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Rice Football 2018 Team MVP: Austin Walter

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From start to finish Austin Walter put the team on his back, doing more than enough to be named the 2018 Rice football team MVP.

The 2018 Rice football team was built on young legs. Only four upperclassmen started the Owls’ final game of the regular season as the coaching staff opted to continue building toward the future. That bright future is possible because of the efforts of team players like Austin Walter who did everything that was asked of him and then a little more.

As the staff tinkered with the depth chart, working diligently to get the right players in the right places, Walter produced everywhere. Whether he was lined up in the backfield or split out wide, the senior from Crosby, TX was one of the most reliable players on the entire roster throughout the 2018 season.

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Walter finished the year with 1,580 all-purpose yards, 17th most in the nation. That total included 564 yards rushing, 525 yards receiving and 491 kick return yards. He averaged 27.3 yards per return, eighth best in the nation. At one point during the season, he led the nation in all-purpose yardage. That’s no small feat for a player on an offense that wasn’t all that efficient and struggled to stay on the field.

The success for Walter was bittersweet. He admitted going out on top with his best statistical year was special, but added he was “not as happy” as he could have been given the two-win season. “I wanted to leave a legacy as a team,” said Walter, “but God has a bigger plan for all of us… looking back at it, there’s nothing I regret.”

As young as this team is, they won’t have many holes in the two-deep to fill next season. The gap in the offense left by Walter will be the toughest to patch and will likely require a combination of players to match what Walter was able to do on his own.

That’s because he was more than just a running back, more than a receiver and more than a kick returner. He was a leader in the locker room and the key cog in a team still learning their own identity. Hats off to you Austin Walter, the 2018 Rice football MVP.

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Rice Football 2018 Defensive Player of the Year: Zach Abercrumbia

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The Rice football defense was a work in progress this season, but Zach Abercrumbia never waiver in the up front. He’s our 2018 Defensive Player of the Year.

Like the offense on the other side of the ball, the Rice defense took a while to get going in 2018. The play in the secondary got off to a slow start and consistent tackling in the linebackers had to be developed over time. Through the noise, defensive tackle Zach Abercrumbia was the steadying force that drove this unit forward.

Named the defensive captain in 2018, Abercrumbia led with his voice and his actions. It was he who gathered the team in post-practice huddles. He called for meetings with the team and challenged individuals to work harder and be better. All that in the midst of a historic statistical season of his own.

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Abercrumbia registered 55 tackles and 4.5 sacks from the interior of the defensive line. He finished third on the team in total tackles and third in sacks. He registered a career-best nine tackles against UTSA.

Those are no small feats for a defensive lineman, and numbers of that caliber haven’t been produced from a Rice defensive lineman since Christian Covington tallied 59 tackles and 4.0 sacks for the Owls in 2013. Covington would later go on to be a sixth round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft following, impressive company for Abercrumbia to say the least.

His impact grew as the defensive line progressed throughout the season. By the time November rolled around there weren’t many teams finding success against the Owls between the tackles or in obvious running situations. Rice opponents averaged 3.6 yards per carry on third down and 1.6 yards on fourth down. Both of those marks were in the better half of Conference USA. Opposing teams simply struggled to make headway with Abercrumbia holding down the middle. The redshirt junior has one more year of eligibility remaining.



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Rice Football 2018 Offensive Player of the Year: Austin Trammell

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Rice football had an up and down year on offense, but Austin Trammell was the steady hand through it all. He’s our 2018 Offensive Player of the Year.

The Rice pass catchers were almost a complete unknown entering the 2018 season. There weren’t any proven wideouts on the roster outside of Aaron Cephus who caught 25 passes for 622 yards last season,

In 2017 Austin Walter was still primarily a running back and the next two closest pass catchers, tight end Jordan Myers and Austin Trammell, caught 11 passes and four passes, respectively. There was plenty of opportunities for another pass catcher to emerge. Austin Trammell seized his chance and ran with it, more than earning the honor of being named the 2018 Offensive Player of the Year.

Dubbed “Mr. Consistent” by head coach Mike Bloomgren in fall camp, Trammell became the linchpin of the Owls’ offense. He led the team in receptions (62), receiving yards (632) and was the only player to register at least one reception in all 13 games.

