Anchored by offensive lineman Marcus Page, a top five rated signee in program history, the 2026 Rice Football recruiting class represents a tremendous win for head coach Scott Abell and the Owls.
Scott Abell had been on campus for a matter of days when his first signing day arrived and while he honored every commitment in the prior class, the 2026 Rice Football recruiting class was the first group the bore his fingerprints.
“This year being kind of a full year officially now with our staff here, recruiting for schematically who we are offensively, defensively, special teams, I think is incredibly impactful,” Abell said, introducing 18 new signees to the program on Wednesday.
The class is headlined by Marcus Page, an offensive lineman from Forney, TX who flipped from Baylor this week, picking Rice over the Big XII program because of the program’s stability. But it wasn’t just Page. The 2026 class includes eight lineman, including a pair of impactful rush ends and two more on the offensive side of the ball alongside Page. That focus on big bodies was no mistake.
“Every week I’m asked, what are our keys to the game? We gotta win the line of scrimmage. It all starts there,” Abell said. “When you look at that, I think continuing to build our depth, that was really important.”
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The class also includes hand-pick skill talent and a dual-threat quarterback. Following a season in which Abell and his staff did their best to assimilate the existing roster into their own schematic ideals, the staff now has 18 new players with skillsets they believe are tailored to what this staff wants to do.
The job isn’t done just yet. The Owls will continue to look at high school options for the February window and explore collegiate transfer options when that window opens in January. As things currently stand, the class is the highest-rated in program history. And Abell and company are just getting started.
