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Rice Football Recruiting: JT Daniels to transfer to Owls

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Former five-star recruit JT Daniels is the newest member of the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class, starting the early signing period with a bang.

The 2023 Rice Football recruiting class got off to a roaring start on the eve of the Early Signing Period. First reported by Pete Thamel, former five-star quarterback JT Daniels is set to transfer to Rice.

Even before his inclusion in the rankings, the 2023 class was already trending toward the highest rated in program history. Now Daniels — who incidentally will become the highest-rated player to ever play for Rice football since recruiting rankings were introduced in the early 2000s —  will send that rankings score even higher.

Daniels initially committed to USC out of high school and has since had stints at Georgia and West Virginia. He helped the Bulldogs win a national title in his time in Athens and brings 45 career touchdown passes and just shy of 7,000 passing yards. He’s 17-12 as a starter, most recently starting 10 games with the Mountaineers last season.

Rice has taken swings at relatively big quarterback names in the Transfer Portal before under head coach Mike Bloomgren, but this is arguably the biggest windfall the Owls have had at the position yet, based purely on the talent and resume Daniels brings with him to South Main. It’s also worth noting, as Thamel reported, Bloomgren had recruited Daniels before.

Daniels provides Rice with an influx of talent at the most important position on the field, a position Rice has struggled to find consistency at under Bloomgren thus far. If things work out for the best, all parties might have found exactly the pairing they need for a productive future in the American Athletic Conference

There’s more… Stay tuned to our Early Signing Period live blog for live updates on the 2023 class as it unfolds. Who knows, maybe there are some more fireworks coming?

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2023 Early Signing Period Live Blog

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The majority of the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class will become signees during the Early Signing Period. Follow all the action here.

Like many others before it, the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class is shaking up to be a strong group. Rice has had three of its five highest-rated signing classes under Mike Bloomgren and they don’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.

This live tracker will follow all the latest news and updates throughout the day, with some notes along the way on the class as it is finalized. If you’re not a subscriber yet, here’s your chance.

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Which newcomers will make sizable impacts as soon as they arrive on campus like Isaiah Esdale, Chris Conti and others did this past fall? This class has plenty of talent which could find its way to the field soon.

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Now, let’s dig into the latest from the Early Signing Period, below.

Updates

9:20 p.m.

Historic Rice football recruiting class to send Owls “soaring to new heights”

5:00 p.m.

What’s next? Stay tuned later this evening for a writeup on the historic haul. In the next few days there will also be detailed position-by-position breakdowns of the entire class plus some coaches notes on the new additions.

We’ve also recorded a brief microcast on the Daniels addition for our All-American and Booster level patrons.

4:55 p.m.

It’s official. The rest of Wednesday’s haul is official and as follows:

West Virginia transfer quarterback JT Daniels is in.

https://attheroost.com/2022/12/20/rice-football-recruiting-jt-daniels-to-transfer-to-owls/

Nassau CC transfer defensive lineman Jordan Campbell is in.

Safety Ashton Ojiaku is in

Linebacker Ty Morris is in

Corner AJ Stephens is in.

Corner Jamarion Clark is in.

Southwestern transfer tight end Ethan Powell is in.

1:58 p.m.

Linebacker Beau Barton is in.

1:21 p.m.

Defensive lineman Coleman Coco is in.

12:55 p.m.

Defensive end Chris Clark is in.

12:42 p.m.

New 2024 offers are starting to come in. We won’t’ track them all here, but you can always find them and the latest updates on the 2023 signees/commits on the recruiting tracker.

12:28 p.m.

Finally, the first defender is in the fold. Not a fan of the Owls sitting on these signatures this long. Anyhow, defensive end Joseph Mutombo is in.

12:13 p.m.

Wide receiver Drayden Dickmann is in.

11:28 a.m.

Wide receiver Justin Williams is in.

11:01 a.m.

Wide receiver Landon Ransom is in.

10:34 a.m.

Quarterback Chase Jenkins is in.

10:12 a.m.

A quick recap. Nine official announcements so far.

  • OL Luke Needham
  • OL Phillip Gallegos
  • RB Daelen Alexander
  • OL Brant Banks [Nebraska]
  • OL Peyton Farmer
  • TE Matt Hall [Truman State]
  • OL Nate Bledsoe
  • OL Patrick Valent
  • TE James Falk

10:06 a.m.

The sixth (and likely final) offensive lineman in the 2023 class is official. Luke Needham is in.

9:53 a.m.

