The source for Rice sports news

Rice Football Recruiting: 2020 Early Signing Period Expectations

By

The Owls will sign their first members of the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class this week during the Early Signing Period. Here’s what to expect.

The Early Signing Period starts tomorrow, marking the first signing opportunity for the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class. The Owls started this process months ago, with safety Plae Wyatt the first to commit in February. Since then 17 additional players have jumped on board #FlightSchool20. You can view the full commitment list with player profiles here.

In the past week, Rice has picked up three commitments from transfers. Quarterback TJ McMahon and offensive lineman Adam Sheriff have chosen the Owls from the JUCO ranks. Offensive lineman Jovaun Woolford will come to South Main as a graduate transfer from Colgate.

Rice Football Recruiting

How we got here

As it currently stands, the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class is the fifth highest-rated class in Conference USA, per 247 Sports. That’s one spot shy of the Owls’ No. 4 class in 2007, the highest-rated class in program history since 247 began compiling rankings in the early 2000s.

Credit is due to the entire Rice staff, who have proven themselves to be astute evaluators of talent. Every current commit is rated three-stars by 247, but nine of them were unrated players at the time of their commitments.

Rice didn’t cherrypick from a list of established recruits, they found the talent themselves and let the rating services catch up. Rice football recruiting director Alex Brown, who was hired in April, has done an incredible job setting the stage and pulling the strings for what promises to be a tremendous crop of players.

What to expect this week

As of now, there aren’t any players currently commitment that have indicated they won’t sign this week, that includes former TCU quarterback Michael Collins, the most recent commitment prior to the Early Signing Period. Otherwise, the Owls will continue to pursue their remaining targets into the spring. The 18 already in the fold should make it official during the Early Signing Period.

Many are having signing day ceremonies at their schools. Khalan Griffin and Sean Fresch will sign at 10:30 a.m. Plae Wyatt will sign at 2:45 p.m. Others will send their letters in throughout the day. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and follow our live blog during the day for updates.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: 2020 Offensive Tackle Mike Leone commits to Owls

By

The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class has flipped a talented offensive lineman from the Northeast. Mike Leone has committed to the Owls.

More than a dozen members of the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class were under the radar prospects on the national stage. Most rating services hadn’t evaluated them yet. There was not list for the Owls to go off, instead they identified talent and got it to South Main.

Then there are guys like Hun School offensive lineman Mike Leone. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound offensive lineman is from New Jersey, about three hours away from Maryland, an ACC school that has been after Leone for a while. Not only did Leone pick the Owls over the Terps, he opted to fly down to Houston the weekend before the Early Signing Period rather than visit Maryland.

Rice Football Recruiting

Leone has bought into Mike Bloomgren’s proven track record of development in the trenches. The successes of young players like Clay Servin, Isaac Klarkowski and Cole Garcia juxtaposed with several successful transfers makes it a pretty easy sell to incoming recruits on the line.

Prior to making the flip, Leone had been committed to Yale. He maintained that commitment since July, even after Maryland offered him in October. Now he’s set to be a Rice Owl and is a rather prominent figure in a 2020 haul loaded with talent.

He and Jovaun Woolford, a grad transfer who also made his commitment this week, give Rice plenty of options at the tackle spot for 2020 and beyond. Rice is building an arsenal of high-caliber offensive lineman, setting themselves up for sustained success up front for years to come. Leone could be one of the best.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

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

By

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.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

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

By

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.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2019 Defensive Player of the Year: Treshawn Chamberlain

By

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.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts