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Rice Football: Offensive lineman Braedon Nutter commits to Owls

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The 2020 Rice football recruiting class has gotten off to a great start with Braedon Nutter joining safety Plae Wyatt as the initial members of the Owls’ next class.

Big things are happening at South Main. As Rice begins to grow the third recruiting class of the Mike Bloomgren era the word seems to have gotten out. High-caliber players from around the state are flocking to Houston. Offensive lineman Braedon Nutter was the latest to buy in to the vision, committing to play his college ball for the Rice Owls.

Nutter is a perception-changing commitment for Rice. The program had finished near the bottom of the conference in recruiting over the last several years prior to Bloomgren’s arrival. But with two highly regarded in state commitments already, things are changing.

At the time of his commitment, the 6-foot-3, 287-pound lineman held offers from Houston, Tulsa, UAB, Air Force, Army, a host of Ivy League schools and Colorado. He has more than a dozen offers under his belt, but Rice has won the battle for his services.

A two-way player in high school, Nutter is being slotted in on the offensive side of the ball. He’s been pegged as a center, but could move down the line or back to defense depending on need. A mauler in the trenches, Nutter is as physical as they come. He embodies everything about the culture of Intellectual Brutality that Bloomgren is seeking to build at Rice.

There aren’t many programs in Conference USA beating out Pac-12 programs for recruits. And if the trajectory of the Owls’ first two commitments continues, he might not be the last. Let’s just say the future is as bright as it’s been in a while at South Main. Watch Nutter’s film for yourself. He’s not going to get moved out of the way very often. He’ll be the one lowering the shoulder and delivering a big blow.

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Rice Football: Note from first day of spring practice

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Rice football returned to practice for the first of several weeks of spring ball. Here are a few notes from the Owls’ first day back on the grass.

First off, it might not be purely football related, but Antonio Montero was wearing short sleeves and shorts in 40-degree weather. The Minnesota native was giving his more southern teammates a hard time.

1. Position changes, notes

  • Cam Montgomery is at running back.
  • Sam Glaesmann remains at wide receiver
  • Cameron Valentine moves to nose tackle
  • D’Angelo Ellis at corner, not listed on the offensive depth chart
  • Cole Garcia and Nick Leverett only players listed as starters with no backup on the two-deep

2. Offensive line and running backs

Juma Otoviano, Aston Walter and Cam Montgomery all had explosive plays during practice, bursting through big holes and accelerating downfield. That’s a credit to their speed, but also because of a more physical offensive line. JUCO transfer Nick Leverett is entrenched along the right side, most likely at right guard. Clay Servin looks like the real deal at left tackle.

Nashon Ellerbe missed most of last season with a nagging lower-body injury. He doesn’t appear to be 100 percent this spring. With Jawan King on his way, he’ll have to battle to get meaningful minutes.

3. All three JUCO transfers flash

In addition to Leverett, Naeem Smith and Bradley Rozner both made a few nice plays on their respective sides of the ball. Smith won the offseason conditioning program and has drawn rave reviews from several coaches all spring. Rozner made an impressive athletic catch down the sideline and seems to be slotting in well on the outside.

4. Quarterback remains a wait and see

Wiley Green will enter spring as the QB1 with Evan Marshman his primary competition. We really won’t know for sure if Green has secured the starting job before grad transfer Tom Stewart and freshman Jovoni Johnson get to campus later this summer. Still, Green threw some nice balls and made a few plays with his legs on Monday.

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Football: Owls name Mike Kershaw 10th assistant

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Mike Bloomgren has finalized the 2019 Rice football coaching staff, naming offensive assistant Mike Kershaw as his 10th assistant.

Rice football will promote from within. Mike Kershaw has been tabbed to complete the Owls’ 2019 coaching staff after serving as the team’s NFL liaison and offensive assistant during 2018. Prior to that, he worked as an assistant with Bloomgren at Delta State. He filled in briefly on the recruiting trail this winter, going as far as California as the team worked to finish their 2019 class.

His addition finalizes the Owls’ coaching staff, which had been one man short following Pete Lembo’s departure. Rather than fill his role directly, Kershaw will coach the wide receivers. That move will shift assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Jerry Mack from wide receivers to running backs. Drew Svoboda, who coached running backs in 2018, will shift full time to special teams.

