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2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

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Rice Baseball is set to enter Year 4 under Jose Cruz Jr with what he believes to be the Owls’ most talented team of his tenure. Can Owls take flight this season?

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. was quick to not promise the moon when he arrived on campus in the summer of 2021. He spoke then about building things the right way, acquiring talent and developing that talent within the Rice baseball culture. From there, the next step was winning games. It was always a long term plan, at least, that’s how the message was conveyed.

Three seasons in, Cruz and the Rice faithful are hoping enough of a foundation has been laid to turn those aspirational ideals into tangible wins. “We’re getting better every year, we’re getting better. The mentality is better. The athletes are better. The physiques are better,” Cruz said. “Every year we’re just going to keep getting better.”

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Rice Football Recruiting: Breaking Down the 2025 Signees – Offense

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The 2025 Rice Football Recruiting class includes several hand-picked impact players on offense. Here’s how that side of the ball stacks up.

The 2025 Rice football recruiting class began with 12 signees during the Early Signing Period, the first recruiting haul for new head coach Scott Abell. That group has since been supplemented by a wave of transfers and an additional round of high school signees on National Signing Day. Of those players, 22 are current high school seniors, and 16 play on the offensive side of the ball.

“It’s an exciting time for me,” Abell said upon welcoming his first signees in December. “These are my very first recruits that I have the opportunity to welcome here to Rice. I just can’t imagine anything better.”

When it came time to put a bow on that class in February, Abell remained just as emphatic. “Attracting the right recruits here, the right people [is] imperative. It’s the most important thing we do,” he said while introducing the class. “That means Year 1, the first opportunity to do that, it becomes incredibly important that we get make sure that we get the people part of that right.”

We’ve gone position by position breaking down each of those new people, dissecting how these Owls will help the program on the field.

* Denotes players who enrolled early in January

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** This piece has been updated to reflect new signees as of 2/5/2025 **
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2025 Rice Football Roster Analysis: January 2025 Q&A

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The Transfer Portal has closed and the 2025 Rice Football spring roster is set. Are there any gaps? Which positions need reinforcements before the fall?

New Rice football head coach Scott Abell has wrapped up a whirlwind first few weeks on the job, finalizing his staff and his initial roster before spring practices get underway in the coming weeks. Before the team gets onto the field, though, how did he and his staff do on the first pass of the roster? This month’s Q&A addresses that current state and digs into which positions made the biggest strides and a few areas potentially in need of more reinforcements.

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First, the Fine Print

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Rice Football Recruiting: OL Ian Bothwell commits to Owls

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Another trench bully has joined the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class. Offensive lineman Ian Bothwell has committed to the Owls.

National Signing Day is drawing near and the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class continues to stockpile talent. Given time to evaluate and hand-pick his targets, head coach Scott Abell and his staff keep adding to the relatively large class he inherited. One of those chosen additions came along the line. Offensive lineman Ian Bothwell has committed to the Owls.

Bothwell started to pick up some steam on the recruiting trail a year ago, landing early offers from Army, Navy and Air Force. Other FBS offers would follow from the likes of Kent State, UTEP, New Mexico and others before Rice stepped in and Bothwell shut things down in favor of the Owls.

“His proven track record to win was definitely something that was attractive,” Bothwell told The Roost, speaking of Abell. “He also seemed to have a very smart staff that seemed structured and experienced on how to run their offense.”

The addition of Bothwell rounds out a rather robust haul in the trenches. He joins fellow high school signings Erben Birkhoff, Colter Alberding and Cole Principe as well as commit Justin Michaelis and a pair of graduate transfers at the position. That’s a lot of big bodies for Abell and company to work with as they implement their new scheme.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

Standing 6-foot-5 and tipping the scales at 300 pounds, the film reflects just what one would expect from a man his size. Bothwell moves people with violence and has the requisite strength and power to win one one-on-one.

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Dominque Ennis’ big day powers Rice Women’s Basketball past Charlotte

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Everything seemed to be falling for Dominque Ennis and Rice Women’s Basketball on Saturday, who blew past Charlotte on the road.

Separation was minimal in the opening quarter when Rice women’s basketball tipped off against Charlotte on the road. Neither side led by more than three points for longer than 20 seconds of the first frame but Rice would start to ramp up the pressure in the second quarter.

Malia Fisher opened the scoring with a jumper and Maya Bokunewicz delivered a three, the exclamation points minutes just later to cap a 12-2 run that put Rice women’s basketball in the driver’s seat. The margin would stick around double-digits for the remainder of the quarter with Rice taking a 10-point advantage into the break.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 Midseason State of the Program

Charlotte would threaten briefly with a 6-0 spurt early in the third quarter, but Rice took over the game from that point onward. A combination of Sussy Ngulefac on the insider and a barrage of three-pointers from Victoria Flores and Dominique Ennis turned a close game into a blowout.

Rice led by 17 after three quarters and stretched their lead to as many as 26 points midway through the fourth. They never let up, parading past the 49ers and never allowing any serious hopes of a comeback to spark.

Final Box | Rice 84, Charlotte 60

Key takeaway | Electric Ennis

A season best 24 points from Dominque Ennis is the biggest reason this game was never close in the second half, but the big day from one of the Owls’ best shooters further underscores how essential her presence is for this team. Including Saturday, Rice women’s basketball is 3-0 when Ennis makes at least four threes and 3-1 when Ennis attempts at least eight shots from downtown.

When Ennis is clicking the entire offense opens up. Her threat from the outside opens up everything else the Owls want to do. It’s not fair to put the burden entirely on her shoulders, but it should be a reminder to this team to risk getting her enough chances to impact the game. Even when the ball isn’t going in like it was today, the threat she provides makes this team better.

Up Next: vs Tulsa (Wed, 1/29)

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