Next up in our 2024 Rice Football Season Preview: running back. Here’s our breakdown of the Owls’ plans for the group this season.
Rice football has a bonafide star in the running back room, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a one-man show in the Owls’ backfield this fall. How will the coaching staff piece together a rotation that maximizes the strengths of several different backs and enables the entire offense to flourish?
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Breaking down the running back position
While Bloomgren was at Stanford, he frequently trusted a bellow back, allowing one man to carry the rock a disproportionate amount of times. However, Rice football has not operated with a true bellcow since head coach Mike Bloomgren arrived on South Main.
That dichotomy is true for multiple reasons. First, while the Owls have had some talented runners, Bloomgren had the privilege of coaching players like Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. NFL-caliber backs don’t grow on trees. Beyond that, the offensive evolution hasn’t lent itself to the ground-and-pound scheme Bloomgren might have envisioned existing.
As the offense has grown and the talent in the running back room has continued to improve, this question has started to crop up more and more. Will 2024 be that year? Perhaps to some extent. Dean Connors has the potential to be the most talented and productive Rice running back in quite some time.
Even still, expect the Owls to treat this room as a committee, differing the bulk of the work to Connors while carving out roles for the rest of the backs. That will help keep Connors fresh and take advantage of a vast array of body types and skill sets the staff has brought into that room for this very purpose.
Projected Starter – Dean Connors
From the day he arrived on campus, Dean Connors has worked to better himself as a football player. His dedication to understanding the scheme and commitment to soaking up concepts and teachings from the veteran players around him has turned him into one of the most dependable players on the entire roster. That knowledge and ability armed with his willingness to compete has made him a force the Rice coaching staff has only begun to unleash.
“If you just give me the ball, I was gonna score coach.” That’s how offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasopopo described Connors’ mindset on the field. “That’s his mentality. I think all the great ones do, they believe they’re going to affect the game.”
Connors did that on multiple occasions last fall, rushing for a career-best 184 yards against Charlotte on one night, scoring three times and passing the century mark again on a separate occasion against Tulsa. Rice won both games.
The 6-foot, 205-pound back can do it all. He’s a dynamic receiver, hauling in the longest receiving touchdown on the team last season, an 80-yard scamper caught from a route that started in the backfield. He’s worked in the goal line package during the spring and is the most trusted option on third down. He’s going to be on the field a ton and he’s going to make an impact. It would be a disappointment for Connors not to be named to an All-Conference team by season’s end.
Rest of the Room
Making sure Rice gets the best of Dean Connors is going to necessitate occasionally getting him off the field. “With a guy like Dean, that’s the one concern as a coach,” Tuiasosopo mentioned. “You always want to keep him fresh because he’s like the energizer bunny. He doesn’t have an off switch. It’s the same speed all the time. So we’re always conscious of that.”
When it comes to spelling Connors, Rice will have several options at their disposal. The first will likely be Daelen Alexander. A redshirt freshman, Alexander became the team’s goal line back last season after dominating in practice following an injury that thrust him in with the starters. It was only when he went down midseason with an injury of his own that he was stymied. On the field, he was one of the most productive runners between the tackles Rice has had in some time.
This is a staff that has always valued production at Rice. Although Alexander missed the spring, he’ll be right at the front of the pecking order come fall camp and ready to contribute. Next up behind him could be Bucknell transfer Coleman Bennett, who also missed the entirety of the spring. Bennett could fill in as that third back role the Owls have utilized over the past few years. Think Ari Broussard, Uriah West, Cameron Booker, etc.
Quinton Jackson is the other name to keep in mind here. Jackson was the standout performer of the spring, which should keep him in the mix to some degree. Spring stardom hasn’t played a significant role in field time in the fall, but Jackson has established himself as a change-of-pace option and a receiving threat. If he can stay productive as a blocker, a role as a pass catcher and third down option after Connors is within reason.
There won’t be much ball left to go around much further outside of that trio, but Christian Francisco has consistently proved himself to be trustworthy and reliable when he gets the ball. After him, Michael Amico and Trey Kibbles profile as scout team options.
Player to Watch
True freshman Taji Atkins is perhaps the most intriguing wild card on the roster this year. As a pure rusher of the football, he might be one of the best true running backs on the roster. Athletically, he’s incredible and his future at Rice is extremely bright. Once he gets a year or two in the system, it’s going to be hard to envision a scenario where he’s not on the field a ton.
But can he get on the field as a freshman? That’s the real question.
Alexander did so, and wouldn’t have ceded his job had it not been for injury. If Atkins can get the opportunity, it’s hard to envision him losing snaps.
The Rice offense was at its best last season when it was able to trade punches between Connors and veteran back Juma Otoviano who has since graduated. In a perfect world, finding a 60-40 split between Connors and someone else is conceivable. It’s hard to make any freshman the favorite to win that secondary role in this pro-style offense, but if anyone has the raw ability to make a serious bid for that job, it might just be Atkins.
** Photo credit Maria Lysaker **
