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Rice Football Recruiting 2021: Owls extend new wave of offers

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The first new batch of summer offers for the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class was handed out on Wednesday evening. Here’s a bit more info on the newest names to know.

The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class but most of its base this spring. Eight of the Owls’ nine current commitments came between March 8 and April 30. The only summer commitment to date came from quarterback Shawqi Itraish. Rice as offered two players since April: Chandler AZ wide receiver Jalen Richmond and Park City UT lineman Coco Lukrich.

Rice made their most expansive swathe of offers of the summer on Wednesday evening. They offered five players. Here’s a bit more on each of the new names and how they might fit in the 2021 class.

All of these names have been added to the offer tracker.

RB Evan Jackson – Woodland, GA

A quick look at Jackson’s highlights shows you how dynamic an athlete he is. A high school quarterback with plenty of speed, he projects as a running back at the next level. Rice would be open to playing him at corner, too. Frankly, he’s you’d want to get on the field. His quickness and intelligence helped earn him a track offer from Stanford.

WR Troy Lewis – Matoaca, VA

Rice has emphasized speed in recent recruiting classes, particularly with the younger wave of receiving options. Troy Lewis is built differently. He’s 6-foot-3 and plays big. Someone is going to have fill the gap left by Christian McStravick and Brad Rozner and players with good hands and great height are few and far between.

CB Ore Adeyo – Mansfield, TX

Adeyo could probably play a few positions in the secondary, but he’s already and impressive corner. Rice needs guys that can play on an island and win one-on-one battles. He moves well and plays with an edge, perfect attributes for someone who has to make his own way on the edge.

Saf Joshua Williams – Linden, AL

Joshua Williams is more of a true safety but has some flexibility to play all of the spots in the Rice defense. That flexibility is a trait the Owls have coveted on the recruiting trail. He’s a four-sport athlete.

Saf Walker Warncke – Needville, TX

High school teammate of current Rice commit Blake Boenisch, Warncke has some position flexibility. Wherever he lines up, he’s going to run through people and does not shy away from contact. He’s one of two Texas offers in the Owls made tonight (Adeyi).

Saf Marcus Williams – Hoover, AL

A highschool linebacker, Williams would probably fall into a Viper role at Rice — think Treshawn Chamberlain. He’s athletic with good vision when the ball is in the air. And he can lower his shoulder and deliver the big hit.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep. 38 – UTEP Football Preview with Adrian Broaddus

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The Roost Podcast welcomes Adrian Broaddus who covers UTEP Football for ESPN 600 El Paso and shares a big announcement concerning the site.

Rice Football opponent previews continue this week as we enter the summer months in earnest. After covering reigning Conference USA Champ UAB last week with AL.com’s Evan Dudley, we moved to the opposite end of the conference standings. This week’s guest is Adrian Broaddus who covers UTEP football for ESPN 600 El Paso.

From what the fans are saying to reasons to have hope in Dana Dimel and the Miners, we covered it all. We also drew some interesting parallels between the rebuilds at Rice and at UTEP. Prior to diving into the Miners, Matthew announces the launch of The Roost’s Patreon page. Then he and Carter discuss the latest in COVID-19 and college athletics.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to our chat with Adrian Broaddus on Episode 38.

Episode 38 Notes

  • Housekeeping — Thanks to all of you who have followed the show on Twitter and left a review on iTunes. It’s quick, but it makes a difference. Make sure you follow Adrian Broaddus on Twitter and let him know you enjoyed having him on the pod.
  • Subscribe on Patreon — If you enjoy the site and want to be a part of what we’re building at The Roost, please consider supporting us on Patreon. All who join the Starting Lineup tier or higher by July 1 receive a free copy of the 2020 Rice Football Preview.
  • COVID-19 updates — Houston brought athletes back to campus without testing everyone and promptly shut down their voluntary workouts. What ramifications could that have across the country?
  • Adrian Broaddus joins the show — Adrian shares his insight on UTEP football under the direction of Dana Dimel and what to expect from the Miners in 2020, including:
    • What success looks like for UTEP football in 2020
    • Potential breakout stars for the Miners this season
    • Whether or not Dimel will complete his five-year contract
    • The second edition of the Lightning Round

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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The Roost is on Patreon: Subscribe Now!

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We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our Patreon page, allowing our readers and members of the Rice community to support The Roost.

