Season Scouting Report Rice Owls (8/31/2013) Last Year Went 7-6 last year, but won 6 of their

r last 7 games including a strong win against Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. Rice has a top 50 football program this year Returns 18 out of 22 starters Offense Type o Runs the spread, but focuses more on the run o Have a solid offense this year o Sometimes run the wild cat o Returning 8 starters Quarterback o Taylor McHarguegreat at scrambling and running. Struggles with throwing, but worked quite a bit on that this offseason Running-back o Their deepest position o Charles Ross was the starter last year and has good size and speed o Expect to see frosh Darik Dillard step up this year Wide Receiver o Jordan Taylor65 and all conference WR o Donte Moorefastest guy on team with a 4.4 second 40 Tight End o Lost their good tight ends o Moving a running-back to the position Offensive Line o Historically bad at Rice, but have recruited well in recent years and have increased size and depth o Returning all starters o Expected to be good Strengths o The run game (running-backs and quarterback) o Veteran offensive line o 3rd down conversions (last year) Weaknesses o Passing (last year) o Tight end o Pass protection o Turnovers (fumbles last year) o Red zone conversions (last year)

Defense Type o 4-2-5 defense o Has struggled mightily for the last 6 years o Teams averaged 14 yards per completion last year o Returning 10 starters o Allowed an average of 30 points per game last yearin C-USA. Defensive Line o Lost their best defensive lineman during spring practice o Lack depth and size (compared to our OL) o Have a couple of decent defensive ends Linebacker o Hard to say, but should be alright o Depending on a lot of young talent Defensive Back o Have two future NFL corner-backs (Gaines and Callahan) Gaines is the pre-season defensive player of the year for C-USA o Questions at safety, but are returning their starters Strengths o Defensive backs for run support to stop extended runs o Interior pressure o Strong cornerbacks and pass defense (in C-USA) Weaknesses o Defensive linetheir biggest area of concern o Questions at linebacker o Red zone defense o Pass defense when directed towards safeties (not CBs) Special Teams Have one of the best field goal kickers in the country (Boswell) Could be a contender for the Lou Groza Award Punter is average or less than average Key Players QBTaylor McHargue RBCharles Ross WRJordan Taylor CBsGaines and Callahan Key Matchups WRs Mike Evans and Ricky Seals-Jones against CBs Gaines and Callahan o Should be a good matchup

Our front 7 against their veteran offensive line and WR (we lost 5 our of 7 starting front 7) Our powerful running-backs (Malena, T-Will, B-Will, Tra Carson) combined with our explosive offensive line against their struggling defensive line and inexperienced linebackers.

What to Watch For Turnovers o We were 84 out of 124 for turnover margin last yearexpect Sumlin to try to change that Red Zone o Rice struggled in the red zone on both offense and defense last year lets see if that continues into this game Kicking Game o Our kicking game struggled mightily last year and our kicker, Bertolet, is still recovering from a sports herniawill he play or will we have another kicker for this game? If he does play, will he continue to struggle with the short (30-40 yard) field goals while consistently making long (50+ yard) field goals? Or will Kevin Sumlin have a different kicker for short field goals and long field goals? What Else You Should Know One of our best defensive lineman (if not the best), Kirby Ennis, is suspended for this game for a gun charge back in February. We have a new punter, Drew Kaser. We have 31 new freshmen recruitsmany of which will be utilized on defensive line, tight end, linebacker, and wide receiver. Still dont know if Johnny will play. Two incredible running-backs are now eligible to play after having to take a year off from transferring. Brandon Williams transferred from Oklahoma and Tra Carson transferred from Oregon Ricky Seals-Jones will be a breakout player this year. He is a 67, 240 pound wide receiver. Deshazer Everett and Floyd Raven will be out for this game. We now have 4 wide receivers and one tight end that are over 64. To compare, Alabamas average DB height is 60 or 61. Still looking for our backup (or starting) quarterback. Matt Joekel (pocket passer) is the only other quarterback with playing time. Freshman Kenny Hill has great potential, but would need to learn the offense very quickly if he wants to play. Looking like Matt Joekel will be the choice. Prediction *54-23 because we put in our second string in the second half

