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Rice Football: Austin Trammell signs UDFA deal with Atlanta Falcons

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Rice football did not see any players selected in the 2021 NFL Draft, but former wide receiver Austin Trammell has since signed with the Atlanta Falcons.

The 2021 NFL Draft had a much smaller player pool this season than it typically does. Relaxed eligibility rules saw many draft-eligible upperclassmen choose to return to school, including several Rice football seniors. Wide receiver Austin Trammell was the only Owl to make a serious run at the professional ranks.

Trammell participated in the College Gridiron Showcase and did his NFL Pro Day with the University of Houston. He stopped by The Roost Podcast in the weeks prior to the draft to share what the process was like and talk about what life was like during the Owls’ unpredictable 2020 season.

After doing all he could to get himself on the radar of NFL teams, Trammell knows his next steps. Although he was not selected during the 2021 NFL Draft, Trammell has signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

Trammell’s signing is one of several such free agent agreements for Conference USA players. In total, Conference USA had four players chosen during the draft itself:

Rice Football recent NFL Draft history

The Owls’ streak of drafts without a selection has now stretched to six. Christian Covington is the most recent Rice football draftee. He was selected by the Houston Texans in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Covington’s selection marked the end of a nice run of selections for Rice. From 2009 to 2015 eight Rice football players were seelcted: Jarret Dillard (2009), James Casey (2009), Cheta Ozougwu (2011), Scott Solomon (2012), Vance McDonald (2013), Luke Wilson (2013), Phillip Gaines (2014), Christian Covington (2015). McDonald was the highest selection, going No. 55 overall to the San Francisco 49ers.

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Rice Football: 2021 ESPN FPI not kind to Owls

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The 2021 ESPN FPI projections are out. Where did Rice football finish and how much stock should we put in these estimations?

ESPN recently released its 2021 Football Power Index (FPI), a statistic geared toward predicting team performance. Rice football (-11.7 FPI) checked in No. 11 in Conference USA, ahead of only UTEP (-20.1) in the West Division. On the opposite end of the spectrum, UAB and Marshall were the frontrunners.

2021 ESPN FPI

  1. UAB, 4.1
  2. Marshall, -3.9
  3. UTSA, -5.3
  4. WKU, -7.4
  5. FAU, -7.6
  6. MTSU, -8.9
  7. Southern Miss, -10.1
  8. LA Tech, -10.5
  9. Charlotte, -11
  10. North Texas, -11.4
  11. Rice, -11.7
  12. FIU, -17.9
  13. UTEP, -20.1
  14. ODU, -26.8

Looking Closer

Despite the poor rank, FPI considers Rice to be a fringe bowl team. The numbers peg the Owls with a projected win-loss record of 4.8 – 7.2, essentially putting them a game away from a bowl berth. FPI gives Rice a 31.3 percent chance to reach that threshold. If they did, it would mean the first six-win season for the program since 2014.

The numbers look a bit peculiar, though, when compared to last season. Rice had an FPI of -6.7 in 2020, five full points higher than their -11.7 mark this year. That drop represents the largest in the conference, only superseded by Marshall who fell from 2.0 to -3.9, still a significant margin ahead of the Owls.

On the surface, that steep drop seems hard to defend. Rice loses Mike Collins, Austin Trammell and Blaze Alldredge from the starting ranks this year, but only had Alldredge for the bulk of last season to begin with.

The defense should be just as good, if not better. The offense must solve the quarterback question (again), but gets back a wide receiving corps that missed virtually all of 2020. From that standpoint, Rice would seem close to level footing with where they left off. Ultimately, the proof will be in the product on the field.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 73 – Austin Trammell talks Pro Day, NFL goals

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We catch up with former Rice football wide receiver Austin Trammell on this week’s show and discuss his Rice career, NFL aspirations and more.

Austin Trammell has been a staple of the Rice football receiving corps for what feels like forever. He won’t be catching passes at South Main this coming fall, rather opting to make a run at the NFL. We discuss that decision, his time at Rice, playing through the challenges of COVID-19 on this week’s show.

We didn’t remember to ask him about the origins of The Sheriff nickname. That’ll have to wait until he makes a return visit to the show. You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 73.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping
    • Plan on hearing more from The Roost Podcast in your feed every other week as we continue our interview series. We’ll have some returning guests and hopefully a few new Owls to talk with over the next few months.
    • Please support us on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes our debriefing series on spring football.
      Become a Patron!
  • Austin Trammell joins the show to discuss…
    • What it was like playing football in 2020
    • How many quarterbacks he caught a pass from in his college career (it’s a lot!)
    • The decision not to use his extra year of eligibility
    • Pro Day and training for the NFL
    • What’s next for him and his plans for Draft Day

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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Rice Football 2021 Spring Ball Review: Offense

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The Rice football spring practices are complete. What did we learn about the offense and where does it stand entering the summer?

The Rice football defense was more or less a known commodity entering the spring. The offense had more question marks. Some of those were answered — running back, wide receiver — while others remain unsettled.

We’ll tackle quarterbacks in a separate post. That battle was and will continue to be crucial to the Owls’ long-term prospects on this side of the ball. First, we’ll look at their playmakers and the guys protecting them in the trenches.

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The Roost has you covered from the start to end of spring practice and takeaways still to come. Subscribers get access to all spring practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

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Rice Football: 2021 Blue-Gray Spring Game Review

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Rice football spring practice wrapped up this week with the Blue-Gray Game. Final thoughts and takeaways from the last session of the spring.

What a difference a week can make. The last update came following the final scrimmage of the spring in which the defense dominated the offense from start to finish. The reversal came true on Friday night during the annual Rice Football Blue-Gray Spring Game. The offense went on to win 48-34, holding on to a commanding first-half lead.

The offense scored on five of their first seven drives, with Wiley Green and TJ McMahon each leading a pair of touchdown drives. Then the defense took charge, limited the offense to just three scoring plays over the final 12 drives, one of which came on a 65-yard touchdown bomb from McMahon to wideout Andrew Mason.

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For those that might have missed it, you can check out the initial depth chart reactions as well as the Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4 practice notebooks. Not subscribed? The Roost will have you covered every step of the way this spring and beyond. Subscribers get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and special features. Subscribe on Patreon and get access to it all today.

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