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Rice Football Recruiting: Owls soar up rankings as 2020 class bonds

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class is becoming a family, one that’s adding talent players to it at an almost unprecedented pace.

Sunday night was a big one for the 2020 Rice football recruiting class. The Owls hosted all of their in-state commits plus a few notable targets for an unofficial visit. Given the proximity of coach Bloomgren’s house to campus, the guys were able to gather at his place to hang out and bond with each other and the coaching staff.

From all accounts, the atmosphere was fantastic and everyone had a good time. Several of the guys met face to face for the first time. The most telling comment came from running back commit Khalan Griffin:  “It’s like we are already a family.”

It would be hard for the mood to be anything less than positive given the rampant recruiting pace Rice is on right now. The Owls own the No. 50 recruiting class in the nation at the midpoint of June. That’s the second best class in Conference USA and puts them above some notable programs:
Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

  • USC (No. 53)
  • Baylor (No. 64)
  • Michigan State (No. 65)
  • SMU (No. 67)
  • UCLA (No. 75)
  • Houston (No. 87)
  • Texas Tech (No. 89)

That highly regarded class could become even better soon. Beyond forging stronger bonds with the current class, Rice made significant headway with current targets, most notably corner Ricky Johnson. The invite list was short for non-committed players. Johnson was among the top of that list.

Johnson had spoken highly of Rice since he was offered following the Adidas 3 Stripe Camp. At that point, he called Rice his top choice. The time spent with the Owls over the weekend solidified those feelings. He’s planning to take a few more visits, but Rice has cemented themselves as the unquestioned leader in his recruitment.

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Rice Football: 2020 Offensive lineman Trey Phillippi commits to Owls

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It’s a busy time for the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class, who picked up their third commit of the week with the addition of offensive lineman Trey Phillippi.

Sometimes when you know, you know. That’s the story of Rice football’s latest addition to the 2020 class, Trey Phillippi. Rice hosted a camp over the weekend with several intriguing offensive line prospects. When the staff saw Phillippi work they didn’t waste much time, extending him an offer on Saturday.

Rice was the first school to offer the 6-foot-5, offensive tackle from Montgomery, Tx. The Owls knew what they were looking for and jumped at the opportunity to get Phillippi into the fold, perhaps wrapping up the process even more quickly than they might have originally expected.

Not only was Phillipi blown away by his weekend experience and the prestige of the university, he wasn’t willing to wait more than a week before he made his pledge to the Owls. So less than a week after he received his offer, Phillip committed to Rice.

Phillipi’s decision came less than 24 hours after fellow in-state recruit Devin Gunter committed to the Owls and a few days removed from Brentwood, TN wideout Andrew Mason’s Rice declaration. That’s three coveted additions to the 2020 class in the span of three days.

Phillipi is every bit the road grader his size suggests he ought to be. He’s an enforcer who throws rushers aside with ease and wins his one on one battles at the line of scrimmage. The Owls are always out to find those who fit the Intellectual Brutality culture. Phillipi fits the bill and he’s going to do some damage in the trenches as soon as he gets to South Main.

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Rice Football: 2020 Athlete Devin Gunter commits to Owls

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class is picking up steam, grabbing their second commitment of the week from potential two-way standout Devin Gunter.

The Adidas 3 Stripe camp gave Rice football an opportunity to showcase their facilities and their brand with some of the top recruits in college football. That busy day at South Main has already paid dividends. Camp attendee and 2020 athlete Devin Gunter has committed to Rice.

The Missouri City, Tx native had nothing but good things to say following his camp experience. He was impressed with the facilities and enjoyed his time working in person with the Rice coaches. Those relationships have continued to strengthen over the last few weeks.