*Assuming Johnny plays

Sam Houston State (9/7/2013) Last Year Went 7-6 last year, but won 6 of their last 7 games including a strong win against Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. Rice has a top 50 football program this year Returns 18 out of 22 starters Offense Type o Runs the spread, but focuses more on the run o Have a solid offense this year o Sometimes run the wild cat o Returning 8 starters Quarterback o Taylor McHarguegreat at scrambling and running. Struggles with throwing, but worked quite a bit on that this offseason Running-back o Their deepest position o Charles Ross was the starter last year and has good size and speed o Expect to see frosh Darik Dillard step up this year Wide Receiver o Jordan Taylor65 and all conference WR o Donte Moorefastest guy on team with a 4.4 second 40 Tight End o Lost their good tight ends o Moving a running-back to the position Offensive Line o Historically bad at Rice, but have recruited well in recent years and have increased size and depth o Returning all starters o Expected to be good Strengths o The run game (running-backs and quarterback) o Veteran offensive line o 3rd down conversions (last year) Weaknesses o Passing (last year) o Tight end o Pass protection

o Turnovers (fumbles last year) o Red zone conversions (last year) Defense Type o 4-2-5 defense o Has struggled mightily for the last 6 years o Teams averaged 14 yards per completion last year o Returning 10 starters o Allowed an average of 30 points per game last yearin C-USA. Defensive Line o Lost their best defensive lineman during spring practice o Lack depth and size (compared to our OL) o Have a couple of decent defensive ends Linebacker o Hard to say, but should be alright o Depending on a lot of young talent Defensive Back o Have to future NFL corner-backs (Gaines and Callahan) Gaines is the pre-season defensive player of the year for C-USA o Questions at safety, but are returning their starters Strengths o Defensive backs for run support to stop extended runs o Interior pressure o Strong cornerbacks and pass defense (in C-USA) Weaknesses o Defensive linetheir biggest area of concern o Questions at linebacker o Red zone defense o Pass defense when directed towards safeties (not CBs) Special Teams Have one of the best field goal kickers in the country (Boswell) Could be a contender for the Lou Groza Award Punter is average or less than average Key Players QBTaylor McHargue RBCharles Ross WRJordan Taylor CBsGaines and Callahan Key Matchups WRs Mike Evans and Ricky Seals-Jones against CBs Gaines and Callahan

o Should be a good matchup Our front 7 against their veteran offensive line and WR (we lost 5 our of 7 starting front 7) Our powerful running-backs (Malena, T-Will, B-Will, Tra Carson) combined with our explosive offensive line against their struggling defensive line and inexperienced linebackers.

What to Watch For Turnovers o We were 84 out of 124 for turnover margin last yearexpect Sumlin to try to change that Red Zone o Rice struggled in the red zone on both offense and defense last year lets see if that continues into this game Kicking Game o Our kicking game struggled mightily last year and our kicker, Bertolet, is still recovering from a sports herniawill he play or will we have another kicker for this game? If he does play, will he continue to struggle with the short (30-40 yard) field goals while consistently making long (50+ yard) field goals? Or will Kevin Sumlin have a different kicker for short field goals and long field goals? What Else You Should Know One of our best defensive lineman (if not the best), Kirby Ennis, is suspended for this game for a gun charge back in February. We have a new punter, Drew Kaser. We have 31 new freshmen recruitsmany of which will be utilized on defensive line, tight end, linebacker, and wide receiver. Still dont know if Johnny will play. Two incredible running-backs are now eligible to play after having to take a year off from transferring. Brandon Williams transferred from Oklahoma and Tra Carson transferred from Oregon Ricky Seals-Jones will be a breakout player this year. He is a 67, 240 pound wide receiver. We now have 4 wide receivers and one tight end that are over 64. To compare, Alabamas average DB height is 60 or 61. Still looking for our backup (or starting) quarterback. Matt Joekel (pocket passer) is the only other quarterback with playing time. Freshman Kenny Hill has great potential, but would need to learn the offense very quickly if he wants to play. Looking like Matt Joekel will be the choice. Prediction *54-23 because we put in our second string in the second half

*Assuming Johnny plays