Jo Chavez holds the VIPER · Starter spot in Rice Owls’s viper room. Where he sits among the room’s front-line roles:

Jo Chavez is a viper from Folsom, California who transferred to Rice from Saddleback College. At Saddleback in 2024, he earned second-team All-Southern League honors with 47 tackles, three tackles for loss, one interception, and two pass breakups. In his first season with the Owls in 2025, Chavez appeared in 12 of 13 games with five starts, recording 40 total tackles, 20 solo tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one pass deflection, and one quarterback hurry. He recorded 13 tackles against South Florida and totaled 28 tackles over his final five games.