They’re going to pump you up

It's a team effort in the Rice weight room (Mark Anderson photo)
McKnight, Beauchamp work
to transform Owl physiques

That's the way the ball bounces.... ...Unpredictably, that is, as Rice head coach David Bailiff counsels one of his linebackers during spring drills (PTH photo)

By Mark Anderson

Yes, he is switching positions from tight end to defensive tackle, but that’s a minor transformation compared to the one that he has already undergone. Moss has been transformed physically, mentally, and emotionally by the Hans und Franz of the Rice coach staff – the strength and conditioning coaches Yancy McKnight and Adam Beauchamp.

Will Moss' transformation from a schoolboy to that of a Division I college football player started when Yancy and Adam were added to the Rice staff. "When Yancy first came in, we were a little too blubbery, I guess he thought," Will told us. "What he tried to do was strip is down to get us physically and mentally tough and hard. Once he had accomplished that, he began working on technique and making us powerful."

Moss pointed out once Yancy had accomplished that, the attention turned from getting in shape to increasing size. "This year, he got to bulk us up a little bit more," he added.

That would appear to be a rather modest assessment, because, as of today, Will Moss is one that Yancy points to as one of the strongest players on the team. When Moss arrived, he bench pressed 385 pounds, squatted 400, and power-cleaned 300 pounds. Today, Will squats 450 pounds, benches 407--the third highest on the team at the end of the summer session—and power clears 320 pounds. That’s an additional 92 pounds in those three areas for Will since Yancy arrived.

The benchmark for Yancy:  Power Clean

One standard used to measure strength for a football player for many years now is how much a player can bench press. According to Yancy, his standard of a player’s strength doesn’t come by using the bench-press as the benchmark. His standard is the power-clean.

While Moss may in fact be one of the strongest, McKnight measures who is the strongest not by how much weight they can lift, but first by the player’s weight and how much he lifts in comparison to his body weight. "I think that’s fairer," Yancy told us. Coach McKnight and Coach Beauchamp want to encourage each player to do their best in the weight room no matter what their body weight might be. Going by that measurement has some eye-opening results. By those standards, the strongest Owl, pound for pound, is Brian Raines.

This is rather surprising when you consider that Brian is coming off a shoulder injury that he played with all year in 2006. After having it repaired surgically in the off-season, many would not expect Raines to be rated the strongest Owl pound for pound at this point. It is a credit to Brian’s work ethic, and to the strength and conditioning staff that would bring Raines this far in the off-season. Raines has also added twenty pounds to his frame this off-season, and now weighs in at 225 instead of 205.

You might say Raines has been supersized—minus the Big Macs.

Will and Brian are not the only strong men on this team. Twenty-three players at this writing are able to power-clear 300 pounds. One of those twenty-three is punter/kicker Luke Juist. You read that right—Juist can power clean over 300 pounds. Take one look at him now, and as McKnight said, "He’s big enough to play linebacker." At 6’1" and 210 pounds, Yancy isn’t kidding, either. But as strong as Luke Juist is, he’s not in the top five, according to Yancy and Adam.

Another one who is impressive in the power-clean is Jarett Dillard. Dillard power-cleans 315 pounds—that’s 140 pounds more than he weighs. Ever wonder why defenders go flying when Dillard stiff-arms them? You now have your answer.

Players credit strength coach for last year's last-minute wins

When you talk to the players about last season, and the last minute wins over UAB, ECU, and SMU, the talk doesn’t turn toward the coaching staff that was here. Instead, pretty much to a man they credit Yancy McKnight and Adam Beauchamp for preparing them for those moments.

"Not only were we physically ready, but we were mentally prepared to handle whatever our opponents threw at us." Moss said. He added, "Whenever we got down to those really tough close games, we had been in those tough situations on the field with Yancy before," he pointed out. "They would put us through stuff every day that tested us and put us through the grind. When we got in those tough situations in a game, we knew that we’d been through tougher and we could come out of it."

