CSNbbs

Sadly, I am not sure I can think of a year that I have less enthusiasm-hopefully I am wrong. Historically, though 2009 was awful, one could think for 2010 that there was still carryover from Hat and the toad, so ok. If I remember, 2004 things just went wrong and so 2005 didn't seem to be looking that bad and there was generally optimism during the Hat and Goldsmith years. Frankly I think we are at a level of somewhere in the 1980's or the late 70's for lack of enthusiasm on football. Clearly MBSKB is a complete rebuild and BB has already been over discussed. The next 12 months are really going to tell the tale for Rice sports. A real fork in the road like 1996/97, which despite the collapse of the SWC, it looked like the landing was ok in the (big) WAC and a generally good to great year across the board with the highlight being the first CWS. Little did we know....

Our strength could be the defense, lead by Ellerbee. Padgett (DE), Womac (DE/LB), Schantz (DE), Abrecrumbia (DT), Thompson (DT), Gordon (DT), Ellerbee, just to name a few - if they continue their development and remain mostly healthy, it's hard to imagine a better Rice front 7. I like our 2 big CB's, they have pro qualities, and our safeties have shown flashes and have the experience now. The offense is a bigger question mark. We have enough at O-line and RB to have a good run game, but really need the WR's and especially the QB's to step up.

Yeah... Our front 7 should be pretty darn strong if everything goes to plan. There's potential at corner if they play to their potential, especially with Bickham back from his torn ACL (which happened in fall camp last year). I will never have faith in our safeties as I've been burned (pun intended) by them one too many times.

Our starting O-Line could be decent, but there's not much depth. RB should be fine with Stewart carrying the load and Austin Walter and Esukpa as complimentary pieces.

QB-Who knows? I'm not optimistic though.

WR is really thin. Kylen Granson needs to build on a good freshman season and Lance Wright needs to stay healthy. Aaron Cepheus had a good spring too. There are other bodies, but nothing proven. Bummer that's Temi Alaka transferred to USF.

I found it interesting that in an article about Rice football the writer still managed to pay homage to those bastions of higher education that are UT and A&M. Let's be honest, those student/athletes are nowhere near the same caliber of kid that comes to Rice and plays for Rice. Oh, they have their exceptions, but the norm for football players at those schools are not relevant in the recruiting discussion. Rice does not recruit the same football players those schools do. They haven't since the 1960s. We all know it to be true. Doesn't mean we can't play with them, and occasionally beat them. It just means that we are not them (thank God).

Anyway... here's to hoping for the best with a lot of new faces. Sometimes new players can be good... just as veterans and returning players are not always promising. I remember a first hand account from a former Jess Neely player when Coach Neeley was asked at a preseason interview about his optimism on the season with 19 returning starters. His response, "yes, but we were 2-8 with these same guys last year." We have our coach for this year. We have our players set. I say let's support them throughout the season and see what they can do. When it's over we will all have our opinions on the future of the program. I will reserve sharing mine until then.

Go Owls!

(06-22-2017 10:54 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah... Our front 7 should be pretty darn strong if everything goes to plan. There's potential at corner if they play to their potential, especially with Bickham back from his torn ACL (which happened in fall camp last year). I will never have faith in our safeties as I've been burned (pun intended) by them one too many times.

Our starting O-Line could be decent, but there's not much depth. RB should be fine with Stewart carrying the load and Austin Walter and Esukpa as complimentary pieces.

QB-Who knows? I'm not optimistic though.

WR is really thin. Kylen Granson needs to build on a good freshman season and Lance Wright needs to stay healthy. Aaron Cepheus had a good spring too. There are other bodies, but nothing proven. Bummer that's Temi Alaka transferred to USF.

Right. WR, other than Grayson, doesn't look good and not much faith in our QB's passing skills. I think Wells has a chance to be a good option at TE this year, as a 6-6, 260lb senior, though he only has 6 catches in his career. We also have several big bodied WR's, which could be decent possession types, but so far they haven't panned out, and without much separation, we'd need a pretty accurate QB to use them. They should be decent blockers, so if we don't find the good passer QB, best best is to focus on the run/option game and go with the best running QB, hoping Stewart and Walter have their best seasons.

Even if we're much better, I can't imagine us winning more than six games. The schedule is brutal. If these coaches find a way to get us to six wins, they deserve a lot of credit. They have their hands full. UTEP is the game of the year. If we lose that one, it'll be impossible to climb out of the annual September hole. We must beat UTEP, FIU, and Army, or we finish with a losing record.

