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Rice Football New Offense Musings: February 2025 Q&A

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Spring practice is looming and questions abound as to what Rice football will look like once new head coach Scott Abell installs his offense.

Much speculation has been made as to what new Rice football head coach Scott Abell is bringing with him to South Main. For those who haven’t lived and breathed option football, this new venture is going to take some time to fully comprehend. This month’s Q&A addresses the offense, the line and what might be next for the Owls as they work to implement the scheme this spring.

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Q: With the new Coach Abell, will his offense use the Triple option similar to the Navy, Army, and Air Force offenses? Or will he use a version far more sophisticated?

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Texans, Trenches and Speed: Scott Abell introduces 2025 Rice Football Recruiting Class

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The 2025 Rice Football recruiting class is in the books and head coach Scott Abell couldn’t be more excited about this newest crop of Owls.

Inking the 2025 Rice Football Recruiting class has been top of mind for head coach Scott Abell since he was hired roughly two months ago. Abell is still in the process of moving and only recently got his car to Houston, joking about this nomadic life over the last few weeks that centered around Rice Football and this incoming group of athletes.

“Year one, for everyone, you’re really laying a foundation for what it’s going to look like moving forward and you’re creating the energy behind that,” Abell said. “The most important resource behind all those things are people and the most important people in our program are the athletes. Attracting the right recruits here, the right people [is] imperative. It’s the most important thing we do.”

Abell was formally able to introduce those athletes on Thursday, officially welcoming 10 new signees to bring his 2025 class total to 22 high school players and eight transfers with room for a few more at the conclusion of the spring semester. Those adds get the Owls’ roster near 100 players for spring ball and, Abell hopes, will set his staff and this program up for success.

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In Abell’s eyes, the defining characteristics of this class are three fold. First and foremost, the group includes 17 Texas High School Football players, underscoring Abell’s adamant declaration that starting with local talent from the state’s established programs will be the bedrock for this program.

Then, when it came to descriptors of the types of players in that group, Abell pointed to two things: the trenches and team speed.

“We desperately were in need of adding depth and building for the future up front on both sides,” Abell remarked. “I think winning football in the trenches is the most important thing and we will focus on that year and year out and that shows up in this recruiting class.”

The Owls signed 11 such players: five high school offensive lineman, one transfer offensive linemen, four high school defensive linemen (counting rush end DeReyon Jenkins Jr.) and one transfer on that side. Rice also holds commitments from one more transfer in each group which should arrive in the summer.

As for speed, the phrase “who can really run” was repeated when describing multiple players and position groups. “I think it’s important to put players on the field who can run at all levels on both sides,” Abell said. “I think we did a great job of doing that.”

Spring football is just a few weeks away. Soon enough, Abell and his staff will get to see what these players look like inside the white lines on South Main. Even as much as Abell admittedly adores speed, that day can’t come quickly enough.

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Scott Abell finalizes 2025 Rice Football Staff

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Rice football head coach Scott Abell has finalized his first coaching staff with the Owls, announcing four additional position coaches.

The newest Rice football position coaches are associate head coach and tight ends coach Wayne Lineburg, defensive line coach Ty Warren, running backs coach Johnathan Wilson and wide receivers coach Brian Brown.

“I am excited to announce the addition of these three coaches to our Rice Owl football staff,” Abell stated in a release from the Rice football program on Tuesday. “Each one brings a different background that will only add to our already strong coaching staff. The Rice Owl family will be proud of who they are as men and the impact they will have on our student-athletes on and off the field for the Owls.”

A further announcement confirmed Brown as the final assistant:

“I am so excited to finalize our coaching staff with the addition of Brian Brown,” Abell said. “His playing and coaching experience will be a huge addition. This completes our inaugural Rice football coaching staff, and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Abell previously announced the hiring of his first seven assistants in mid-December as well as a few important off-field staffers (new additions in bold)

Warren, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots, had previously served as the assistant head coach and defensive line coach at SFA. Wilson, his coworker at SFA, coached the Lumberjacks’ wide receivers. Wilson is a graduate of Klein Forest High School and played four seasons for the Kansas Jayhawks.

Lineburg, the Owls’ associate head coach, spent the last eight seasons coaching tight ends and coordinating special teams at Wake Forest. Brown was an assistant with Abell at Davidson, coaching defensive backs.