"They’ve got us pumped up," Robby Heos, senior offensive lineman told us. "We’re a lot stronger, a lot faster. Half the team is power cleaning over 300 pounds now, and it’s exciting. We’re all explosive, everyone is confident about next year."

What Coach McKnight and Coach Beauchamp have done with this team goes beyond how much a player can bench press or squat, however. This team has what they refer to as agility. Players have to start from motionless to explosive in a single step. That’s where the other side of the strength and conditioning staff trains every player not just to move, but to do it quickly.

One of the ways that Coach McKnight and Coach Beauchamp accomplish this is speed and agility training on the field. Last Tuesday, for instance, there were four stations set up, with each station addressing a particular area. When you combine all four stations, every move that a football player makes on the field had been addressed.

"You’ve got to have that straight ahead speed," Coach Beauchamp said. He then asked, "How often do you run straight ahead for a long period of time? We spend a lot of time training that multi-directional speed."

These agility and speed drills have one other thing factored into then—reacting to a situation on the field. "It’s not about going from cone to cone. It’s about being able to react to a different set of commands," Coach Beauchamp said. If you are fast but cannot react, your speed is useless on a football field. "They have to be able to react and get out of those multi-movements into a different movement," Beauchamp said.

In the off-season workouts, however, agility and explosiveness are addressed in a number of ways. One drill that the players go through is starting by sitting still on a seat about knee-level to them. On signal, they go from that chair to a vertical jump—from 42 inches to some as high as 46 inches to land on a padded area. You would expect guys like Jarett Dillard to excel in this. But what about someone like veteran offensive lineman David Berken? David has increased his explosiveness by being able to do this as well. The rest of the offensive and defensive linemen have done the same.

Results of S&C seen on the field

Last year was unquestionably one of the most exciting seasons in many years on Main Street with fantastic finishes over UAB, ECU, and SMU. While the "x’s and o’s" had something to do with those finishes, senior Robby Heos credits those last second wins to the off-season preparation the team went through with Coaches McKnight and Beauchamp.

"Yeah, definitely, if it weren’t for them, those last second finishes wouldn’t have happened for us," Robby told the Webletter. "I think with that extra endurance, that extra boost of energy, just by having Yancy and Coach Beauchamp in there with us in the weight room, and keeping us going, it got us going all the way through the fourth quarter and even a fifth quarter."

Talent can only take you as far as your endurance level. The Owls were able to pull out fourth quarter wins because they had been physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared through the Tour of Duty that took place in mid-February through March, and a demanding summer program for the first time.

It is said that success is when preparation meets opportunity. Opportunity came knocking last year, and because they were prepared, they were able to go through the door of success for the first time as a team.

Coach Beauchamp, when told what the players said about the reason for the success of last year, smiled and said, "That’s great, and we appreciate that. That’s a great statement from our kids." But Beauchamp very quickly insisted, "Those kids are the reason we won games last year. What they invested, in the program in the winter to summer, and even into the season is a testament to those games."

"The groundwork was laid in January," Beauchamp said.

When Coach McKnight and Coach Beauchamp joined Rice early in 2006, everyone—the players, coaches, and fans—wanted different results than the previous year. It’s said that to do the same thing and expect different results is insanity.

Yancy McKnight and Adam Beauchamp are rational men. They knew things had to change. So how did they do it?

Coach McKnight pointed to changing the way things were done training wise as a key to the change. "What we expect out if them, as far as their effort, things like that, and by doing things right and being held accountable," Yancy said. "I’m not saying that’s what they weren’t doing before, but that’s how we do stuff.

"I think the kids’ work ethic was always there. I just think it needed to be amped up a few notches," said Coach McKnight."

"Amped up" might be a good description for it, especially if you ever walk in the weight room. "I think as a strength staff last year, that’s what we did," McKnight continued. "Training at a different intensity level, where the expectations are a little higher [of the players].

