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Post Spring Rice Football Recruiting Updates — April Patreon Q&A

April 25, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

There have been a few significant updates on the Rice football recruiting front since spring practice ended. What’s the latest news?

The end of spring practices also coincided with the reopening of the Transfer Portal and another period of transfers. That means new Rice football recruiting updates, in the form of outgoing and potential incoming players.

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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Football Recruiting, Premium Tagged With: Rice Football, Rice Football recruiting, TJ McMahon

Rice Football 2023 Spring Notebook 9: Offensive Takeaways

April 18, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

The Rice Football offense started slow in the spring but finished strong. Here’s what we learned about that side of the ball.

The offense “won” the 2023 Rice Football Blue and Gray Game, for those that put credence in spring game scoring systems. But regardless of what the scoreboard said, that side of the ball did exhibit plenty of growth from practice 1 to practice 15. Some questions were answered. Others weren’t. Here are 10 closing thoughts on the offense from the totality of the spring.

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  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 1 – Coaching Shuffle
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 2 – Roster Notes
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 3 – Depth Chart
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 4 – Scrimmage 1
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 5 – Empyting the Notebook
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 6 – Scrimmage 2
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 7 – Big picture questions
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 8 – Spring Game
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1. New additions pay early dividends

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Recent Posts
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  • Rice Baseball clinches AAC Tournament spot despite sweep by UTSA

Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: AJ Padgett, Boden Groen, Bradley Rozner, Braedon Nutter, Brant Banks, Braylen Walker, Cedric Patterson, Clay Servin, Dean Connors, Ethan Onianwa, John Long, Jovoni Johnson, JT Daniels, Juma Otoviano, Kobie Campbell, Landon Ransom, Lavel Dumont, Luke McCaffrey, practice notes, Rice Football, spring practice, TJ McMahon, Tyson Thompson

Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 5: Emptying the Notebook

March 31, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

We’re midway through the 2023 Rice Football spring practices and notes are piling up. Here’s a grab bag of several from the past few weeks.

From the defensive line to the wideouts. From the stars to the up-and-comers, there’s been a lot to pay attention to as Rice football progresses through spring camp. This update features a collection of nuggets that haven’t made it into an update quite yet and a few updates following the first scrimmage last week.

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  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 1 – Coaching Shuffle
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 2 – Roster Notes
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 3 – Depth Chart
  • Rice Football Spring Notebook 4 – Scrimmage 1
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Don’t believe the depth chart

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Recent Posts
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Filed Under: Archive, Football, Premium Tagged With: Bradley Rozner, Braedon Nutter, Brant Banks, Coleman Coco, Gabe Taylor, John Long, Josh Pearcy, JT Daniels, Kobie Campbell, Landon Ransom, Lavel Dumont, practice notes, Rawson MacNeill, Rice Football, spring practice, TJ McMahon, Tyson Thompson, Weston Kropp, Wiley Green

Rice Football 2023 Spring Practice Notebook 2: Roster Notes

March 16, 2023 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football spring practice has just begun and there are several players who are (and aren’t) participating that are worth noting.

It’s been months since Rice football last practiced. Since then, players have left the program, new ones have come in and the availability of current players is in flux. In order to better understand what’s going to take place this spring, it’s worth setting the table and establishing who is available and who isn’t.

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That means some bad news (injuries) and some good news (reinstatements, waivers) for players that could play a significant role for Rice football this spring and beyond.

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Baseball season ends with AAC Tournament loss to FAU
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Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: AJ Padgett, Bradley Rozner, Braedon Nutter, Caleb James, Faaeanuu Pepe, Gabe Taylor, Joshua Williams, JT Daniels, Lamont Narcisse, practice notes, Rice Football, spring practice, TJ McMahon, Tre'shon Devones, Tyson Flowers

Doom and Gloom: Rice Football falls to UTSA rain-soaked Senior Day

November 19, 2022 By Matthew Bartlett

Rice Football never got hot on a cold and gloomy Senior Day, falling at home to UTSA in their final home game of the season.

On a cold and rainy Saturday morning, Rice football froze up. Injuries and missed opportunities stifled a Rice team that has yet to complete a complete four-quarter performance this season, despite notching five victories along the way. They did not get their sixth win on Saturday, falling to UTSA in a one-sided result on Senior Day. Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

From bad to worse

On paper, the weather seemed to be something that should work in favor of the Owls, who entered their final home game of the season with a slew of injuries at several key positions. Starting quarterback TJ McMahon was unable to go, as were the Owls’ top four corners: Jordan Dunbar, Sean Fresch, Lamont Narcisse and Jojo Jean.

