Receivers need to emerge as suspension thins ranks
Following the ups and downs of his 2-11 debut, Rice coach Mike Bloomgren’s second season will open at Army on Aug. 30. In 2019, the rebuilding project will continue. But Bloomgren and his staff have more pieces in place with a year under their belts. Still, questions remain. They’ll aim to answer some of those when camp opens Thursday. Here are five things do watch:
Going Green
1 Rice players are known for their intellect, but Bloomgren’s approach to last year’s redshirt rule was as smart as any. Several players received valuable experience and maintained a year of eligibility in the process.
Quarterback Wiley Green was one of those.
As the anticipated frontrunner, he’ll fight to retain the starting job with tough competition from Harvard graduate transfer Tom Stewart, who earned AllIvy League honorable mention a season ago.
Indefinite absence
2 The wide receiver position already was an area of concern for Rice heading into this past offseason. To help assuage those concerns, Bloomgren and his staff mined the junior college ranks and found Bradley Rozner, a juco All-American with 13 touchdowns last year.
But last week, the receiving corps took a significant step back when the school announced that Aaron Cephus was indefinitely suspended for a violation of team policies — a suspension that could last well into the season.
Austin Trammell, last year’s leading receiver, is expected to pair with Rozner as the quarterback’s primary targets. Whoever starts under center also will have options at tight end, including the dynamic Jordan Myers. But the team will lean on less-productive veterans (including Rhett Cardwell) and talented newcomers (including freshman receiver Zane Knipe) to help compensate for Cephus’ lost production.
Applying pressure
3 Coordinator Brian Smith’s defense occasionally showed glimpses of dominance last year, despite being gashed for 446.1 yards per game. At its best, the unit was able to bring pressure from multiple directions — linebackers and defensive backs accounted for 65 percent of the team’s sacks in 2018 — which resulted in three times as many takeaways compared to the previous year.
Bloomgren converted Anthony Ekpe from linebacker to defensive end to generate more pressure after he led the team with six sacks in 2018. Now that he’s healthy, defensive lineman Myles Adams dominated in spring ball and is expected to be a key contributor in a group that lost Roe Wilkins and captain Zach Abercumbia.
Defensive trenches
4 Speaking of Abercrumbia, the team will miss his runstopping qualities.
Inside, the defensive line lacks depth and size behind Elijah Garcia. But that opens the door for highlytouted true freshmen De’Braylon Carroll and Izeya Floyd (the line’s only 300pounder) to make an immediate impact.
Special teams continuity
5 Jack Fox, now with the Kansas City Chiefs, became something of a cult hero at Rice last year — a comment on his skill but perhaps the team’s broader lack of production on offense as well.
Overall, Rice special teams became a noticeable force under last year’s coordinator Pete Lembo. When Lembo moved on to Memphis, Bloomgren appointed former running backs coach Drew Svoboda in hopes of continuing Lembo’s gains with the team’s kickers, punters and coverage units.
Svoboda doesn’t intend to reinvent the wheel, but the team will need to find an answer at kicker, whether it be true freshman Zach Hoban or redshirt sophomore Will Harrison. The team is perhaps more secure at punter, where Bloomgren feels the winner (between former TCU punter Adam Nunez and former walk-on Chris Barnes) could vie for allconference honors.