"Also, just including the summer program was obviously a big difference. I think that was evident going into summer camp," McKnight explained.

Coach Beauchamp added, "It’s the environment we set for these guys, whether it being the weight room, or out running, or whatever it is. We try to prepare them for a football situation, and it is an intense environment, and that’s what we try to simulate on a daily basis."

Frosh get introduction  to weight room

Jake Shaw and Kramer Lucio are just two of the incoming freshmen players for Rice this season. When asked about the effects that Yancy and Adam were having on them already, both smiled.

Kramer Lucio, a defensive lineman, talked about his introduction to Yancy and Adam. He smiled and said, "They push you pretty hard. They get you ready for the season." One thing that does happen is Coach Beauchamp works especially with the incoming freshmen to prepare them for a new world called college football. As Kramer put it, "They’re getting us freshmen ready, because we haven’t experienced college football yet."

Jake Hicks, an offensive lineman, noted several changes since he’s been on campus. "When we came in, we were used to the high school way of doing things, which is a lot slower, and a lot slower paced," Hicks told us. "They gave us about four weeks to get ready to join the varsity. And in that four weeks, we had to learn how to get directions faster, and learn how to move quicker and stay motivated."

When asked if he could tell a difference since he started in the summer, Jake said, "You can see the results within four weeks. You can see you start breathing harder later, and your muscles start to burn out a lot later."

Hicks isn’t the only one noticing results during the summer. Robby Heos has taken notice. "I’ve seen some big changes in the offensive line, especially with the new guys that are coming in. There’s a lot of guys that are already getting stronger. They’ve been here two months, so I can see a big change in two months," said Heos.  

Perhaps something hidden from view in all this is something that begins in the weight room and shows up on the field— in that weight room, these young men can better be molded into a team. These guys don’t have headphones on while they’re doing their weight-lifting. They’re paying attention and applauding the efforts and accomplishments that happen in the weight room.

This writer got to witness this first-hand last Friday as Marcus Knox was trying to set a personal record for bench press at 392 pounds. As Marcus lowered the weights down they hit his chest—and if you have ever had that happen with that much weight, you know how it hurts. As Marcus tried to press the weight bacjk up and lock his arms, it seemed that for seconds, neither the weight nor Marcus was moving, in a struggle to see who would be the victor.

As this struggle took place, teammates came to Marcus’ side. With Yancy and his teammates encouraging him on, slowly the weights began to go up until Marcus locked his arms in triumph, to the loud cheers of Yancy and his teammates.

Last year, there was a close bond between the players on the Rice football team. That bond didn’t happen over two-a-day workouts. It began in the weight room, working with Yancy McKnight and Adam Beauchamp.

"Our guys are going to come into camp, give great effort, and be motivated—encourage one another at all times, because that’s what we demand and expect from them every day in what we’re doing," Coach Beauchamp said.

New day dawns at Rice
for second straight year

Rice fans are hoping for a few more scenes like this one, as yet another new coaching era commences (Photo by Ed Cuccia)

All aspects of physical acuity get tested by Rice strength coaches (Mark Anderson photo)

HOUSTON (July 22) -- Another year, another era.

After residing firmly within the realm of mediocre stability -- or is it stable mediocrity -- for well over a decade, the Rice football program has been the subject of more turmoil in the past 18 months than the Croatian Parliament.

After sweating through two coaching changes in a year's time -- both with more than their share of histrionics -- Rice football die-hards look forward, with 2007 fall drills just around the corner, to a time when improvement, spelled in terms of wins and bowl games, doesn't have to come at the price of stomach-turning twists and treachery.

New head football coach David Bailiff has done his share of moving around over the past few years -- his tenure at Texas State lasted for three seasons -- but he gives all the signals of a guy who can become as firm a fixture on the Rice campus as Willie's statue, or to put it in terms of an even greater icon, legendary Owl baseball coach Wayne Graham.