From a personnel standpoint, an ugly game with lot of running and field position battles was much preferred to an aerial back-and-forth against the Roadrunners and star quarterback Frank Harris.

Rice did get an ugly game, but the weather wasn’t at fault.

Quarterback Wiley Green was injured on the Owls’ second possession, getting blasted from behind and fumbling in the process. UTSA recovered and scored their second-consecutive touchdown on as many plays.

The Owls’ defense opened the game three-and-out and Green hit Bradley Rozner on a slant to get Rice out of the shadow of their own endzone. Then the drive stalled on fourth and one, Rice punted, and the tumultuous sequence of injuries and turnovers commenced.

Turnovers fall, but it’s not enough

At some point, the turnovers that have plagued Rice football this season were going to stop, or at the very least, they would slow down. Despite the Owls’ issues with protecting the football, tipped passes and fumbles from a myriad of different players seemed unlikely to persist forever. Despite the injuries and bad weather, Rice did a good job protecting the football against UTSA.

In their first 10 games, Rice won the turnover battle twice. They were +5 against McNeese and +1 against UAB. They won both games. Against FBS opponents, Rice hadn’t forced more than two turnovers in a game this season whereas they’d produced at least three giveaways four times.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice Football vs UTSA

Against UTSA, Rice forced two turnovers. George Nykawol knocked the ball out himself and Myron Morrison made a play in coverage to intercept Frank Harris.

The Owls’ first turnover on offense came on a play in which Green was injured, with pressure coming unblocked off the edge. It’s not excusable by any means, but it wasn’t a lapse by a ballcarrier or decision-maker, the Achilles’ heel of the offense to this point. That came the very next drive when Kobie Campbell put the ball on the deck.

The third turnover came on an errant pass from Itraish, who was subsequently benched for true freshman AJ Padgett. That gave Rice a minus differential in the turnover margin once again.

It all comes down to quarterback, again

Watching Green leave with an injury with TJ McMahon standing on the sideline, already ruled out, was a gut punch for a Rice offense that has taken such large strides this season. Trailing at home with a backup, backup quarterback, there were two plays that highlighted what could have been.

With Shawqi Itraish at quarterback early in the second quarter and Rice trailing 21-0, Isaiah Esdale burst through double coverage on the far side of the field. He had seven yards on both defenders and plenty of green grass in front of him. It was a walk in touchdown. Itraish underthrew all three players, incomplete. Rice got no points on the drive.

Following a turnover by the Roadrunners shortly after, Rice dialed up a double reverse pass. The ball was tossed back to Itraish who had Bradley Rozner wide open down the field. He couldn’t release the ball quick enough, throwing it into the ground. Once more, no points.

It’s not all Itraish’s fault, but these two moments do highlight the challenges of calling an offense in the rain with your third string redshirt freshman quarterback at the controls. It’s hard. And you can’t miss your opportunities. On Saturday, Rice did and the result was, unfortunately, predictable.

The silver lining, if there was one, was an intriguing debut by true freshman AJ Padgett. He connected on a 43-yard touchdown pass to Bradley Rozner on fourth down in the fourth quarter. Could he see action in the season finale against UTSA? At this point, anything seems feasible.

One more?

As soon as the clock hit zero at Rice Stadium a few weeks ago, securing an upset for the visiting Charlotte 49ers, it seemed more likely than not that the Owls would find themselves here.

Defeating Western Kentucky or UTSA didn’t seem completely far-fetched, but the wiggle-room in the Owls’ search for six wins had evaporated. They needed to win one of their final three to reach that mark, but that stretch included games against the top three teams in the standings.

Now, it all comes down to this. Rice sits at 5-6, losers of back-to-back games for the first time this season. They travel to North Texas next weekend, in need of that final elusive win to clinch bowl eligibility for the first time since 2014.

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Death, Taxes, Wiley Green and injuries

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Recent Posts
  • Rice Baseball season ends with AAC Tournament loss to FAU
  • Rice Baseball falls to UTSA in AAC Tournament Opener
  • 2025 AAC Baseball Tournament: Preview, schedule, how to watch
  • Rice Baseball clinches AAC Tournament spot despite sweep by UTSA

Filed Under: Featured, Football, Premium Tagged With: AJ Padgett, Bradley Rozner, game recap, George Nyakwol, Jojo Jean, Jordan Dunbar, Lamont Narcisse, Myron Morrison, Rice Football, Sean Fresch, Shawqi Itraish, TJ McMahon, Wiley Green

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