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Rice Football 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year: Cole Garcia
Rice Football 2018 Defensive Rookie of the Year: Prudy Calderon
Rice Football 2018 Offensive Player of the Year: Austin Trammell
Rice Football 2018 Defensive Player of the Year: Zach Abercrumbia
Rice Football 2018 Special Teams Player of the Year: Jack Fox
There was a full house at South Main in the final days before the Early Signing Period, which starts Wednesday, Dec. 19. In addition to the JUCO and potential grad transfers mentioned earlier in the week, several other key recruits had chances to interact with the coaches this weekend. Rice will add a few of these players to their 2019 class, soon.
Rice has been extremely selective with the players they’re targeting this cycle. Don’t get lost in the stars or their rankings, each recruit on campus this weekend has a skill set which meets a need on this team, either in the short term or in a year or two. With that said, here are a few players of note:
Rice made a lot of headway at defensive back this weekend. JUCO safety Naeem Smith came away floored from the experience, going so far as to say “Rice is all I could ever ask for and more.” He’ll be eligible to enroll in school early, making him a prime target for a decision in the next several days. The Owls are definitely in the lead for his recruitment.
Smith might not be the only DB Rice picks up soon. Tre Richardson, who was also on campus this
In the wake of the departure of Justin Moore from the 2019 class, the staff has focused their attention on press on Josh Pearcy. If there was a priority target from the weekend, this one might be it. Pearcy is quick, explosive and projects well at the next level. The defensive line is fairly deep right now, but Pearcy could fight for immediate playing time.
This race got much more interesting over the weekend. As recently as this week Leverett, a grad transfer from NC Central, started to draw interest from an SEC program. Winning the battle for Leverett, who plans to graduate early and enroll in classes this spring, would be a massive win for this program.
One of the most dynamic players on one of the best high school teams in the nation, Jake Bailey is a speedy slot receiver who enjoyed his time on campus. He fills a need with the departure of Austin Walter and has a fairly impressive offer list including BYU, Boston College, several Ivies
One of the more dynamic athletes who was on campus this weekend, Zane Heemsoth is being recruited as a tight end by the Owls. He played two ways in high school, switching over to outside linebacker and defensive end when the offense was off the field. A Chicago native, Heemsoth has family in the Houston area.
Hughes, also an offensive lineman, played his high school football at Cinco Ranch and is weighing his options between walking on at Rice or offers from San Diego and Louisiana College. He said it “felt like a family”, an important observation from someone who has made the short drive to South Main several times already.
Those are seven of more than a dozen players who were on campus this weekend. That list doesn’t include players like Swayze Bozeman, Ardell Brown and Adrian Bickham, all of which have recently been to campus and are drawing significant interest from the Owls.
Conservatively, I can confidently say Rice picked up two commitments this weekend. If I were projecting to the near future, it’s possible the Owls could nab as many as six more players from their efforts this month.
On the first day of fall camp Wiley Green handed the ball off to Juma Otoviano and watched his running back scampered through the hole and take off down the field for a touchdown. There were cheers from the offense, but then everyone went back to business as usual. It was just a normal practice and the scout team had scored a touchdown. Oh, how things change.
Fast forward to mid October. Starting quarterback Shawn Stankavage is out with an injury and Evan Marshman is taking reps with the starters. After a full day of practice head coach Mike Bloomgren calls for the backup quarterback to run a two-minute drill against the first team defense.
In trots Wiley Green who promptly hurls a pass between the shoulder pads of a waiting defender and holds his breath as it falls to the turf, narrowly missing an interception. The true freshman gathers his thoughts quickly and proceeds to march the offense down before firing a touchdown into the back corner of the endzone. The sideline erupted, again.
In those two innocuous moments a young team embrace an unlikely, strong-armed quarterback, implicitly promising their allegiance should he be called upon in a live game. It turns out that time would come sooner rather than later.
We struck gold with this freshman class,” he said, “They’re the kind of people that love football and they’re the ones that are going to help us build this program.
Days after Green engineered the mock comeback he was named Rice football’s starting quarterback. Green, who began the year fifth on the quarterback depth chart, started his first collegiate game in Denton, Tx against North Texas, just miles away from where he played high school football.