Subscribers will get exclusive access to practice reports, recruiting updates, special analysis and more. If you’ve enjoyed following us over the past few years or you’ve come across us recently, please consider supporting us as we bring you the best news and analysis of Rice sports on the internet.

Become a Patron!

Have questions, check out our FAQ. Here’s a little bit of what to expect below.

The Tiers

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Don’t want to upgrade for a higher tier right now but still want to support The Roost? Every dollar helps.

Starting Lineup – $10
Access to all site content.

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For the diehards. Limited availability. Exclusive perks.
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Rice Athletics: Owls have no plans to cut sports

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Athletic departments across the country are trimming back. Rice Athletics has no plans to cut sports and will keep its 14 teams intact.

Rice Athletics does not intend to cut any of its sponsored athletic teams. In fact, dropping a sport was never on the table at Rice. “It’s just not been part of our calculus at all,” Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard said.

The rationale for the ease of that decision hinges on how college athletics are currently structured. Rice fields 14 varsity sports, the minimum required by the NCAA to retain D1 status.

Dropping a sport to save money in the current environment would require Rice to get a waiver, which likely would be temporary. The ramifications of that decision are currently on display at Central Michigan.

CMU went below the required six men’s sports when it opted to drop the it’s men’s track and field this spring. To prevent the loss of their D1 status, they applied for a waiver which was granted in early June. Athletic Director Michael Alford noted that the waiver applied to the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years. If Central Michigan intends to maintain it’s D1 status beyond that, they’ll have to add another men’s sport or get another waiver.

Rice wasn’t interested in playing that game. Given the infrastructure and athletes already in place on campus, cutting back on a program for such a brief period of time might create more problems than it solves. Central Michigan may very well decide to reinstate its men’s track program in two years.

That said, the cancelation of the NCAA Tournament put universities across the nation in a tough spot. Many depend on revenue distributions from that marquee spring event. Losing that check put budgets everywhere under the microscope.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

That might have been enough to spur change on its own, but the dark cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to loom over the upcoming academic calendar. It quickly became clear that more changes were on the way.

Here’s a brief list of D1 programs that have been eliminated during the past four months:

  • Old Dominion: Wrestling
  • Central Michigan: Men’s track and field
  • Cincinnati: Men’s soccer
  • FIU: Men’s track and field (reported, not announced yet by school)
  • Akron: Men’s cross country, men’s golf and women’s tennis
  • Furman: Baseball and men’s lacrosse
  • Wisconsin Green-Bay: Men’s and women’s tennis
  • East Carolina: Men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s swimming and diving
  • App State: Men’s soccer, men’s tennis and men’s track and field
  • Wright State: Softball, men’s and women’s tennis
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Rice Baseball: Way too early look at the 2021 pitching staff

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The 2021 Rice baseball starting rotation might look different next year, but the Owls look to have avoided significant losses to the MLB on the mound.

The NCAA’s decision to award an extra year of eligibility to spring sport seniors could come into play here as well. There hasn’t been much in the way of definite statements as to which players will (or won’t) be returning to Reckling Park next season. For now, we’ll assume most players will.

With that in mind. Here’s what our lineup projection looked like entering the 2020 season.

Projected Starting Rotation as of Jan 31

  1. Alex De Leon, RHP
  2. Roel Garcia, RHP
  3. Kel Bordwine, RHP
  4. Dalton Wood, RHP
  5. Drake Greenwood, RHP

For the time being, none of these five have announced plans to be anywhere else in 2021. That includes Garcia, who likely would have been a draft pick had the draft not been severely shortened and his health afford him more chances on the rubber this past spring.

2021 Projected Starting Rotation

  1. Roel Garcia, RHP
  2. Blake Brogdon, RHP
  3. Dalton Wood, RHP
  4. Alex DeLeon, RHP
  5. Kel Bordwine, RHP

Garcia and Wood’s almost nonexistent usage in 2020 was driven by injuries. With another full offseason (and more) to recover, both should challenge for weekend rotation spots next season. That would make DeLeon the man on the bubble after Brogdon impressed in his first few turns through the rotation in 2020. His 4.19 ERA was the second-best among all weekend starters except for Drake Greenwood’s 3.94.

The Bullpen

The bullpen had a lot of unknowns entering 2020. Some of those were answered. Brandon Deskins came on strong. Cristian Cienfuegos, Garret Zaskoda and Joshua Larzabal each had extended looks. All four will likely factor into the bullpen usage in some way in 2021. Who else earns key roles will depend on what happens with fall practice and preseason scrimmages.

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