HOUSTON (Aug. 31) –John Thomas Shepherd stood a bit tentatively at the podium, a somewhat unfamiliar   point of view for the Rice fifth-year signal caller, as he gamely took on questions from all comers, the man of the hour as he prepares to lead his  Owl team in its season opener at UAB Saturday.

Almost always the bridesmaid, seldom the bride, the articulate but  soft- spoken senior reminded his questioners that this doesn’t mark the first time he’s been figuratively thrown to the wolves.  “I started at UCLA as a redshirt freshman,”  he pointed out, “if you want to talk about being thrown out on the field and having to be ready to go.”

He was speaking of a game in 2006 in which both first-string quarterback Chase Clement and backup Joel Armstrong were hobbled going into Rice’s second game of the season, this one at the Rose Bowl before a hostile crowd and a long way from home, after Chase got his thumb jammed in a narrow, 31-30 loss to UH in the home season opener.

By comparison, John Thomas was a babe in the woods when so first thrust into action, but he performed admirably and utterly without fear, as the Owls put a serious scare into the UCLAns before finally falling, 26-16.

Since then, there were other times like that,  even better ones, like the time J T came in for the injured Chase and heaved the ball as far as he could downfield to a leaping Jarett Dillard, who made a career highlight-film catch to set up the winning field goal in a last-gasp, 18-17 home win over East Carolina.

The point being:  John Thomas Shepherd is no stranger to pressure and brooks no reluctance in being the key man on the field for the Rice offense.  No, the only thing needed to  get him to where he needed to be was conditioning and repetitions.  And he took care of a lot of that this summer, he said.

“I’ve worked hard; I’ve stayed here all summer,” he said.   “I didn’t go home at all, which is tough for me, because, you know, I’m from Arkansas and it’s a special place for me and I love going back there.”

“I gave that up to stay down here and prepare.  And I feel good.”

Of course Rice head coach David Bailiff ‘only’ named John Thomas as a co-starter along with the talented transfer from Alabama, Nick Fanuzzi – but in so doing gave a signal that if and when the game’s on the line Saturday,  he’ll be comfortable and ready to go with his senior man under.

“What John does,” Coach Bailiff said, “he has the dimension that, when he’s in there, he can throw the ball very well, but if they’re covered, he can run with the ball extremely well, too – especially when he’s flushed out.”

“We just know that John’s got great feet, and he’s led this team before.  John’s in his fifth year at Rice, but he’s also in his third year in the same offense.  And he’s been  a  great team leader.”

And Coach Bailiff’s senior man under will be comfortable and ready to go as well.

“Working out during the whole offseason,” J T said, “my mindset was that I was going to be the starting quarterback  -- even though I was aware of the competition that was coming on, I had to prepare as if I knew I was going to be the guy, in order to be ready to go when the time comes.”

“It’s really not so different than playing behind Chase these last few years.  Each game, I knew he was the guy, but if he went out I also knew that it was necessary for me to step up.  So my perspective really hasn’t changed; I’m not worried about any other player who went before me – all I can control is myself, and being the best that I can be.”

Besides, he added, it’s much less nerve-wracking to know one’s role before the opening kickoff, rather than facing the unknown of possibly being thrown in there as a pinch-hitter, not even warmed up, at an instant’s notice.

On the field Saturday, Nick and John Thomas will be having to step into the shoes of Rice’s most storied quarterback of recent years in Chase Clement, who literally broke all-time NCAA records in playing battery mate with his All-American wide receiver, Jarett Dillard.  Not to mention a few plays he made with a guy named James Casey.

“I don’t think you can replace guys like JD and James and Chase," J T said, "but we’ve got a talented group of receivers and running backs – young guys that we’re going  to have to spread the ball around a bit more to, but that actually can be a good thing.”

“They’re not thinking about replacing JD, they’re just going to be going out there glad to  be able to show what they can do.”

The Owls showed steady improvement throughout spring and fall drills when it came to ball distribution and souping up the running game, J T said, and that means there won’t be just quite so much pressure on two or three guys to make the offense work.

An added advantage of longevity is that the El Dorado native actually has gotten the opportunity to see at least a couple of his teammates from a multi-generational perspective.  That long view makes him confident about the abilities of the running backs who’ll be lining up behind him, he said.

Take for instance the surprise starter, Tyler Smith.  “You know, I played with his older brother, and he was a great player – and Tyler reminds me a lot of Q.”

Shep was speaking, of course, of recent grad and NFL journeyman running back Quinton Smith,  who  in 2006 was instrumental in helping Rice to its first bowl season in decades as a senior running back.  “Tyler’s not as big as Q, but he’s got some of the same moves.”

‘We have a lot depth at running back, so no matter who’s in there, I’ll have confidence in those guys, and feel good about their ability to move the chains.”

All in all, at this point, both he and the rest of his teams are just glad they’re finally in a position to take out some hostility on some guys wearing a different-colored jersey – this eight months of whack-a-mole against your own teammates sure gets old.

“We’re tired of beating each other up  -- you know, I don’t get touched much, but the other guys are sure tired of that,” J T quipped, to the chuckles of the audience.

