(08-25-2014 02:58 PM)mrbig Wrote:  Looking at this depth chart makes me pretty excited about 2015. I'm still very excited about 2014, don't get me wrong, but always nice to see a healthy number of "Fr.-HS" and "Fr.-RS" on the 2-deep, even when some of those guys only made it because of injury issues. It would be great if Rice Football was to the point where there are no more "rebuilding" years.

Yeah, the RB depth is just ridiculous. I mean, I knew what we had coming back, but it is still awesome to look at. Just can wear teams down.

It is too bad that we don't see these guys on the depth chart: Blasingame (CB), DJ Green (LB), Trevor Jones (DL) or Grant Peterson (DE). It seems that all of these guys will see significant minutes this year.

(08-25-2014 02:15 PM)talon owl Wrote:  Depth Chart for the game:




Interesting that after all this back-and-forth over where Hill would play he's back listed at corner opposite Callahan. Blasingame oddly absent.

Something tells me this will look different by mid season if not sooner...looks like a conservative approach to the selection

The secondary, for pass coverage will be a weakness, especially if DE/pass rush is also weak. I don't expect ND to throw it all over the place, but we need to be ready for that. If I were them I'd throw a lot to their slot WR. Last season, even with both Gaines and Callahan, UH exploited that. Have to be prepared - when ND moves their best or fastest WR's to the slot, we need to put Callahan in the slot to counter. Otherwise we'll see major mismatches. Finner, Baker don't have the speed to defend long routes. Hill at the other CB is not bad, though I prefer him at safety, he has experience and size. But I'm not sure what kind of offense we'll see from ND. 4 WR sets could also expose us.

None of the injuries are DB's fault. If Taylor is not 100% I might still suit him up, but wouldn't count on him playing much.

Ian Gray at left tackle...at least we have plebty of size and experience on the o-line. I hope he can move quickly enough to not let quick DE's get around him. O-line could be a strength against ND's relatively questionable D-line. We need to establish run and hope DJ can make some plays thorugh the air. Conversely, their o-line looks to be pretty good while our DE's are not proven at all.

If we have Taylor back, we'll be as close to 100% healthy as we'll be all season. So overall we should feel fine with this depth chart.

Matt Simonette and Gabe Baker are the team captain.

The five starting interior linemen have 12 letters between them.

(08-25-2014 06:54 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The five starting interior linemen have 12 letters between them.

This is why we will be really good this year. My belief is that the O is only as good as the guys in the trenches.