I was in Texas for a few days last week and bought my first copy of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. What a great product!
I finally got around to reading some of it today, curious especially about the old SWC teams the Razorbacks will play this year — Rice, Texas and Texas A&M.
The magazine isn’t high on Rice, stating that no team in the state was hurt more by covid last year. Rice only played five games and went 2-3.
There is a lot of talk about Rice’s 21-0 win last season at Marshall, which was its first win over a ranked team since 1997. One of the Owls’ seniors who was eligible to transfer as a graduate said that win convinced him to come back, because it solidified what its coaching staff was building toward.
A few other notes of interest about Rice from the magazine:
• Former Washington and NFL QB Marques Tuiasosopo is in his first season as the team’s offensive coordinator. He worked with Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren at Stanford in 2017. Tuiasosopo will use a fullback and a tight end regularly. The offense had 627 yards in its spring game.
• Rice is unsettled at QB. Wiley Green, who was the starter in 2019, is the frontrunner.
• There are lots of words about running back Jordan Myers, who is referred to as the team’s “Swiss Army Knife.” He scored the team’s only rushing touchdown last season and had 24 receptions in five games.
• Rice had 96 players out for spring practice, up from 47 three years ago.
• The Owls have six starters back on defense. Rice ranked third in its conference in total defense a year ago.
• I had forgotten about D.J. Arkansas, the linebacker from Denton who committed to Rice over Arkansas. Rice lost an all-conference linebacker from last season, Blaze Alldredge, who is a graduate transfer at Missouri.
• DCTF predicts a 4-8 season for Rice, with losses to Arkansas, Houston and Texas the first three weeks.