He set team and career highs with a 10 catch performance against North Texas and 112 receiving yards against UTEP. His 53-yard scramble drill touchdown against the Miners further solidified his status as the safety net for whomever the Owls had under center which, in 2018, varied from week to week.

Short of scoring a few more touchdowns, there wasn’t much through the air that Trammell wasn’t able to achieve. Walter’s 62 receptions ranked seventh-most in school history and were eight-most of any Conference USA pass catcher in 2018.

His successes didn’t go unnoticed. Bloomgren said Trammell was “absolutely the way I would build a football player,” praising No. 10’s work ethic and consistent approach to the game. Trammell was so reliable he was trusted with punt return and kick return duties as well. He led the team with a long punt return on 19 yards and a long kick return of 54 yards, outpacing even all-purpose weapon Austin Walter.

A slot receiver might not be the primary pass catcher of most offenses, but it was for Rice this season. Given how productive Trammell was as a sophomore, it’s hard to imagine the offense moving the ball consistently without him.



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Rice Football 2018 Special Teams Player of the Year: Jack Fox

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The Rice Football special teams were Conference USA’s gold standard thanks to the incredible season of Jack Fox, our Special Teams Player of the Year.

Rice football won’t fully appreciate how special Jack Fox was until he’s gone. The Owls’ senior punter and kickoff specialist was an incalculably important weapon for the team this fall. The nation took notice.

Fox was named a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, was a First Team All-Conference USA selection and has now been named Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Year. Frankly there aren’t many more accolades Fox could receive that he hasn’t already been awarded. That sort of thing happens when you have the kind of season Fox did in 2018.

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Highlighted by a career-best 76-yard punt against North Texas, Fox amassed 3,636 punt yards with his leg, the most in the nation. His 80 punts included 31 downed inside the 20 and only 15 returnable kicks. He averaged 45.5 yards per punt with a net of 40.1, both well inside the top 25 punters in the country. His 12 punts against UAB tied a school record for a single game.

On top of all that, Fox recorded two tackles and recovered a fumble on a kickoff. He was also asked to execute a few trick plays this season, rushing for a first down against UTEP and throwing for a first down against UTSA. A former high school quarterback, Fox maintains a career 100.0 percent completion percentage.

Fox leaves Rice as one of the most talented specialists in school history. He was the safety net and the consistent force for a 2018 team featuring, at least at times, an offense and a defense in need of a spark. Every time they asked, Jack Fox delivered. That’s just the kind of guy he is. Talented, consistent, and one of the best punters in the nation.



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Rice Football 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year: Cole Garcia

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Rice football played several first-year players on offense, but guard Cole Garcia stood above the rest. He’s our 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Outside of his days as a GA at Alabama, Mike Bloomgren’s first Power 5 coaching job was as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for Stanford. He honed his craft in the trenches before attempting to bring intellectual brutality to South Main.

It took a while for the offensive line to gel for the Owls this season. The starting five remained the same through the UTSA game, but an injury to left tackle Uzoma Osuji and inconsistent play across the board opened up room for some new faces to see more playing time. One of those new faces, true freshman Cole Garcia, seized a starting job the next week and never looked back.

Garcia made his first career start against FIU, starting the final six games of the season and appearing in nine of the Owls’ 13 contests. The offense, which had combined to score three points in the two games prior to Garcia claiming the starting spot, tallied 17 points or more in four of the final six games.

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Rice ranked 33rd in power success rate, a measure of how frequently teams convert on third or fourth down with two yards or fewer to go. Garcia didn’t move the mountain himself, but the consistency with which the Owls moved the ball between the tackles was noticeably improved with him in the lineup.

Garcia attributed the scheme and the opportunity to his success, saying earlier this year “there’s no other program that would be a better fit for me.” The tenacity he brought to the field every day and the intensity he played the game became a part of the culture of this unit. As long as he’s on the team, Rice won’t have to worry about the left guard position.

“Anytime I can put somebody in the dirt is a good day,” remarked Garcia, somewhat jokingly but tinged with a good amount of truth. Mike Bloomgren couldn’t have said it any better himself.



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