Offensive lineman Phillip Gallegos is in.

9:45 a.m.

Rice is clearly spacing out announcements today, but there are already a few commits that have publically announced they’ve signed including WR Landon Ransom and QB Chase Jenkins.

9:32 a.m.

Running back Daelen Alexander is in.

9:07 a.m.

Nebraska transfer offensive lineman Brant Banks is in.

8:47 a.m.

Another offensive lineman is official. Peyton Farmer is in.

8:36 a.m.

How on brand is this? Of the first four announced additions to the 2023 class, two are offensive linemen and two are tight ends.

8:32 a.m.

Truman State tight end Matt Hall is in.

8:14 a.m.

Offensive lineman Nate Bledsoe is in.

7:48 a.m.

Offensive lineman Patrick Valent is in.

7:13 a.m.

The first letter of intent is in! TE James Falk is official.

6:48 a.m.

While we wait for the presses to warm up, one tidbit to pass along. Rice hasn’t signed a recruiting class better than 80th in the country in program history. The Owls’ current best, from a national rankings perspective, was the No. 82 class in 2009. Rice started the day with the No. 75 class in the nation.

6:36 a.m.

As is typically the case, the majority of the incoming Owls are based in the central time zone. The class has no Florida commits as of yet, that’s usually where the fireworks have started in recent signing days. No official announcements as of yet, but 7:00 central in Texas is ticking closer and there’s going to be a lot happening then. Hang on.

Wednesday morning – 5:55 a.m.

National letters of intent can start arriving from the Eastern time zone in just a few minutes. It’s time to get this show on the road.

Tuesday night

The college football world was fixated on Rice football on Tuesday night. On the eve of the early signing period, the Owls landed former 5-star and national championship-winning quarterback JT Daniels.

https://attheroost.com/2022/12/20/rice-football-recruiting-jt-daniels-to-transfer-to-owls/

Tuesday afternoon

The initial group of December signees for the 2022 Rice Football recruiting class was a bit on the smaller side given the initial uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 waivers and their impact on future rosters. That’s not the case this time around. While there are a few spots remaining for additional Transfer Portal candidates, Rice has brought in a robust group they will sign in December.

And once again, as has been the case in year past, several Rice signees have yet to receive a 247 Sports rating. Even still, the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class has already come in strong. Here’s where the group stands as of Tuesday evening. Players are eligible to fax in their signatures starting at 7:00 a.m. local time.

Rice has the No. 3 class in Conference USA entering Wednesday morning. When accounting for the conference moves upcoming in 2023, Rice football owns the No. 7 class among all 2023 members of the AAC. The Owls were as high as fourth in the new AAC as recently as Monday evening. There’s a lot to watch as the dust settles here.

Make sure to stay tuned on Twitter and follow our live blog here during the day for updates. Get the latest list of the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting commits by clicking the tracker below.

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

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Rice Football Recruiting: Former Husker OL Brant Banks commits to Owls

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The 2023 Rice Football recruiting has added a Big Ten transfer in the trenches. Former Nebraska offensive lineman Brant Banks has committed to the Owls.

Rice Football recruiting classes have always stressed talent up front, making the addition of at least one veteran offensive lineman a must for the 2023 class. Rice has filled that need with a productive transfer from Nebraska. Houston native Brant Banks has announced he’s coming home and has committed to the Owls.

Banks played his high school ball at Westbury Christian where he played both ways before heading north to the Big Red. He originally chose Nebraska over offers from around the country. He turned down Baylor, Boston College, Cal, Houston, Pitt and Missouri.

After redshirting in 2019, Banks became a key special teams player and offensive line contributor from that point onward. Banks started the 2021 season opener against Illinois and saw extensive action in several other contests.

In addition to his prowess on the football field, Banks actually suited up for the Nebraska men’s basketball team prior to the Big Ten Tournament following the 2019 season. He played three minutes in the Huskers’ first round game against Indiana. A big man that can move is always a plus and Banks’ brief appearance on the hardwood gives evidence he can do just that.

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Banks has some high school film available if you want to dig that far back, but the reality is the 6-foot-7, 300-pounder has only grown bigger and stronger since those clips were taken. He’s a Big Ten-caliber blocker who can move people around. That’s a big plus for a Rice offensive line that needs reinforcements. Here’s a clip from the Huskers’ spring media sessions before the season.

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Rice Football Recruiting: TE Matt Hall commits to Owls

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The 2023 Rice Football recruiting class is making key additions from the Transfer Portal including Truman State’s Matt Hall who has committed to the Owls.