Rice trustee and former football letterman Bucky Allshouse said the choice was obvious back in January when university fathers were faced with another hasty coaching search.

"When David came in the second day, he just blew us away," Bucky said shortly after the hire. "Everything we found out about him was just superb and there was no doubt him from the very beginning. This guy's going to build upon our success and make it even better."

In the six-odd months since Coach Bailiff has arrived, he's continued to impress observers by saying the right things and doing the right things, albeit within a much less flashy style than that of his predecessor.

"I think we're on track," Coach Bailiff told us recent, just for instance. "And I just like the enthusiasm and the personality that these guys show up with every day."

Coach sends Rice players pounding the pavement

David Bailiff was known for his community involvement as the head man in San Marcos, and if any of you West U., Southampton or Braeswood residents were home for dinner on the right day last week, you probably found yourself the subject of a surprise visit from some very big young men wearing blue and grey t-shirts and handing out game-day coupons.

Sure enough, the new Rice head man had his entire team, for the second time since his arrival on South Main, combing the local neighborhoods on foot.

"It's critical that we reach out," Coach explained. "We want to be the local team. People, adults, are already Longhorns, they're already Aggies; there's nothing you can do about that."

"I don't like eating at McDonalds but I eat there all the time because I have twin boys and they demand it. So the greater relationships we can develop in the local neighborhoods and in the elementary schools -- if we can the kids waking up in West U Saturday morning demanding of their Aggie or U of H parents that they take them out to the Rice Owls football game, we can make this a neighborhood program for all the right reasons."

Having three well-scrubbed, well-spoke and polite young men standing on one's front porch asking you to come out and support them as they play is a rare sight in today's world of Division 1A football, where in places like, oh, say like Austin, neighborhood residents are much more likely seeing their local pampered gridiron prima donas running through their back yards with a television set under each arm.

But that's just part of a Rice football player's basic education under the Bailiff program.

"Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano," is more than a quote from a dead language around the Flock dressing rooms and study halls. Rice's team leaders on the field also tend to be among its best students in the classroom as well.

The Institute recently earned the Conference USA Institutional Excellence Award for the second straight year -- it's given to the C-USA institution with the highest grade point average during the current academic year for all student-athletes in conference- sponsored sports.

The Owl football team had the highest average GPA of any gridiron squad in the league -- and that's with a roster laden with engineering majors and no jelly-roll, just-for-jocks program.

That academic bent helped Owl players to pick up yet another offensive and defensive system with relative ease during spring drills.

"It's language; the guys have to learn our language," Coach Bailiff said, speaking of the basic elements of any offensive and defensive scheme. "Once they get the nomenclature, they're OK. What we've done is blended some of their language last year with our own language, especially offensively."

Offensively, it's same plays but with different names

Speaking after April's spring game, Rice quarterback and linch-pin Chase Clement said the transition in the spring went relatively smoothly, and added that he was expecting more progress to be made come two-a-days in August.

"It's been, really, a fairly easy transition," he said, speaking of the move from from OC Major Applewhite's spread offense to a substantially identical, but differently-drawn-up passing attack headed by this year's Rice offensive coordinator, Tom Herman.

"We're doing a lot of the same things we were doing last year, only with a different terminology," he added.

The defensive changes added by Coach Bailiff and his well-traveled DC Chuck Driesbach were more substantial, however. But the implementation of a 4-2 front in place of a 3-3 alignment was one that was eagerly welcomed by Owl defenders.

"Everything's new; we're running a different name, a different technique," Rice senior DL George Chukwu told us, "but everybody's more comfortable with the 4-2-5. With four defensive linemen instead of three, those big gaps between the ends and the nose guard aren't there. There's only a gap-and-a-half."

"We're learning it, and we're happy about the changes."

A lot of Rice's success this coming season will stand upon the health status of those two players. As goes Chase Clement, so also will go the Rice offense. Clhase played in only eight games as a sophomore in 2006 because of a jammed thumb he suffered in the season opener against Houston and a cracked collarbone he picked up in the East Carolina game.

