably working. This is a defense that bends but doesn’t break. If something miss stiffens on the back end and allows less wiggle room, they’ll have Rice right where they want them.

Rice X-Factor | No turnovers

No team has turned the ball over this season more often than Rice football. None. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Rice football ranks dead last in the nation with 30 turnovers in 12 games, an average of 2.5 giveaways per contest.

When they don’t implode, this offense has proven itself adequate, perhaps even dangerous with its explosiveness and diversity. The Owls have put up more than 440 yards of total offense in four of their five wins and have largely moved the ball well with a variety of different quarterbacks under center. The bugaboo — and it’s been a big one — has been protecting the football.

Coaches are oft to say things like “we beat ourselves,” and in this case, that largely seems to be true. If Rice can avoid shooting themselves in the foot and give themselves a chance to complete their drives, they will be able to hang with a low-scoring offense on the other side of the ball. If they spot that other offense points, things could get dicey, quickly.

Injury Report (Subscribers only)

When Rice football last took the field, they were without quarterback TJ McMahon, wide receiver Luke McCaffrey and several other key players on each side of the ball. Subscribers, stay tuned later this week for a deeper dive on those key injuries with the latest on who is (and isn’t) likely to go in this upcoming contest. Not a subscriber (yet)?

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One Final Thing

Getting to a bowl game is an accomplishment in itself, but things could hardly have set up better for Rice football in this season-ending showdown with a familiar foe. Instead of having to travel a great distance, the Owls will be playing as close to home as they could have been beyond a return to Frisco. They’re not being shipped to Detroit or South Carolina.

Better still, this is a winnable game against a team with a commensurate level of talent. They’re not playing an underachieving SEC school that simply has better players who played tougher competition. No, Southern Miss is on Rice’s level and in fact, the Owls have beaten them as recently as last season.

This game matters to Rice football. It matters to the staff, the players and to the fans. To those who care, it’s not a random bowl sponsored by who’s-it-called or what’s-it-named. With that in mind, the effort should be equal to the task. Rice needs to play this game with the effort they put forth against North Texas in the season finale. If they can clean up the mistakes, they’re got all they need to walk away as winners.

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Where things stand: Rice Football, Mike Bloomgren and the future

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Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren is coming back for another year. What went into the decision and what’s next for the program?

Athletic director Joe Karlgaard and Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren met with the media last week to discuss the upcoming Lending Tree Bowl. Both men were asked about the game itself, the significance of potentially winning it and other postseason-related questions. The status of Bloomgren’s job security wasn’t discussed.

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This update will focus on that previously unspoken situation. After reaching a bowl game, but not six regular season wins, where does Bloomgren stand and what is the outlook for the Owls as they look forward to entering the AAC in 2022?

Officially, official

First, let’s start with the first official statement, given to The Roost this week from Karlgaard himself:

“Mike is coming back. He’ll be our coach next season. Our progress over the last several years has been slower than we had hoped but we did post our highest win total since 2015 and our players were exceptional in the classroom.

This is not the same college athletics that was in place the last time we went to a bowl game. We’ve seen all these environmental changes with Alston and NIL and the Transfer Portal and the deregulation of the NCAA rules. I’m proud of the roster and foundation that coach Bloomgren and his staff have built and how we’ve navigated the shifts to the environment so far. But for us to strive for excellence in the future, we’re going to have to be innovative, progressive and values driven.”

What other factors are in play?

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 136 – Fourth Annual Roosties!

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The 2022 Rice football regular season is over and there’s a bowl game on its way, but first, the fourth annual Roosties Award ceremony is here.

There will be a time for a more formal set of Rice football postseason awards. From Team MVP to newcomers of the year, those awards are coming. First, it’s time to present our more unconventional awards to players, units and general confusion caused by the season as we know it thus far. Stay tuned below for our fourth iteration of the annual Roosties!

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 136.

Episode Notes

Housekeeping

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Remembering Rice Football with the Roosties! 

Carter and Matthew had out honors in the following categories with some variations along the way and a detour or two. Here are the categories:

  • Favorite Play
  • Player You Were Most Wrong About (Biggest surprise)
  • Most Improved Unit
  • Play/Game You Most Want to Redo
  • Player You’ll Miss the Most
  • Out of Nowhere Star
  • Most Valuable Transfer
  • Most Head Scratching Moment
  • Most Dominant Game
  • Player You’re Most Looking Forward to in 2022

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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