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Rice Football Recruiting: 2020 Early Signing Day Live Blog

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The majority of the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class will become signees during the early signing period. Follow all the action here.

We’ll have all the latest news and notes from the Early Signing Period updated throughout the day. The 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class won’t be finished for another several weeks, but the Owls hope to secure the majority of their commits today.

10:26 a.m.

That’s a wrap. No additional players are expected to sign with the Owls today. Fullback Brian Hibbard and defensive lineman Jamal Marshall were the only commitments to not sign today. I still have full confidence both with sign with the Owls come February.

9:05 a.m.

The west coast is represented. Cerritos quarterback TJ McMahon is in.

7:41 a.m.

Next up, a pair of dynamic playmakers on both sides of the ball. Wideout Andrew Mason and defensive end Cole Latos are Rice Owls!

7:33 a.m.

JUCO offensive lineman Adam Sheriff is the next to jump on board.

7:26 a.m.

Not slowing down any time soon. Braedon Nutter, Trey Phillippi, Sean Fresch, Plae Wyatt and Kobie Campbell are in!

7:13 a.m.

Nate Kamper is in. This guy has flown under the radar a bit since committing in April, but he might be the best pass-catching option at tight end as soon as he steps on campus. Some time in the weight room with Hans Straub could turn him into a massive weapon for the Rice offense.

7:02 a.m.

The floodgates are opening in central time. Geron Hargon and Khalan Griffin are the first two members to turn their letters of intent in to South Main.

6:50 a.m.

For the third straight year, Rice will sign a grad transfer quarterback. Former TCU signal-caller Mike Collins is the first of that trio that comes to South Main with starting experience at the Power 5 level. Rice will have plenty of options to choose from in the QB room this upcoming fall.

6:48 a.m.

A grad transfer from Colgate, Jovaun Woolford is in.

6:33 a.m.

The last of the East Coast commits is official. Mike Leone is a Rice Owl!

6:05 a.m.

The East Coast contingent kicks us off this morning. Jordan Dunbar (New York) and Jalen Reeves (Florida) are the first official members of the class. Reeves is one of the most prominent additions we expect today — had offers from LSU, Boston College, NC State, Pitt, Syracuse and others.

6:00 a.m. CST – Wednesday

Fire up the fax machines. The first signatures should be coming in soon. Players can send in their letters of intent at 7:00 a.m. local time, meaning those on the East Coast are in the clear. Times will vary depending on signing day ceremonies and availability, but expect to see several letters of intent come in early this morning.

Tuesday night

Most of the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class has been nailed down prior to the start of the Early Signing Period. The most recent list is available here. We have signing day ceremony schedules for the following commits (all times CST):

  • Khalan Griffin and Sean Fresch – 10:30 a.m.
  • Jalen Reeves – 11:00 a.m.
  • Kobie Campbell – 11:45 a.m.
  • Plae Wyatt – 2:45 p.m.

Rice has the No. 4 class entering Wednesday morning. If the Owls can maintain there position, they’ll match the highest-rated class in program history (since rankings were first aggregated around 2003). That particularly impressive for a program that’s finished 11th or worse in the last four seasons.

Make sure to stay tuned on Twitter and follow our live blog here during the day for updates. Get the latest list of the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting commits by clicking the tracker below.Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

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Rice Football Recruiting: TCU Transfer QB Michael Collins commits to Owls

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The 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class has another quarterback. A week after landing JUCO passer TJ McMahon, the Owls picked up a commitment from former TCU signal caller Michael Collins.

The quarterback position has been the weak link on offense during the Mike Bloomgren era. Rice has relied on a pair of grad transfers and a flurry of freshmen to get the job done. The results, so far, have been too often insufficient. For that reason, Rice isn’t taking any chances at the position going forward, adding two quarterbacks in the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class.

The staff quickly identified Wyatt Begeal as a top priority among the 2021 class. Begeal has been a clear target for a while now. The 2020 class has only recently come into focus. In the weeks leading up to the Early Signing Period, Rice has received commitments from Cerritos College quarterback TJ McMahon and now former TCU quarterback Michael Collins.

Collins won three state championship in Connecticut while in high school prior to enrolling at Penn. After playing sparingly in three games, he transferred to TCU where he joined a crowded quarterback room in 2017. Collins played in 10 games over the past two seasons, throwing for 1,108 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions. He made the move to Texas with the intention of playing FBS football. He’ll get another shot at fulfilling that dream at South Main.

Rice Football Recruiting

Collins is a pro-style passer with good vision and a pretty solid arm. He adds an experienced component to a quarterback room which features no other upperclassmen with meaningful field experience at the FBS level. He’s exactly the kind of guy you take a shot on for one year, hoping he can pull together his good moments into one final victorious campaign.

Taking multiple quarterbacks in one class is unusual, but the timing might just make sense for Rice this year. McMahon has three years of eligibility remaining. Collins has one. Former starter Wiley Green has three and redshirt freshmen JoVoni Johnson has four. The collective talent in the quarterback room has improved since Bloomgren arrived. Now they’ve got to find someone and stick with them.

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Rice Football Recruiting: JUCO Offensive lineman Adam Sheriff commits to Owls

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The offensive line contingent of the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class is getting bigger and better. JUCO tackle Adam Sheriff has committed to the Owls.

You can never have too many offensive linemen. That creed is truer few places than South Main. After watching true freshman walk on center Isaac Klarkowski finish out last season, the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class will not lack a sizable collection of trench-defending athletes. Even though they already have some talented prospects in the fold, the Owls continue to prioritize the position.

Rice nabbed grad transfer Jovaun Woolford from Colgate last week but didn’t ease up. 6-foot-4, 280-pound offensive tackle Adam Sheriff, a transfer from Butler Community College, was among their top targets at the position. Sheriff was on campus the final weekend before the Early Signing Period and saw all he needed to make his decision. Now he’s the latest member of an impressive haul in the trenches.Rice Football Recruiting

Sheriff had drawn interest from North Texas and Arkansas State, ultimately opting for the Owls. The addition is a nice head-to-head victory over a C-USA peer and a talented Arkansas State team that had posted a winning record in sixth consecutive seasons under head coach Blake Anderson.

 

Quarterback and offensive line were the biggest gaps the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class needed to address. With Sheriff on board, the Owls have gone a long way to filling those holes. Rice could still opt to bring in another piece to man the front lines, especially with the potential loss of Uzoma Osuji to the transfer portal.

No matter how the rest of the pieces come together, Sheriff has the potential to be a mainstay on the Rice offensive line for several years. Rice has done well with their offensive line recruits. Sheriff looks to be the next in a great line of enforcers up front.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep. 21 – The Roosties and 2019 Rice Football Season Review

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The 2019 Rice Football is complete. Carter and Matthew look back at the year and hand out The Roosties, season-long superlatives for top players and plays.

It’s been a wild ride, but the 2019 Rice Football season has reached its conclusion. In addition to the more conventional awards — Team MVP, Offensive Newcomer of the Year, Special Teams Player of the Year, etc — we’ve taken some creative liberties with these awards.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, Give a listen to Episode 21 below.

Episode 21 Notes

  • The Roost Postseason Survey — Thank you to all who have followed the podcast or the website this season. The journey has been a fun one and we’ve been glad to be here every step of the way. But we want to get better, too. Let us know what you liked and what you didn’t in this brief survey. Thanks!
  • Rice Football end of season thoughts —  Before getting to the fun, Carter and Matthew give their parting thoughts on the 2019 season. The offense had moments but was a bit underwhelming compared to preseason expectations. On the other hand, the defense had a year better than just about everyone’s expectations. On the whole, things are headed in the right direction. The tone of the offseason should once again be optimistic.
  • The Roosties
    • Favorite Play
    • Player You Were Most Wrong About
    • Most Improved Unit
    • Play/Game You Most Want to Redo
    • Player You’ll Miss the Most
    • Out of Nowhere Star
    • Most Valuable Transfer
    • Best Block
    • Most Dominant Game
    • Player You’re Most Looking Forward to in 2020

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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Rice Football 2019 Defensive Player of the Year: Treshawn Chamberlain

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The most unique positions on the Owls’ depth chart belongs to Treshawn Chamberlain. The starting viper is the Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year.

You won’t find “viper” etched on most college depth charts. Not only does Rice football employ the versatile position, but they’ve also found the perfect man for the job. 2019 Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year Treshawn Chamberlain excelled at the spot this season.

Rice defensive coordinator Brian Smith adapted the Viper position after working under Don Brown at Michigan. At its core, the position solves a problem that has been forced upon defenses in the modern era of spread offenses. How do you prepare for the pass and stop the run at the same time? Short answer: find a guy who can do both. Players like that don’t grow on trees, making finding someone with that skillset a challenge in itself.

In his role, Chamberlain has to wear multiple hats. Like the linebackers, he has to feel comfortable playing near to the line of scrimmage. At the same time, he must be prepared to drop back and cover a pass catcher. Given where he lines up on the field, that requires the speed to keep up with shifty players in the slot. Whereas some players have similar responsibilities from down to down, Chamberlain’s assignments might yo-yo back and forth within the span of a single possession.

That’s a tall order, but the expectations were clear from the start. “He brings a physical presence to the defense and [we’re] looking for some big things from him,” Smith said of Chamberlain prior to the beginning of the season. Smith knew the secondary wasn’t going to be able to make the jump it needed to without improved play across the board. Chamberlain was to serve as the linchpin, bridging the gap between the secondary and the front seven.

The specialized position came with a learning curve. Chamberlain didn’t start his first game until midway through the 2018 season. Once he did, he became a mainstay in the defensive depth chart. He registered a career-best 10 tackles at Tiger Stadium against LSU last season, paving the way for his highly anticipated 2019 campaign.

From the hit heard ’round South Main to his 64-tackle year, Chamberlain delivered every outing of 2019. He tied Defensive Newcomer of the Year Naeem Smith for the team lead in interceptions (two) and was second on the team in passes defended (five). He was everywhere on the field at once, making plays throughout the secondary and at the line of scrimmage. Chamberlain was an enforcer.

Even with those impressive numbers, it’s hard to quantify the impact a player like Chamerblain had on this defense. The energy he brought to the defense this season went far beyond the x’s and o’s. Some players stay emotionally level from start to finish. Chamberlain is a guy that embraces the intensity of the game, playing with a passion, a swagger that gives him an edge.

“It’s what the game is all about, having fun,” he said, following arguably the biggest hit of his career in the Owls’ win over North Texas. The smile Chamberlain had on that day was reflective of the journey he’d taken to get to this point.

Prior to his commitment to Rice, Chamberlain was an under the radar defender tucked away in South Carolina only hoping for the chance to play division one football. He was a member of Mike Bloomgren’s inaugural signing class. That got his foot in the door. The rest has been up to him and the results have been tremendous.

Call him a safety. Call him a linebacker. List his name anywhere you want to on the depth chart. Chamberlain is a difference-maker. Rice football wouldn’t be the same without him.

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