The candidate pool for the final assistant spot was far-reaching, but the final list thinned out fairly quickly. Among the external candidates, former Rice tight end James Casey was in consideration before taking a job with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Continuity was something Bloomgren stressed throughout the entire process. If the best fit was an external candidate he was willing to go that route, but the ability to maintain the same message on special teams was a driving factor in the decision.  Rice skyrocketed from 114th to 17th in special team’s efficiency last season. Coach Svoboda, who already knows the vision and terminology which paved the way for the sizable improvement, should help make the transition as seamless as possible.

Kershaw won’t have to wait long to get his feet wet. Rice begins spring practices on March 4. The Owls will cap off the spring with the annual Blue-Grey Spring Game will be played at 11 a.m. CT on April 13.

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2020 Safety Plae Wyatt commits to Owls

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Rice football has their first commitment of the 2020 recruiting class, landing safety Plae Wyatt from Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, Tx.

National Signing Day for the 2019 class isn’t that far in the rearview mirror. Weeks removed from signing their 2019 class, Rice football is already making progress on 2020. Rice got their next class off to a great start with a commitment from safety Plae Wyatt, the top safety on their board. Wyatt has been a priority for this class for a long time, something he says was evident in his entire recruitment.

“They took time out of their day to give me a tour and talk about football and life,” he said. “I could feel the love from the first time I stepped on campus.” The culture being built by Mike Bloomgren and his staff at South Main has been instrumental in bringing talented playmakers like Wyatt to campus. He’ll be one of three players from Bishop Lynch High School on the team when he gets to school.

Rice football is developing a nice pipeline to Bishop Lynch. The Owls landed Cole Garcia in 2017, Jack Bradley in 2019 and now Wyatt in 2020. Garcia was an anchor on the offensive line last year. Both Bradley and Wyatt project as impact pieces quickly once they arrive on campus.

The 5-foot-11, 194 pound Wyatt had offers from SMU and Yale at the time of his commitment to Rice. The Dallas native was drawing interest from Oklahoma State as well. Instead, the Cowboys and others will have to watch from afar with everyone else as Wyatt builds his future in Houston.

247 Sports ranks Wyatt as the No. 103 recruit in the state of Texas. That ranking which could rise if Wyatt caps off is high school career with a strong season as expected. He was first-team All-District and second-team All-State in 2018, playing two ways as a safety and wide receiver. He’ll stick on the defensive side of the ball for Rice, most likely at free safety, though he’s comfortable playing all the safety roles in the Owls’ defense.

Wyatt hopes to be the first of many. “I have to act like a recruiter now,” he said. “In a few years we’re going to be something special.” He’s not alone. That same mindset has begun to saturate South Main, and more recruits will follow. If he can encourage players of his caliber to follow, the Owls’ future will only get brighter from here.

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Rice Football: Offensive coordinator Jerry Mack named Associate Head Coach

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A staffing announcement out of South Main. Current offensive coordinator Jerry Mack has been named Rice football Associate Head Coach.

The title of Associate Head Coach was vacated during the offseason when Pete Lembo departed Rice for Memphis to work on Mike Norvell’s staff as the special teams coach. That left some reconfiguring to do for Mike Bloomgren for the first time since he built his staff upon his arrival at South Main.

The first beneficiary of the change is Jerry Mack. The former head coach at North Carolina Central, Mack took over the Owls’ offense last season. He will retain his role as offensive coordinator alongside being named the Associate Head Coach.

For Mack and the offense, 2018 was a year of adjustments. The Owls experienced their fair share of growing pains as they transitioned to a more physical, run-dominant offense. Mack guided the offense through multiple quarterback injuries and a fluctuating offensive line.

Rice averaged 318.4 yards per game, finishing seventh in Conference USA with 143.6 yards per game on the ground. Both of those numbers are expected to improve next season with a fortified offensive line, which will include three graduate transfers, and a more stable quarterback situation.

The team ended on a high note, defeating Old Dominion in the final game of the regular season. They registered 275 rushing yards against the Monarchs, the most of any conference game that season.

Mack’s promotion does not involve special teams responsibilities. As previously reported, the candidate pool has been narrowed to two names with interviews forthcoming, held off until after National Signing Day. The decision on how that coaching spot will be filled is expected to be made in the coming weeks.

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