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Owls enter dead period in middle of CUSA recruiting ranks

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Rice football is looking to turn over a new leaf on the recruiting trail and so far it looks like head coach Mike Bloomgren is doing just that.

Rice football enters the dead period in the thick of the CUSA recruiting ranks. No school has a particularly large class up to this point, and there are still a little more than five months to go before the early signing period begins in December. At that point, most staffs will look to have the majority of their classes locked down. That means a lot can, and probably will change.

As far as things look right now, Rice has the No. 6 class. With three 3-stars in the fold, it seems to primarily be a numbers game. The leader, North Texas, has nine commitments. As Rice continues to grow their class they’ll continue to edge their way up the list. If the Owls add one more 3-star commitment they’ll vault from the No. 6 class to the No. 4 class. Here’s how the full ranks look:

Rice being in the middle of the recruiting standings at all is noteworthy. The Owls haven’t finished in the top six since the 2013 class and are coming off of three consecutive seasons in which they finished dead last in the conference. The progress made my Bloomgren and his staff at this point is impressive, and their class is only beginning to take shape.

If Rice wants to contend for conference championships they’ll need to improve the level of talent on the field. Finishing at the bottom of CUSA won’t be enough, and Bloomgren certainly knows that. Checking in right in the middle of the pack at this point of the race is a good start, with plenty of opportunities to turn the 2019 class into a significant milestone in Rice’s push for relevancy on the gridiron.

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Recruiting dead period begins Sunday, June 25

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Rice football recruiting is going to look a bit different over the next month as the dead period begins. What is it and how does it impact the Owls?

Coach Mike Bloomgren and his staff have put together a strong few weeks on the recruiting front. As the summer sun began to beat on the city of Houston the Owls picked up several commitments. Since June 10th the Owls have added three new faces to their 2019 class:

The commitments might not (and hopefully won’t) stop, but the way the staff goes about their recruiting efforts will look different during the coming weeks. The “dead period”, as it has come to be known, officially begins on Monday, June 25 and runs through July 24.

What is the dead period?

During the dead period, no recruits are allowed to visit schools. That means no official visits or unofficial visits. Effectively it puts a pause on recruiting weekends, camps and face-to-face meetings between recruits and coaches. What it doesn’t end are the conversations.

Although coaches can’t talk with players in-person they can still call and text recruits. You can be sure that coach Bloomgren and his staff will be just as active with their targets during the next month as they were in the weeks leading up to the dead period.

When the dead period is over there will still be a halt on official visits. These can’t resume until the regular season kicks off this fall. This will give coaches time to work with their players already on campus and get ready for the upcoming season. Unofficial visits are still allowed, but Rice will be primarily focused on working the phones and preparing for their first game against Prairie View A&M on Aug. 25.

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Head coach Matt Bragga ushers in new era for Owls

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Rice baseball has hired its 21st head coach in program history, officially introducing former Tennessee Tech head coach Matt Bragga at Reckling Park on Thursday.

It’s been a long time since Rice baseball was on the hunt for a new head coach. Any trepidation towards their first hire in nearly three decades quickly faded away thanks to the sharp smile of new head coach Matt Bragga. The jovial, passionate coaching veteran held his introductory press conference on Thursday before a packed crowd at Reckling Park. “[Rice] is an elite program in college baseball,” he said, “my expectations for what is going to happen here are high.”

Bragga doesn’t make such claims lightly. He took a Tennessee Tech program from a 15-win season when he arrived to the brink of a College World Series appearance in 2018. After defeating the Texas Longhorns in Game 1 of the Austin Regional, Bragga’s squad couldn’t quite seal the deal and deliver on the trip to the College World Series that he had promised when he took the Tennessee Tech job 15 years prior. “We got one game away from Omaha,” recalled Bragga who went on to add, “If you can do it at Tennessee Tech. We can do it big time at Rice.”

There was a time when College World Series was an annual affair for Rice baseball, but it’s been a decade since the Owls last played in Omaha. Bragga intends to use the same mentality that he used to transform Tennessee Tech at Rice, with one notable exception. Rice isn’t starting over from square one, rather, Bragga views Rice as a sleeping giant that’s ready to wake up. And that starts with the players.

“This is what you can expect from me. High energy, great passion, blue-collar work-ethic mentality, competitiveness. I love competitors. Competitors win.”