“I appreciate the opportunity Coach has given me to play; it makes it worthwhile to have stuck around here.  I’m just excited to have the opportunity.”

--PTH

HOUSTON (Aug. 28) – The irony is inescapable in the fact that the 2009 Rice Owls open their season in as crucial a ‘must-win’ league game as they have faced in many a year.

Or at least since last year, anyway, when the Flock opened at home against SMU and achieved liftoff for a ten-win campaign with a convincing victory.

Yet at the same time, the Flock stands to commence the defense of its heart-pounding 2008 campaign on the road against a team which, well, let’s say, doesn’t quicken the pulse of old time Owl fans the way Texas, Houston, or even for that matter SMU would.

In opening their season Saturday, Sept. 5, the Owls travel to the land of kudzu and rusted out Bessemer Converters as they take on the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers, a team that, as recently as 1990, wasn’t even playing the game of football, at any level.

In kicking off against the Owls, UAB commences its 19^th year of college football, 14 of them at the 1A level, or whatever they’re calling it these days, and even in local renown, it runs a very poor second to the Alabama Crimson Tide, and some say it even comes in third in state behind the Troy Online Correspondence School Trojans.

UAB may be a young and less than covered-in-glory program, but it will be a seasoned group of veterans that lines up against the Owls on the floor of cavernous Legion Field come Saturday week.

The Blazers return 18 starters, total, from a group that last year only went 4-8, but had a strong finishing kick in winning two out of their last three. with their only loss during that skein being a four-point decision to Conference USA champion East Carolina.

This season, all 11 starters on offense return, including veteran quarterback Joe Webb.

Moreover, the outfit from Birmingham returns 51 of 65 men who lettered on last year’s team, and there’s no shortage of raw talent inhabiting both the offensive and the defensive units.

UAB returns youngsters who've been thrown into the fire

"The good thing is, that the last two years, we have played a lot of freshmen and many of them have started," said third-year UAB head coach Neil Callaway. "Now, those guys are juniors and sophomores with some experience. I hope that will help us this season."

Those underclassmen are led at the quarterback spot by senior Webb, who, at 6-4, 220 pounds, has the size, speed, and skills to hurt enemy offenses with his improvisations, and is a dual threat every time he takes a snap. He is one of only two returning quarterbacks in the nation who passed for more than 2,000 yards and ran for more than 1,000 during the 2008 season.

His 1,021 total ‘08 rushing totals set a C-USA single-season record for ground yardage by a quarterback, breaking the old mark by more than 300 yards. Webb accounted for 21 of UAB's 31 TDs in 2008, passing for 10 and rushing for 11.

If the big guy has an Achilles Heel, however, it lay in his more than occasional inconsistency. Webb tossed 16 interceptions last season and also had some inopportune fumbles.

"Joe is a tremendous leader for us, and a tremendous athlete," said Coach Callaway. "What Joe has to work on more than anything are turnovers. He's a big part of our offense. As much as he handles the ball and is involved in what we're doing, he's got to take care of it."

Hmmm....hear that, Bradshaw, Solly and Sendejo?

A lot of height at the WR spot for UAB

Rice secondary men will have their hands full with a bevy of talented Blazer wide receivers. UAB returns six wideouts from last season, including Frantrell Forrest (6-2, 195, Jr.) who has been the team's top pass catcher each of the past two seasons, both in terms of receptions and yards. He caught 49 passes for 563 yards and five touchdowns as a freshman in 2007 and followed that up with 42 catches for 536 yards and two touchdowns. Those aren’t exactly Jarett Dillard-like statistics, but the guy can hurt a defense.

Other speedy UAB receivers include the lanky Mario Wright (6-5, 210, Jr.), who has started 18 games in his first two seasons. He caught 20 balls for 243 yards and one touchdown last year. Then there’s Roddell Carter (6-3, 215, Jr.), who hauled in 16 catches for 206 yards in 2008 with his best games coming against Houston (4 for 74) and Marshall (3 for 54).

Three more Blazer wide receivers eclipse the six-foot height mark, with senior Mark Ferrell at 6-2, 215, Mike Jones, who’s a 6-1, 185-pound junior, and 6-2 Juco transfer Nick Adams. So the Owl secondary will be working against a comparative height disadvantage, come Saturday.

There’s also decent size at the tight end in Zach Lankford (6-4, 250, Sr.) and Jeffery Anderson (6-3, 255, Jr.) – but neither of them have sported marquee statistics or demonstrated big-play capability.

The rushing game is a bit more of a question mark for UAB, once one gets beyond the obvious scrambling ability of quarterback Joe Webb. Last year, the Blazers finished fourth in Conference USA in rushing yards per game (168.9 ypg), but Webb accounted for more than half of that.

Lining up behind him will be senior Rashaud Slaughter (5-9, 185 pounds) who led the team with 514 yards and four TDs last season. One may also expect to see Justin Brooks, a 5-11, 215-pound junior, a punishing runner who had a strong November last season.

UAB returns its entire starting offensive line as well, led by 6-2, 290-pound senior center Jake Seitz, who is on the Rimington Award watch list. The Blazers also welcome back 6-7, 295-pound Matt McCants, who excelled as a freshman in ‘07 but had to pass on the 2008 season while he brought his grades up (translation: he had to start attending classes again).

One could continue with heights, weights and career starts of a whole number of UAB’s big ‘ol boys, but, hey, they’re offensive linemen; you’d quickly become bored with the exercise.

So instead, let’s switch sides to the defense.

''08 UAB defense started out porous, improved as season went on

For a good part of last year’s campaign, the UAB defense was, shall we say, a bit porous, to say the least. The Blazers coughed up 43 points and 568 yards a game over their first three starts. But by the time they got to November, things were much improved on the defensive side of the ledger, as UAB yielded an average of only 14 points and 288 yards in the final three games of the season.

Immediately, UAB coaches point to youth as the culprit. "Defensively, at the first part of the season, it was obvious we struggled," Coach Callaway told press. "We were a very young, very immature defensive football team. But I do think we really improved as the season went along. The first couple of games, we couldn't stop anyone. By the time we got to the end of the year, I thought we were playing pretty well defensively. And I think a lot of the reason we struggled early is that we were playing a lot of freshmen."

Those freshmen will be sophomores this season, but they’ll still need senior leadership, and thus it came as a blow to the UAB defensive effort when it was learned late this spring that senior DE Joe Happe was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and therefore has had to give up football. UAB coaches hope that Coffeyville, Kansas, CC transfer Derek Slaughter (6-2, 245, Jr.) will pick up the slack left by his unfortunate and unexpected early retirement.

The interior DL is in somewhat better shape for the Blazers, as both of last year’s starters return in D.J. Reese (6-4, 280, Jr.) and Tim Davis (6-0, 270, Jr.). Reese has started 23 consecutive games over the last two seasons. He had 31 tackles last season with 2.5 TFLs. Davis started nine games in ‘08 after he logged 10 starts as a freshman the year before.

UAB will line up against the Owls without the services of its all-conference linebacker Joe Henderson, who capped his career in 2008 as the team's leading tackler, with 87 on the season. Now, the plot thins. Keon Harris (5-11, 205, Jr.) returns as the Blazers' most experienced linebacker after starting seven games in 2008. Harris finished the season as the team's number three tackler with 47, including 22 solos.

Beyond that, expect to see some inexperienced hands at the linebacker position when the Blazers line up on defense next Saturday – something the Owls need to exploit.

UAB secondary suffered personnel  losses to graduation

The most experienced position on the team in 2008 – the secondary – now finds itself as perhaps the department that was hit hardest by graduation, or perhaps instead we should say, "de-matriculation."

Will Dunbar, the Blazer starter for most of last season at free safety, and Matt Taylor, who manned the strong safety spot, both have, er, "de-matriculated." With Dunbar and Taylor gone, the Blazers will be looking for immediate help from their newcomers at this position.

At corner, the Blazers will miss all-conference CB Kevin Sanders who started 41 games during his career at UAB and led the nation in interceptions as a senior in 2008 with seven.

But three cornerbacks who saw playing time in 2008 return this season. Brandon Carlisle (5-10, 185, Sr.) is the most experienced returnee among the corners, having registered 86 tackles over the past two seasons.

Two Blazers who saw extensive time in 2008 as first-year players were Terrell Springs (5-9, 180, So.) and Andre Hicks (5-9, 175, So.). Springs made seven starts, including the last six games, and finished with 32 tackles.

Also returning are Marquis Coleman (6-1, 185, So.) and Ugonna Amarikwa (6-0, 180, So.), who both saw limited duty in the defensive backfield last fall. Coleman had 14 tackles on the season while Amarikwa led the team in fumbles recovered with three.

In sum, a lot of these guys have the raw skills but Callaway has relied heavily on the junior college ranks for shoring up his defense, so one may expect that UAB’s secondary will include weapons which are not among the sharpest knives in the drawer.

On special teams, the Blazers are having to replace Swayze Waters, who earned all-conference accolades last season as a punter and placekicker. He also handled kickoff duties. The Blazers ranked number 13 nationally in net punting in 2008 while Waters ranked 16^th individually in NCAA punting and ninth in field goals per game.

As for this year’s kicking game, Trey Ragland (5-11, 175, So.) handled the primary kicking duties in the spring and will contend for the team's number one spot. He’s joined by late signee Josh Zahn (6-0, 190, Fr.) of Highland High School in Gilbert, Ariz.

The Blazers not only have to find a replacement at punter and placekicker, but they also had seniors last season taking care of the long snapper duties, in Jeff Hamby, and holder, in Cameron Cowart.

So how about maybe a blocked punt or field goal attempt or two, huh, D?

--PTH

Nick Fanuzzi lets one go as Scott Solomon closes in (PTH photo)

Andrew Sendejo breaks up pass in the end zone intended for Corbin Smither (MA photo)

True freshman Cody Bauer wrestgles down Marcus Knox as Tanner Shuck moves in  (MA photo)