Rice Football: Is 2021 when Owls return to the postseason?

Nine starters return on what could be best defense in program history

Teams in the C-USA got a glimpse at how good the Owls could be on defense when they shut out Marshall and their high powered offense. They not only shut out the Thundering Herd, but held them to 3.9 yards per play and picked off Grant Wells five times. The majority of the defense returns and are looking to keep that momentum rolling heading into this season.

Up front, the Owls are bringing back all three starters and they are al expected to be even better in 2021 than they were last season. Trey Schuman, Elijah Garcia and Ikenna Enechukwu form one of the better D-lines in the conference and helped lead the way to the 40th ranked run defense.

The linebacker unit is where the playmakers on this defense will reside. Treshawn Chamberlain and Antonio Montero are back to lead the defense and they are primed to have huge seasons in 2021. Kenneth Orji and Myron Morrison are going to be the other starters at the position and they bring more talent to the table. The only guy this unit will be missing is last years starting linebacker Blaze Alldredge, who decided to transfer to Missouri.

The secondary is very talented and deep heading into the season. Standout corner Miles McCord is going to lead the secondary and is a very good playmaker. The other corner, Tre’shon Devones, is going to start opposite of McCord and he is looking to take a step forward. At safety, Kirk Lockhart is returning and he will be joined by George Nyakwol.  This defense is going to be very good and tough to go against every week.