I'm glad that as an incoming freshman I didn't read Dave Campbell's Texas Football and that this chat board wasn't around. I'd have been hopelessly dejected before even going to a single Rice game. Although I can bear witness to seeing a couple dozen Rice freshmen crying at our first game every year, wondering why they hadn't gone to UT instead. As it happened, I had the opportunity to refresh new hope for no good reason for Rice football's fortunes every single August. There's always next year.

I'm curious to hear who everyone is thinking will be our starting QB. Maybe I'll do a summer poll and let people predict who the signal caller will be.

(06-25-2017 04:13 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: [ -> ]I'm curious to hear who everyone is thinking will be our starting QB. Maybe I'll do a summer poll and let people predict who the signal caller will be.

No idea on the starting QB, nor a preference. I just find it strange that DCTF lists Stehling as a key loss.

(06-25-2017 09:24 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-25-2017 04:13 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: [ -> ]I'm curious to hear who everyone is thinking will be our starting QB. Maybe I'll do a summer poll and let people predict who the signal caller will be.

No idea on the starting QB, nor a preference. I just find it strange that DCTF lists Stehling as a key loss.

Haha, yep. Our best QB performance of the year was Tyner vs. UTEP. Of course, he then looked terrible vs. Stanford the next week.

Glaesmann was best during spring ball.

(06-25-2017 09:28 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-25-2017 09:24 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-25-2017 04:13 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: [ -> ]I'm curious to hear who everyone is thinking will be our starting QB. Maybe I'll do a summer poll and let people predict who the signal caller will be.

No idea on the starting QB, nor a preference. I just find it strange that DCTF lists Stehling as a key loss.

Haha, yep. Our best QB performance of the year was Tyner vs. UTEP. Of course, he then looked terrible vs. Stanford the next week.

Glaesmann was best during spring ball.

I liked Stehling, and expected him to do better. He just couldn't get over the the hump, it seemed.

I think we have good QBs, but which one will be best, I have no idea.

I have no clue who it should be. I know who I want it to be, but I suppose the coaching staff who spends hours upon hours with these guys know who it should be. I reckon that's good enough for me. Wishing for QB and team success whoever it is.

Sent from my SM-G920V using CSNbbs mobile app

Stehling has seniority, so I'm betting the house it's his job to lose and, even then, he'll still get that first opportunity.

(06-26-2017 09:21 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote: [ -> ]Stehling has seniority, so I'm betting the house it's his job to lose and, even then, he'll still get that first opportunity.

That would be interesting, since he graduated and exhausted his eligibility.

(06-26-2017 09:21 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote: [ -> ]Stehling has seniority, so I'm betting the house it's his job to lose and, even then, he'll still get that first opportunity.

What does your house look like? I have a ranch.

It will be interesting to watch the QB competition in August, especially to see who is No. 1 first. One of the more interesting Augusts in recent memory.

I don't have a favorite, I just hope we do not end up with a three-headed monster.

(06-26-2017 09:39 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: [ -> ]It will be interesting to watch the QB competition in August, especially to see who is No. 1 first. One of the more interesting Augusts in recent memory.

I don't have a favorite, I just hope we do not end up with a three-headed monster.

I don't expect stellar qb play out of the gate, but it would be nice to have a QB who can grow on the field for more than 2 years. Last couple times we've been able to watch that have worked out alright (Clement, McHargue). We've got 5 (?) QB's on the roster now, including 2 freshmen, a redshirt freshman, and 2 redshirt sophomores. No upperclassmen. We've got the opportunity to rebuild with a QB, so I'm looking forward to that.

(06-26-2017 09:30 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-26-2017 09:21 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote: [ -> ]Stehling has seniority, so I'm betting the house it's his job to lose and, even then, he'll still get that first opportunity.

What does your house look like? I have a ranch.

Do you really want to live in Chicago? I guess you can lease it out.

(06-26-2017 10:19 AM)07owl Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-26-2017 09:39 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: [ -> ]It will be interesting to watch the QB competition in August, especially to see who is No. 1 first. One of the more interesting Augusts in recent memory.

I don't have a favorite, I just hope we do not end up with a three-headed monster.

I don't expect stellar qb play out of the gate, but it would be nice to have a QB who can grow on the field for more than 2 years. Last couple times we've been able to watch that have worked out alright (Clement, McHargue). We've got 5 (?) QB's on the roster now, including 2 freshmen, a redshirt freshman, and 2 redshirt sophomores. No upperclassmen. We've got the opportunity to rebuild with a QB, so I'm looking forward to that.

With the state of the FB program as a whole as of season end, shouldn't the above highlighted sentence simply read:

We've got the opportunity to rebuild [Period][Full Stop]

I mean, why put the qualifier "with a QB" at the end?