The Owls went 7-1 in those games, and that's a statistic that speaks for itself.

And it's pretty much the same thing on the other side of the ball with George Chukwu.

In fact, the slogans "Keep Chase Healthy" and "Let George Do It" probably ought to be posted on the tunnel walkway into Rice Stadium this fall.

Coaching staff making early inroads on recruiting trail

The Owls are thinner than they'd like to be at several positions, not the least of which are indeed the quarterback spot and the defensive line. But the Rice coaching staff has been out combing the bushes furiously, this time around, employing the early-commitment method much moreso than any prior Rice coaching staff.

Recruiting to a school like Rice demands such an approach, Coach Bailiff told us.

"All of our coaches are great recruiters," he said. They have all recruited Texas at some point. In addition, Chuck Driesbach has worked at Wake Forest; he's coached at Cornell."

"Darrell Patterson came from Stanford. Immediately those guys brought some ideas on how some of the recruiting needs to be done at places like Stanford and Rice."

"And that's really accelerated our efforts. And you don't bring in these great coaches and throttle them back. You turn them loose. You want them coming up with ideas."

In consequence, Rice already has garnered six verbal commitments among schoolboys who'll tee it up for their high school senior year this fall, with a couple more potential Owls said to be on the verge of committing.

All in all, that's encouraging news to the Rice faithful as they watch the clock tick down what's stacking up to be perhaps the most eagerly anticipated football seaosn in many a year.

--P.T.H.

No lack of activities
over summer break

Rice head coach David Bailiff has arranged for a full slate of summer school activities for Owl football players (PTH photo)

HOUSTON (May 4) – Rice head football coach David Bailiff is organizing his players for a pair of initiatives that comprise what he termed an ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ approach to the looming summer off-season.

"We want our players to have opportunities to get out in the community and be ambassadors for Rice football," he said Thursday.

"In order to do this, we have set-up two different opportunities for our guys to get in front of hundreds of local little league football players in the Houston area," he added. "These free clinics will be put on by our players, organized by position, and we’ve strongly encouraged our student-athletes to come back for these two events and be a great role model for these young football players." 

The first clinic will take place Tuesday, May 22^nd, at Sienna Plantation Soccer Fields from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Then on Wednesday, May 23^rd, the program will reconvene at Rice Stadium, once again from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Both of the clinics are free to area youngsters.

Parents who are interested in having one or more of their youngsters participate, or who desire further information, may contact Chris Stacy at cstacy@rice.edu or call 713-443-5677.

(Note that these short programs are in addition to Coach Bailiff’s regular football summer camps, for which information may be obtained by checking out the brochure on the RiceOwls.com website.)

A full slate of summer school activities for both veterans and newcomers is in the works. Many of our Owl players, including the bulk of the incoming freshmen already have made plans to stay on campus in order to take summer school classes, either at Rice or at other area universities.  Meanwhile, each of them will be working out independently, and to the limited degree NCAA guidelines allow workouts with Yancey McKnight and others of Rice's strength and conditioning staff.

Will Rice College has been designated Summer College ‘07 for the Owl footballers and the bunking up and chowing down will take place there.

Incoming Slimes (that’s the word for Rice freshman, for you uninitiated) will arrive on campus starting Saturday, June 2^nd. The first Slime team meeting will take placing the following morning, and then returning veterans will move starting that Sunday afternoon.

Even will all the workout and summer school activities, numerous Owls are still in the market for summer jobs, so if any of you out there have a line on any, your input is welcome by the football coaching staff – you should feel free to contact the Rice football office at 713.348.6900 and pass on the information.

 --P.T.H.

All American? No problem....

