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Rice Football: 5 Observations on Owls’ Spring Roster

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The 2021 Rice Football spring roster has been released. From thoughts on newcomers to departing names, here are five initial observations.

There has been a lot of movement on the coaching staff, but that hasn’t been the only interesting development for the Owls in the past few days. The 2021 Rice Football spring roster was posted over the weekend. You can find the full list here, but we’ve gone a step further and broken down some things that stood out from the initial list.

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We’ll start with the most important note, with more observations to follow. We’ll also have all the latest updates on spring practice when it gets underway in March. From position battles to early depth chart projections, you won’t want to miss it. If you’re not a subscriber, now is a great time to jump on board.

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1. No Mike Collins

This shouldn’t come as a shock to those who have been following along this winter, but quarterback Mike Collins was not listed on the initial spring roster. We’ve still not had any clarification from head coach Mike Bloomgren as to what transpired last fall — hopefully, we get some answers when practices begin — but for now, it looks like Rice will be starting over at the quarterback position once again.

Collins was only expected to be a one-year solution when he was signed. He would have been out of eligibility entering 2021 had it not been for COVID-19 and revised eligibility standards.

As was the case last fall, the Owls will enter spring practice with their future quarterback on the roster. JoVoni Johnson and incoming grad transfer Jake Constantine will be the presumptive favorites to win the job for the upcoming season. It should be an interesting battle to watch this spring.

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Rice Football to hire Marques Tuiasosopo as offensive coordinator

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Rice football has found its next offensive coordinator. The Owls are set to hire Cal tight ends coach Marques Tuiasosopo to run the Rice offense.

There have been a few changes to the Rice football coaching staff over the past several weeks. By the time the Owls arrive at spring practice in March they’ll have a new special teams coordinator, tight ends coach and offensive coordinator.

The men would fill those position coach roles were previously known. One, Chris Monfiletto, was already on staff. The other, Jim Jackson, was hired from UMass. We can now confirm head coach Mike Bloomgren has made his selection for the open offensive coordinator role.

Bloomgren is expected to name Cal tight ends coach Marques Tuiasosopo as his next offensive coordinator, replacing Jerry Mack who left the Owls’ staff to coach running backs at Tennessee.

Tuiasosopo played his college ball at Washington before being selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Raiders. He would go on to play eight seasons in the NFL before turning to coaching. Tuiasosopo has spent time with Washington, UCLA, USC and Cal. He’s coached quarterbacks and tight ends and served as the passing game coordinator at multiple stops.

Bloomgren and Tuiasosopo has crossed paths before. Tuiasosopo spent the 2007 as a quarterback with the New York Jets where Bloomgren worked as a quality control assistant. Now they’ll be reunited, not as player and coach, but as members of the same staff.

Among his notable achievements to date, Tuiasosopo helped develop Josh Rosen while at UCLA. He was also named Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year in 2015 after helping USC secure the nation’s top recruiting class.

What does this mean for Rice?

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Rice Football: Owls’ OC Jerry Mack headed to Tennessee

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Rice Football offensive coordinator Jerry Mack is headed to Tennessee. How will his departure impact the Owls on offense?

First reported by Pete Thamel, Rice football offensive coordinator Jerry Mack is set to be named the next running backs coach at Tennessee. He will join the staff of newly hired head coach Josh Heupel, who was only recently named to his position,

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Mack is the second Rice coach to move to a new job this offseason. Before his departure, Rice lost special teams coordinator Drew Svoboda to Memphis.

How does Mack’s departure impact Rice?

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Rice Football: Owls to hire Jim Jackson as tight ends coach

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There’s a new coach in town. Rice football is expected to hire UMass assistant Jim Jackson to coach tight ends for the Owls.

First reported by The Athletic, Rice football is expected to hire former UMass run game coordinator Jim Jackson. He’ll coach tight ends for Rice, a position held last year by Chris Monfiletto, who will move to the vacant special team’s coordinator role. That position opened early this offseason when Drew Svoboda left for Memphis.

Jackson comes to Rice following a two-year stint at UMass where he served as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. Prior to joining the Minutemen, Jackson served as the offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator at the University of San Diego. His offenses led the way for the Toros, who went 38-2 in his five years on staff, averaging north of 34 points per game.

He takes over the tight ends job previously held by Monfiletto, who was in his first season in an on-field role following a promotion from his role as an offensive quality control assistant. Last fall he helped guide versatile tight end Jordan Myers to one of the most productive seasons of his career in which he led the team in receptions.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren has held a fairly consistent on-field staff during his first three seasons at South Main. The majority of the coaching staff he initially hired when he arrived in December of 2017 is still on staff at this time. Jackson will be the third tight ends coach for Bloomgren.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Superlatives for the 2021 Signees

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The 2021 Rice Football class made is flush with talent. Here are our picks for just a handful of standouts from the incoming class.

National Signing Day is in the books. With the possible exception of a key transfer addition (or two) in the months ahead, this will be the group of new players added to the Owls’ roster for the upcoming season. The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class has hometowns that span from California to New Jersey. Now they’re all headed to South Main.

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The 20 new signees were hand-selected by the Rice football recruiting staff, and each comes with some sort of notoriety in their own way. If you haven’t yet, check out our breakdowns of the defensive signees and the offensive signees. Now, here’s our run down of class superlatives. Who is going to start out of the gate? Which player represented the biggest recruiting win for the Owls? Best athlete? Here are our picks.

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