Green didn’t win that game, but he lifted the heavy underdogs into a one-score game in the fourth quarter. He threw for 204 yards, the second most of any Owl quarterback to that point in the season, adding a touchdown through the air and on the ground. His encore performance came a week later, throwing for 313 yards and two touchdowns against UTEP.
After sitting the next two games to preserve his redshirt, Green returned to the starting lineup against Old Dominion, leading the Owls to their first Conference USA victory under Bloomgren.
When asked about it, Bloomgren could only laugh with an unbelieving smile. Who would have known the scout team passer would earn the biggest win of his head coaching career to date? Bloomgren certainly didn’t see it coming himself, but never wavered in his belief of these young men closing his final press conference of the season with confidence. “We struck gold with this freshman class,” he said, “They’re the kind of people that love football and they’re the ones that are going to help us build this program.”
Green ended the season with 621 passing yards passing, three passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and four interceptions. If he has a strong fall camp he’ll likely be in line to start on opening day for Rice football in 2019. Not bad for someone who’s name was printed at the bottom of the depth chart in August.
As soon as the last game ended Mike Bloomgren and the coaching staff took to the road, scouring the country to add more top players to the fold. During the week they’ve been on the road. The weekends, for the most part, have been reserved for bringing recruits to campus for visits.
Over the first two weekends of
In addition to commits Jawan King, Zane Knipe, Jack Bradley
I’ll dig into the high school targets at a later time, let’s tackle the JUCO and grad potential grad transfers first. These four players will be on campus this weekend. Each has the potential to play a meaningful role for Rice this season:
The departure of senior Sam Pierce at the right tackle position leaves a hole to fill on the line which has quickly become extremely young. Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing in at 300 pounds, Leverett was a three-year starter at NC Central. He could slide into the starting left tackle position in the fall.
A California native, Justice Shelton-Mosley intends to transfer from Harvard after graduating with a degree in Economics. He’ll leave the Crimson third all-time in school history in catches (148) and receiving yards (1,921). He also returned punts and kicks, scoring three. He provides top-level speed and would be a tremendous weapon to add to special teams with the departure of Austin Walter.
A former walk-on at South Carolina, Morgan Vest is a Leander, Tx native who
An All-Conference player in two seasons at the JUCO level, Smith might be the most impactful player the Owls will have on campus this weekend. At 5-foot-11, 195 pounds he’s a natural safety, but the staff believes he has the athleticism to play corner as well. That flexibility is a plus, but his best trait by far is his willingness to make hard-hitting tackles at the line of scrimmage. Smith could be a game-changer for this secondary. His other offers include Northern Iowa and Old Dominion.
Rice is going to continue to build through strong recruiting classes built primarily of four-year type players. JUCO and Grad transfers have a narrower span of
| Home | Away |
| Wake Forest | Army |
| Baylor | UTSA |
| Southern Miss | UAB |
| North Texas | UTEP |
| Louisiana Tech | Middle Tennessee |
| Marshall | |
| Texas (at NRG Stadium) |
Rice played 13 games last season, but the majority of them were away from Rice stadium. They’ll get the reverse in 2019, with seven games played in Houston including one game against the Texas Longhorns at NRG Stadium. The mass of burnt orange will still be plentiful, but staying home is always preferable to a long road trip.
Rice gets three Power 5 opponents in Houston in 2019: Baylor, Wake Forest
All three of these games come relatively early in the season giving the Owls a chance to get a quick jump on their opponent as both sides work out the kinks. Rice took Hawaii and Houston to the brink early on in 2018, coming a few plays short.
The final two teams added to the schedule were Marshall and Middle Tennessee. The Owls couldn’t have gotten much more challenging of a draw. MTSU was only CUSA team to beat eventual conference champion UAB. Rick Stockstill was named CUSA Coach of the Year for his efforts. The Blue Raiders will need to find a new starting quarterback, but they’ll still be a
Marshall finished as the runner up in the East in 2018, narrowly missing out on a divisional crown themselves. The Thundering Herd have gone to bowl games in five of the last six seasons, winning double-digit games in three of those seasons under current head coach Doc Holliday.