Rice DB Chris Douglass (L) appears to have the angle on Owl pre-season All-American Jarrett
Dillard during the April 14 Blue-Grey Game, in which the defense out-pointed the offense, 26-18.
(Mark Anderson photo)

An irreplaceable legend
Veteran Rice announcer
J. Fred Duckett dies at 74

"It's a beautiful day for out-door football"

HOUSTON  (June 27) -- The airwaves and cyberspace have been replete with news of the death of Rice athletics legend J. Fred Duckett, who succumbed to leukemia at age 74 early Monday evening.

J. Fred's accomplishments and longevity are expressible most succinctly in terms of decades, having spent five of them as Rice's football announcer, four as its basketball announcer, five-plus as  a Rice trackster, announcer and track official, three as the PA man for the Houston Astros, and four more as the announcer for the Texas Relays.

And those include only his more visible exploits, those which rendered his booming voice a familiar one to generations of Texans, whose numbers count literally in the millions.

But to his many close friends in the Rice community, he was much more than the biggest, most recognizable stadium voice in sports. Too, he was a true Renaissance Man who excelled in both sports and academics as an Institute undergrad, class of  '55, who was one of Rice's first Fulbright Scholars, who easily could have opted for the long green in the insurance business but rather sustained his lifelong love of learning with a lengthy teaching career, first at St. John's and later at the Awty School.

Those friends, colleagues and schoolmates are aware of Fred's national reputation as a track and field official.  But they also know that J. Fred Duckett was simply the best public address announcer in America.  No one else came close.

We needn't recite further the many additional details of J. Fred's storied life, which has been reported elsewhere in recent days.  We do note, however, the upcoming memorialization plans. 

A visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday evening at the George H Lewis & Sons Funeral Home, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston. Then, a  Memorial Service previously scheduled for Trinity Episcopal Church fittingly has been moved to Rice's Autry Court, and will take place at 1 pm on Friday. In lieu of flowers donations can be made in J.Fred's name to any of the following: Awty International School, The "R" Association at Rice University or the Fondren Library at Rice University.

Man, are we ever going to miss that guy.

By the way, to the owner of the late model blue Buick, Texas license number XPJ347 -- your lights are on. The engine is running.  And the doors are locked.

--P.T.H.    Links to J. Fred Duckett stories....   J. Fred obituary....

Seating limited, sign up now
Rice Extra Point Club gears up for the coming season

HOUSTON (Aug. 9) -- Word from its officers has come that the Rice Extra Point Club once again will be hosting its “Dinner with Coach” series each Monday during the upcoming football season.

This was a highly popular program last year under the previous coaching regime and, as seating in the R-Room is limited, Owl fans who are interested in joining are urged to make contact and send in the tariff as soon as possible.

Here’s the basic program:  At each meeting, dinner will be served at 6:00 p.m., with a cash bar available beginning at 5:30 p.m.   Coach Bailiff will discuss upcoming opponents and review the preceding week’s game.  Each week a different position coach will join the group to talk about his players.  As always, there will be opportunities for questions and conversations with the coaches.

And there’s an added bonus this year: Coach Bailiff has scheduled Monday practices for after the formal program each week.  This will allow anyone interested the opportunity to stay and watch practice from the ‘R’ Room or go down to the field for a closer view.

With the renovation of Autry Court underway, temporary offices for some staff members have been set up at both ends of the ‘R’ Room so that means available space for the Extra Point Club dinners will be more limited than ever.  Therefore, reservations will be on a first-come, first-served basis, with payment in advance. The cost will be $240 for Extra Point Club members for the series of 12 dinners, $300 for non members. On a space-available basis, individual dinners will be $25 each.

With the limited capacity, it is expected that advance purchasers will fill the available space, so EPC founders Brett Wagner, Nancy Burch and Mike Appelbaum encourage interested Owl fans to reserve their  season pass now.

Payment can be made online by going to www.riceowls.com and clicking on Buy Tickets Online. To pay by mail, fill out the attached form and send to the address shown.

First meeting is on Monday, Aug. 27th.