Bragga’s culture is one of respect, passion and competitiveness. In his brief moments at the podium, he hammered on those focal points. He didn’t mince words when he delivered his vision for the program going forward. “This is what you can expect from me,” he declared. “High energy, great passion, blue-collar work-ethic mentality, competitiveness. I love competitors. Competitors win.” That competition extends to not-so-friendly games of ping-pong, getting to class first and every day of practice. Everything is a competition, but it all comes with one purpose in mind – returning to Omaha.

“When the players know you love them, you can make them believe anything is possible.” That message, one of Bragga’s lasting impressions from his interview with athletic director Joe Karlgaard, was what Karlgaard shared in his opening remarks during Bragga’s introduction. And that tone, one which invoked an atmosphere of family, resonated throughout the room as Bragga continued to share his hopes for Rice baseball.

For a moment, it felt like the new head coach had been there for years. His humble sincerity was invigorating. There wasn’t any flashing lights or smokescreens. Just Bragga, who summed up the press conference with a simple, but telling statement. “I’m a baseball coach,” he said. “At the end of the day, I like to get on that field and get dirty and roll my sleeves up and go to work.”

There’s plenty to be done at Rice, but if Bragga is to be believed, it might be a shorter process than previously expected. For now, it’s time to get to work.

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2019 defensive lineman Izeya Floyd commits to the Owls

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Rice football has made the offensive and defensive lines a priority in the 2019 recruiting class, the latest addition coming in the form of defensive lineman Izeya Floyd.

More: Complete list of 2019 Rice football commits after the early signing period

The recruiting run on the offensive and the defensive lines has continued. After securing the commitment of 3-star tight end Jack Bradley on June 11 the Owls have added multiple additional pieces to the trenches. 2-star guard Regan Riddle committed to Rice on June 16 before 3-star Izeya Floyd joined him on Tuesday evening.

All three of those commitments are from the Dallas area — possible building blocks of what promises to become fertile recruiting ground for the Owls in the coming years. In the near future, Floyd is a savvy addition for the Owls.

Standing 6-foot-2 and tipping the scale at 305 pounds, Floyd has a body built for the trenches. Bloomgren and his staff were the first Texas school to take notice. Up until the Owls offered him this week, Floyd’s offers consisted largely of Ivy League schools like Harvard, Cornell, Brown, Yale and Princeton. Outside of the Ivies, Floyd also had offers from Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Air Force.

247 sports ranks Floyd as the No. 18 center in the 2019 class and the No. 303 player in the state of Texas. It’s still a bit unclear where he’ll suit up in the college ranks. He played primarily at left guard during his junior season but Bloomgren’s staff plans to play him on the defensive line.

His willingness to flip over to the other side of the ball make it seem likely that he’ll find a way to get on the field sooner rather than later. For now, he’ll join current defensive end commit Justin Moore somewhere along on the defensive front.

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2019 Linebacker Garrett Braden commits to Owls

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Rice football recruiting has gone outside the state to secure the commitment of 2019 linebacker Garrett Braden from New Canaan, CT.

More: Complete list of 2019 Rice football commits after the early signing period

Mike Bloomgren came to Houston intent on turning Rice football into a national brand. If the Owls are on par with schools like Stanford, Northwestern and Duke in the classroom the next step is to achieve equal footing on the gridiron. And that starts with a national recruiting footprint.

After reeling in a stretch of Texan commits, Rice landed their first out-of-state commitment on Wednesday with the commitment of Connecticut linebacker Garrett Braden.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker, Braden chose the Owls over several schools from around the nation. His offer list included Lafayette College, Albany, Rhode Island, Monmouth, Kent State, New Hampshire and Wofford among others.

Braden hasn’t appeared on any of the national recruiting services yet, but that doesn’t mean he can’t make an impact at Rice. The Owls will have to replace their top four tacklers this season including linebackers Emmanuel Ellerbee and DJ Green. That production has to come from somewhere, and Braden has the motor to make plays — he just needs the opportunity.

As we approach the middle of the summer Rice football sits in the middle of the pack in the CUSA recruiting ranks. Even without the inclusion of Braden, the Owls check in at No. 6 in their conference. That leaves plenty of wiggle room as the season gets near and some of the Owls’ higher profile targets make their decisions.

The saying goes, “defense wins championships”. Braden is one more tool for the coaching staff to use to that end. He’s quick, instinctive, and is willing to come all the way to Texas to be a part of what Coach Bloomgren and his staff are building at Rice. That’s an encouraging sign, and hopefully an omen of things to come.

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