A veteran tight end seemed an obvious candidate for the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class, given how important the position is to the Owls’ offense. With the Early Signing Period just days away, Rice has their man. Truman State grad transfer Matt Hall has committed to the Owls.

Hall comes to Rice after a standout career at Truman State, a Division II program in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. In three seasons, Hall caught 86 passes for 962 yards and 13 touchdowns. He averaged 11.2 yards per catch and mixed in a few explosive plays, too.

For Hall, Rice was near the top of his list from the start. “There were three things I was looking for,” Hall told The Roost. “A place with great culture, a place that has great academics, and a place that would challenge me on and off the field to be a better player, student, and man. Rice checked every one of those boxes.”

Rice tried to engineer a similar addition at this time last year, landing a commitment from Cal transfer tight end Gavin Reinwald. Unfortunately, Reinwald never saw the field at Rice following a preseason injury. A healthy Hall should ease the burden from starter Jack Bradley and provide the Rice offense with another vertical threat.

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What Rice football saw in Hall becomes pretty clear from a brief glance at his film or a look at his boxscore. He’s fluid in space, can get downfield and make a play after the catch. He’s an aggressive blocker that can fill multiple roles within the Rice offense. He’s going to provide instant production to a position that needed another trustworthy option.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Official Visit weekend hits high note

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Rice football recruiting season is in full swing. With 20 official visits on campus over the weekend, there’s a lot going on.

Things have been somewhat quiet on the Rice football recruiting front over the end of the regular season. A few offers have gone out, but the Owls were waiting with anticipation for the Transfer Portal to open and calendars to free up for official visits. Both coincided this past week and fireworks ensued at South Main.

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In the boat

First and foremost, there have been four new members of the 2023 Rice football recruiting class who have announced commitments this past week. Safety Jabaria Ellison was first, soon followed by fellow high school commit Ashton Ojiaku and then the Owls’ first pair of transfer portal additions, both along the defensive line.

JUCO product Jordan Campbell and Colgate transfer Coleman Coco are on board. And that might not be the last of the noise. The labors of this weekend are expected to produce more fruit before the Early Signing Period begins next Wednesday. There are at least two additional commitments forthcoming.

What’s next?

Because of the fluid number of scholarships amid transfers in and out, nailing down an exact number of scholarships is challenging at this stage of the game, particularly with so few announced departures at this point — more on that in a minute — propping that number upward.

For the time being, it’s safe to say the Owls’ primary strategy is going as planned. Rice loaded up on high school targets in the spring and summer, selectively adding in a few key pieces here and there where they were able to flip targets from elsewhere (Dalean Alexander from Air Force, Justin Williams from Louisiana).

Next up, the portal. Look toward last year as a blueprint for what Rice wants to do in the portal. Add depth at key positions with a deep rotation (defensive line, offensive line, wide receiver) and cherry-pick potential starters at positions of need. Last year that looked like Chris Conti at linebacker, Gavin Reinwald at tight end, a few specailists and a slew of wideouts.

Given the fluctuations at the quarterback position, it might behoove the Owls to look at the growing market of signal callers to see if there’s a fit. It’s worth noting Rice has had its best production at the position under Bloomgren from transfers (Mike Collins, Tom Stewart, TJ McMahon). That said, the staff is really high on current high school commit Chase Jenkins, so adding a transfer there isn’t necessarily a must.

Transfer Portal tango

There’s one interesting twist Rice is experiencing with the portal this season that they haven’t in years past, namely where it falls on the calendar and what the team is doing this December. The prime portal season now overlaps bowl season for the Owls, setting up an interesting situation for potential outgoing players.

To that end, Rice has only seen three players announce they would be entering the portal thus far with the potential for other departures once the Owls’ postseason is done. That would logistically leave them with time to find a new home before the early signing period ends, or afterward if they don’t latch on anywhere initially.

Right now, linebackers Aidan Siano and Garrett Braden have announced their intentions to transfer as well as safety Treshawn Chamberlain. The twist? All three were at practice this week and preparing for the Owls’ bowl game against Southern Miss. Like he has all season, Chamberlain is slated to start and there doesn’t appear to be any changes to the depth chart despite his publicly announced intentions.

Whether this becomes the norm going forward might depend on several factors. The bowl game occurring before the early signing period is certainly an unusual quirk based in large part because the signing period is later this year than in prior seasons. Still, it remains uncharted territory. For now, they’re all set to play and then move on.

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