Gunter has a lot of film at wide receiver, but where he’ll play in college remains up in the air. The tentative plan is to start him off at corner, but his athleticism and raw speed are going to have the offensive coaches chomping at the bit to get him the ball in space and watch him work. Another D’Angelo Ellis situation where he plays two ways could be possible in at least some capacity. He’s that talented.Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

Beyond his athleticism, Gunter has legitimate track star speed. He ran a 4.47 at camp and had that time confirmed with a laser timer later this summer. Rice needs speed on the edges and Gunter is undoubtedly one of the fastest guys they’ve landed thus far.

Whether he ends up on offense or defense, Gunter is a big play guy in the making. A 6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete, he has great hands and a knack for attacking the football in the air. He’s only to get better at the next level.

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Rice Football Stat Pack: Analyzing the Owls against the spread

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Rice football was a good bet for part of 2018, but a late-season surge had the Owls outperforming the expectations from those in Vegas.

For gamblers, not all teams are created equal. Last year’s 2018 Rice football squad went 2-11 in the regular season, making a bet against the Owls a lucrative one as the team underwent an extensive rebuild. Still, Rice made the oddsmakers in Vegas work. The Owls were 7-6 against the spread, covering in five of their last six games.

Let’s give Rice a pass through the first half of the season as they worked through a new scheme with new players and new coaches. The second half of the season provides evidence Rice began to outperform expectations of the oddsmakers who, supposedly, know the sport best.

In Case You Missed It: The Roost is one-year-old

Rice won their final game of the season against Old Dominion outright, despite being 7.5-point dogs. Other than that, Rice stayed within large margins against FIU, North Texas, Louisiana Tech and LSU — and they did it with a revolving door at the quarterback position as their passers suffered from a myriad of unfortunate injuries.

Over the second half of the season, Rice went 1-5 on the field and 5-1 against the spread. On a high level, that means the Owls consistently beat the oddsmakers’ expectations. As the saying goes, they didn’t build the casinos in the desert by chance.

Vegas has proven to be pretty good at gauging the difference between two teams on any given Saturday. They’re not often wrong and when they are, it usually isn’t by all that much. Here’s how Rice faired down the stretch against the spread.

Date Opponent Spread Result Difference
10/20 Florida Intl 23 Rice -19 4
10/27 North Texas 30 Rice -24 6
11/3 TX El Paso 2 Rice -8 -6
11/10 LA Tech 24 Rice -15 9
11/17 LSU 41.5 Rice -32 9.5
11/24 Old Dominion 7.5 Rice 14 21.5

In 2019 Rice football will work on moving from covering the spread to winning on the field, but these trends should spur some optimism they’re heading in the right direction.

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Happy Birthday to The Roost

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Today marks The Roost’s 1-year birthday, something which wouldn’t have been possible without the support and engagement of the Rice Owls fanbase.

One year ago I met with an administrator from Rice. I asked for access, an open door, with the promise of telling compelling stories of the Owls from the football field to the baseball diamond and everywhere in between.

A myriad of new relationships, 450+ stories and 100+ sporting events later, The Roost is still here.

So before I write anything else, thank you.

Thank you for coming back. Thank you for engaging. And thank you for sharing The Roost with your families, friends and former classmates. As we grow, we’ll be able to do more for you, our readers (If you haven’t yet, please take 30 seconds to follow us on Facebook and Twitter and sign up for our free email newsletter). There are big plans in the works and the 2019-2020 school year, the first of which you’ll be hearing more about in the coming weeks.

If you’ve enjoyed the site, feel free to drop me a note on the forum. That’s your venue to interact with each other and me as we talk through all the comings and goings in Rice football, baseball, basketball and whatever else is on your mind.

It’s been a fun year. Let’s do it again. Go Owls.

A few personal favorites

For those who are at least a bit nostalgic, here are a few of the pieces I’ve most enjoyed working on this past athletic year.

Jack Fox ready for his next chapter and the NFL Draft

Rice WBB: Poise, pressure and trying to move on

Baseball: Coach Matt Bragga undeterred by his toughest test yet

Rice Football 2018 Postseason Awards

Gio Gentosi revitalizing the fullback position at Rice

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