When the Rice Owls launched a coaching search in the fall of 2024, one of the objectives of the search involved implementing a unique, signature brand of football in the American Conference. Scott Abell provided that, installing his Rice gun choice scheme — a spread option attack which inflicted plenty of damage for Davidson at the FCS level.
Rice’s top two quarterbacks in 2025 — Chase Jenkins and Drew Devillier — were not Abell recruits nor transfers, but rather, incumbents from the previous coaching
regime. Neither committed to the program with visions of conducting a spread option offense in their college days. When both quarterbacks entered the portal prior to the Owls’ Jan. 2 Armed Forces Bowl vs. Texas State, Abell needed to locate the perfect engineer to his 2026 offense — a unit which ran north of 74 percent of the time in 2025.
He identified Jacurri Brown, a former 4-star dual threat quarterback recruit who spent two seasons at Miami (FL) and another two at UCF. Brown amassed three starts with the Hurricanes and two with the Knights, accruing valuable college experience across the Sunshine State. Despite not operating as a full-time starter at either stop, there were flashes of excellence. He delivered three touchdown strikes in his first career start vs. Georgia Tech in 2022. Two years later against Iowa State, he rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns in a game.
But after two colleges and four years, Brown wanted more than just flashes. With another trip to the transfer portal, the allure of expanded playing time was a significant driving force for the quarterback, and Rice provided an opportunity to reprove himself.
“I can just go out and put a good couple years, good film, show my athletic ability, and show I can play football because I haven’t really played a whole season since high school,” Brown said. “I’ve been either put into situations where I either come in as the backup or been injured, so to really put it out for 12 games no matter the competition, no matter where we’re at it — it’s good for me.”
Brown never captained an option-style offense before but willingly accepted the challenge at his new home in Houston, TX. A more than capable runner, the 6’4”, 2220 pound quarterback owns 891 collegiate rushing yards on a 6.0 average, as well as eight rushing touchdowns to his name — rushing for 60+ yards in six different contests. However, he quickly learned there is an art to Rice’s methodical offense, and there was an adaptation phase from the time he arrived in January through the spring showcase on April 10.
“Off rip, me personally, it was prideful things,” Brown said of the challenges adjusting to the option. “Things I thought I might knew instead of taking a better perpsective and looking at it from other coaches’ lens. I had to put away stuff I learned and just be a sponge, soaking up everything. But I think it’s fun. I learned a lot from run game scheme, and even in the pass game, there are some things I learned to pick up from Coach Abell and things I’ve taught him too. I think it’s good to have that type of relationship with my head coach where we can bounce ideas off each other. The challenging thing was looking at the run schemes and piecing it all together and putting everything together. But from when I got here in January until now, I think I’m lightyears apart of where I started at.”
Abell was sold on the former 4-star QB’s athletic ability from the instant he entered the portal. However, through spring practice, the second-year head coach learned more about a different side of Brown, recognizing his contagious positivity and willingness to learn. Abell believes these qualities make him a seamless fit for a program eyeing to manufacture a winning culture.
“His God-given talents jump out at you when you watch him play football, but when we began the process with him in January, the things that jumped out were his maturity and personality, and that has carried over maybe even better and bigger than I could ever imagine,” Abell said. “He’s come into our program incredibly humble, wanting to earn the job and not wanting to be given anything. He shows up and is the first in the meeting room. He has a great attitude, engages with everyone in the program. He’s been a huge bit of fresh air for us, providing positive leadership from day one.”
Brown received the majority of first team reps in the spring session, but the fifth-year quarterback remains in a quarterback competition with UNLV transfer Gael Ochoa and incumbent backups Lucas Scheerhorn and Patrick Crayton Jr. Even through the competition, the former Miami (FL) and UCF QB is bringing a positive and inclusive demeanor to the room, hoping his presence can shift the narrative of a Rice program searching for its first winning season since 2014.
“The attention to detail here is way higher than any place I’ve ever been,” Brown said. “The discipline and the want to be out here to get better — they want to be out here with each other and they want to compete. It’s fun. You always gotta have fun with it, and I think everybody out here is enjoying playing this game that we love.”