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Rice Athletics: Top 10 Moments from 2024

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2024 was filled with highs and lows for Rice Athletics. The Roost picked out 10 moments that stood out the most along the way.

10. Rice basketball defeats Memphis

It was a season of mixed results, but the high points were worth savoring for Rice basketball this year. Head coach Scott Pera’s team earned perhaps their most memorable win of his tenure on January 31, upsetting Memphis on the road.

9. Rice Football defeats Navy under interim coach Pete Alamar

Days removed from the dismissal of head coach Mike Bloomgren and following the second-longest rain delay in college football history, Rice football stunned the AAC by knocking off Navy, which had previously been undefeated in league play.

8. Soccer posts dominant home season

Rice soccer bounced back from a down season in 2023 in tremendous fashion, nearly completely an undefeated season at home before falling on Senior Day 1-0 to Charlotte. Nevertheless, a dominant 10-1-1 record at home was impressive after the squad went winless at Holloway Field the year prior.

7. Lots of new beginnings

This year, Rice introduced new coaches (Rob Lanier – basketball, Scott Abell – football) and new sports. The women’s diving team returned for the first time since 1991 and the Owls announced the coming addition of the women’s golf team which will debut in 2026.

6. Parker Smith drafted by hometown Houston Astros

A Houston native and multi-year Friday night ace for Rice Baseball, Parker Smith was a fourth round selection of the Houston Astros in July, the highest an Owl has been drafted since Trei Cruz went in the third round in 2020.

5. A two-fer of Tennis successes

Divna Ratkovic won the AAC women’s individual championship right at home, clinching the victory on campus at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. The men’s team didn’t take home the AAC crown, but they did clinch their first trip since 2017 to the NCAA Championship as a team.

4. Genny Volpe posts 400th career win

If it feels like Volpe has been leading Rice Volleyball to successful seasons year after year for quite some time, that’s because she has. Volpe earned career win number 400 this season when the team beat Tulane in their AAC opener. All 400 of those wins have come at Rice.

3. Two podiums for Women’s Track and Field at NCAA Championships

Tara Simpson-Sullivan took home second and Mckyla Van der Westhuizen placed third in their respective events, hammer throw and javelin, at the 2024 NCAA D1 Outdoor Championships. Simpson-Sullivan broke her own school record and AAC record in the process while Van der Westhuizen delivered a personal best to reach the podium.

2. Luke McCaffrey drafted 100th overall

With the final pick of the third round, the Washington Commanders selected Rice football wide receiver Luke McCaffrey. McCaffrey became first Rice player drafted since Christian Covington in 2015 and the highest Owl drafted since Phillip Gains went in the third round to the Chiefs in 2014.

1. Rice women’s basketball wins AAC, makes NCAA Tournament

Following a tough stretch in February, 10-Seed Rice Women’s Basketball caught fire in March, running through the AAC Tournament on their way to the programs first ever AAC Tournament Championship. That earned them a trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they gave 3-Seed LSU all they could handle before falling on the road.

Honorable Mentions…

How about you? Which of these moments from Rice Athletics did you enjoy the most? Cutting this down to 10 was challenging. Which Rice Athletics events should be added to the list?

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Scott Abell announces additions to Rice Football staff

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Rice football head coach Scott Abell has announced eight new position coaches and a few additional staffers who will join him in his first season on South Main.

“I am so excited about the staff we are surrounding our program with,” Abell stated in a release from the Rice football program on Friday. “Quality people that have a strong history of winning, developing leaders, recruiting Texas, and recruiting top scholar-athletes.”

The eight coaches he announced are as follows:

Munch, Eisenhofer, Porter, Decker, and Jackson were all on Scott Abell’s staff at Davidson. Kay and Modkins were on the Rice staff last year and will be retained, as will Cooks who served as a defensive analyst for the team last fall but will not be promoted to full time work as a position coach.

Kay takes over the defensive coordinator role from Brian Smith, who departed for Temple this offseason.

Abell has two more coaching spots to fill, presumably along the defensive line and an outside wide receivers post. He’s also opted to combine the special teams coordinator role with a positional coaching spot, hiring Mark Hogan for that job. Hogan spent time on Abell’s early Davidson staffs before spending the last three seasons at Charlotte.

Lew Caralla will take over the Strength and Conditioning program while Nick Decker and Steven Jackson will also play key operations roles.

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