Kansas Vs. Rice: Owls Depth Chart Breakdown

Owen — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:01:18 -0000

Preparation is in full swing as Kansas gets ready to host the Rice Owls and the good news is that we're looking at a short week due to the Labor Day holiday. Rice has a number of Kansas connections with former offensive line coach John Reagan calling the offensive plays. Former Jayhawks Ryan Cantrell, Adrian Mayes and AJ Steward will also return to Lawrence as part of the Owl coaching staff. We'll dive a little deeper into the Rice offense and defense as the week progresses, but today we'll kick things off with our first glance at the Rice Owl depth chart.

Offense

QB - 16 Taylor McHargue 6-1 215 Jr-2L Cedar Park/Vista Ridge - Career-best 95 yards rushing vs. UCLA
6 Driphus Jackson 6-0 200 Fr.-RS Cedar Hill/Cedar Hill

RB - 28 Charles Ross 6-1 235 Jr.-2L Schertz/Samuel Clemens
26 Turner Petersen 6-2 220 Jr.-2L Oklahoma City, Okla./Heritage
30 Jeremy Eddington 6-2 235 Jr.-2L Parris/Chisum - Led RBs with 38 yards vs. UCLA

WR-A - 2 Sam McGuffie 5-10 200 Sr.-2L Cypress/Michigan - Career high 8 catches in 1st start at WR
84 Klein Kubiak 6-1 195 Jr.-2L Houston/Strake Jesuit

WR-F - 81 Donte Moore 6-0 180 Jr.-2L Manor/Manor
83 Andre Gautreaux 6-0 195 Jr.-1L Friendswood/Friendswood

WR-B - 15 Jordan Taylor 6-5 210 So.-1L Denison/Denison - two catches for 48 yards vs. UCLA
5 Lovett Gibson 6-2 195 Fr.-RS Cedar Hill/Cedar Hill
or 4 Dennis Parks 6-2 175 Fr-HS Converse/Judson

WR-Y - 82 Luke Willson 6-5 250 Sr.-3L LaSalle, Ontario/St. Thomas of Villanova
or 88 Vance McDonald 6-5 260 Sr.-3L Winnie/East Chambers Needs
3 Taylor Cook 6-7 255 Sr.-2L Eagle Lake/ Miami

LT - 79 Jon Hodde 6-7 300 Jr.-1L Burton/Burton Made his 5th career start in opener
70 Bobby Janisch 6-5 290 Jr.-SQ Houston/Jersey Village

LG - 72 Ian Gray 6-8 340 So.1L Pearland/Pearland Second career start in opener
55 Nico Carlson 6-3 285 So.-1L Katy/Taylor

C - 53 Nate Richards 6-4 305 Jr.-TR Keller/Trinity Valley CC First career collegiate start in opener
60 Matt Simonette 6-2 285 So.-SQ Bellaire/Bellaire

RG - 76 Drew Carroll 6-4 280 So.-1L Abilene/Abilene 11th career start in opener
77 Andrew Reue 6-5 280 Fr.-RS Austin/St. Michaels Academy

RT - 74 Caleb Williams 6-3 275 Fr.-RS Thompsons/Terry First career start in collegiate debut in opener
65 Matt Wofford 6-7 300 Fr.-RS Cedar Park/Cedar Park

The first thing I look at here is the offensive line. This is a fairly inexperienced group and they are pretty young across the two deep. Size wise they aren't huge outside of left guard Ian Gray who checks in at Aslam Sterling levels. The running games seems to rely more on the quarterback position than an inconsistent running back group but that's just a a first glance reaction to what's on paper and what the Owls did in week one.

Many might remember Sam McGuffie from his youtube high school highlight reel that set off quite a frenzy up in Michigan where he initially started his career under Rich Rodriguez. McGuffie is a high level talent and will be someone to watch on Saturday.

Defense

LE - 90 Cody Bauer 6-4 255 Jr.-2L Pottsboro/Pottsboro
or 13 Tanner Leland 6-2 220 Jr.-2L Katy/Cinco Ranch

NT - 93 Hosam Shahin 6-3 290 Jr.-2L Richmond, B.C./Hugh Boyd Secondary
92 Stuart Moutanchaf 6-4 295 So.-TR Katy/Blinn JC

DT - 56 Christian Covington 6-3 290 Fr.-RS Surrey, BC (Vancouver College Prep)
99 Ross Winship 6-4 290 Fr.-RS The Woodlands, Texas/Klein

RE - 97 Jared Williams 6-2 250 Sr.-3L Huntsville/Huntsville 5 tackles, including 1 sack and FR vs. UCLA
40 Zach Patt 6-2 240 Jr.-2L Honey Grove/Honey Grove

SLB - 57 Cameron Nwosu 5-10 235 Jr-2L - NCAA record 3 blocked PATs, 9 tackles, 1 INT vs. UCLA
42 Michael Kutzler 6-0 205 Jr.-1L Fort Worth/Trinity Valley

WLB - 44 Kyle Prater 6-1 230 Sr.-1L Kerrville/LSU 9 tackles in first career start vs. UCLA
10 James Radcliffe 6-2 210 So.-1L Katy/Cinco Ranch
or 46 Nick Elder 6-0 215 Fr.-RS San Antonio/Central Catholic

SS - 11 Malcolm Hill 5-11 185 So.-1L Plano/Frisco Liberty
or 27 Gabe Baker 6-1 200 So.-1L San Antonio/MacArthur

FS - 20 Corey Frazier 6-1 210 Sr.-3L Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie
or 7 Julius White 5-10 190 So.-1L Sugar Land/Kempner

KAT - 24 Paul Porras 6-1 190 Jr.-2L Scottsdale, Ariz./Saguaro 6 tackles in opener
25 Jaylon Finner 5-10 185 So.-1L Missouri City/Elkins

LCB - 29 Bryce Callahan 5-10 180 So.-1L - 3 tackles, 2 for loss, and broke up 2 passes in opener
14 J.T. Blasingame 5-8 170 Fr.-HS Atlanta, GA/Mays made debut vs. UCLA

RCB -15 Phillip Gaines 6-1 185 Jr.-2L Converse/Judson Broke up three passes in opener
19 Alex Francis 5-9 190 Jr.-1L Missouri City/Hightower

NICKLE - 11 Malcolm Hill 5-11 185 So.-1L Plano (Frisco Liberty)

DIME - 27 Gabe Baker 6-1 200 So.-1L San Antonio/MacArthur
19 Alex Francis 5-9 190 Jr.-1L Missouri City/Hightower

Linebacker appears to be an area of strength and Rice has some decent size across the board. This will be a good test for the Kansas offensive line as some of the success in week one was attributed to a smaller FCS opponent. The front four is fairly inexperienced when it comes to starts and overall 6 defensive players made their debut for the Rice Owls in week one.

More from both sides of the ball later in the week.

SB Nation - Tanner Leland

Kansas Vs. Rice: Owls Depth Chart Breakdown