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Rice Football Recruiting: Flurry of offers go out at 2021 Junior Day

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Several new offers were handed out over the weekend to prospective members of the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class. Here’s a rundown of Junior Day.

Entering the weekend, the offer list for the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class was extremely short:

Wyatt Begeal – QB – Cibolo Steele (TX)
Mason Tharp – TE – Klein (TX)
DJ Arkansas – LB – Denton Ryan (TX)
Bryce McMorris – DB – Bridgeland (TX)

The Owls expanded that shortlist to 14 names, offering these additional 10 players.

Jordon Vaughn – RB – Manvel (TX)
Bryson Reeves – WR – St. Francis (CA)
De’Kedrick Sterns – OL – Del Valle (TX)
Jacoby Jackson – OL – Mansfield Summit (TX)
Davis McKenna – OL – Marist (GA)
Remington Strickland – OL – Fort Bend Christian Academy (TX)
Aidan Siano – LB – Prosper (TX)
Kenny Seymour – LB – Fort Bend Marshall (TX)
Placide Djungu-Sungu – Saf – Arlington Martin (TX)
Trevor Woods – Saf – Katy Taylor (TX)

The crop of offensive line offers is an important place to start. Rice needs to get depth up front and they’re looking to make sure that depth has plenty of upside. Each of the four offers has prototypical size with room to grow: Jacoby Jackson is 6-foot-5.5, 306 pounds, Davis KcKenna is 6-foot-5, 275 pounds, Remington Strickland is 6-foot-3, 294 pounds and De’Kedrick Sterns is 6-foot-4, 250 pounds.

Jordan Vaugh is extremely versatile and could slot in several places. Rice likes him at running back. Bryson Reeves has much-needed size (6-foot-3, 185 pounds) at the wide receiver position. Rice was the first to offer both of those guys, and first on six of their 10 offers over the weekend. They’ve developed a proven track record of identifying talent rather and they stuck too that this weekend.

On defense, Rice absolutely loves this group of linebackers offers. Kenny Seymour and Aidan Siano, along with DJ Arkansas, all look like potential game changers at the position. Seymour is built like a truck and plays downhill. Siano has a nose for the football and great pursuit.

Woods and Djunu-Sungu round out the new offers in the secondary. Both are potential safety prospects who would be excellent fits in Brian Smith’s defense.

At this point last year, Rice had handed out a few offers for their 2020 class, prioritizing their first wave of selections. Plae Wyatt was the first to jump on board, committing to Rice at the end of February. The groundwork Rice laid this weekend was significant. Don’t be surprised if the Owls’ first commitment of the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class was in this wave.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Owls add pair of wide receivers to 2020 class

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class added a pair of talented wide receivers, picking up commitments from Michael Haack and Casey Tawa.

Entering the final weeks of the current cycle, there was room for a few additional pass catchers in the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class. While some were still traveling to and from their holiday festivities, the Owls were making moves.

Andrew Mason was the only true wide receiver that signed in December, making that one of the positions the Owls were looking to deepen over the next several weeks. On Saturday Rice tripled their wide receiver depth with two new additions. Both players have the potential to be key contributors for Rice.

Michael Haack

Michael Haack came onto the radar earlier this summer after the Owls’ staff spotted him on the camp circuit. He followed that up with an impressive senior year, hauling in 14 touchdowns and shredding defense after defense. The El Paso native had a breakout senior season, finishing first-team all-district and was his all-star game MVP.

It’s worth noting Rice plucked Haack out of UTEP’s backyard. Rather than suiting up for a Conference USA opponent, he’ll don the blue and grey next season. That’s a win on top of a win for Rice.

Casey Tawa

Haack would have made for a nice Christmas present for this class on his own, but Rice doubled down on Saturday, adding out of state playmaker Casey Tawa. Tawa’s brother plays baseball at Stanford and the Oregon native has a tremendous interest in the Stanford-like dedication instilled by Mike Bloomgren and his coaching staff.

On the field, Tawa’s production speaks for itself. He led the state of Oregon with 18 touchdown receptions this season. His acceleration after the catch is superb.

 

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2020 Early Signing Period Roundup

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class had an eventful December. Here’s an overview of The Roost’s coverage of the Owls’ newest additions.

The New Year will bring another flurry of activity for the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class. The Owls have another half dozen or so spots to hand out in the class, earmarking several of them for high-profile graduate transfers. Before we look ahead, don’t miss the impressive haul already in the fold. Here’s a rundown of the big week.

Five players committed to Rice in December:

In total, Rice signed 17 players during the early signing period. 11 of those were on offense, with the remaining six on defense. Only one commit,FB Brian Hibbard remains unsigned. He is expected to sign in February.

We broke down several angles of this class, from the 10,000-foot view to position by position analysis. On the macro perspective, here are five takeaways from the 2020 class as it currently stands. Rice addressed their biggest needs and won some impressive head to head battles on their way to constructing what could be a program-altering class.

More specifically, here’s a snapshot of the defensive haul and of the commits on the offensive side of the ball.

If you’re traveling over the holidays, and you’ve already read through the written analysis, make sure you give The Roost Podcast a listen. Carter and I worked through the impact of the incoming players, honing in on how each player would fit at Rice among others at their position.

The Roost Podcast | Ep. 22 – Rice Football Early Signing Period

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The Roost Podcast | Ep. 22 – Rice Football Early Signing Period

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class has its first signees. Carter and Matthew break down the new additions and analyze how they fit with the current roster.

The Early Signing Period has become the defacto National Signing Day. This year, the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class inked 17 of its 19 members, holding onto only a handful of remaining slots for February additions. Each of these players was brought to South Main with a purpose. Follow along to hear how the Owls plan to utilize their new additions.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, Give a listen to Episode 22 below.

Episode 22 Notes

  • The Roost Postseason Survey — We didn’t mention it directly on the podcast, but please take a moment to fill out this brief survey. Feedback makes us better. Whether you have comments on the site, the podcast or anything else, we want to hear it. Thanks!
  • Biggest areas of need — Quarterback and offensive line stood out as two positions Rice needed to answer in this recruiting cycle. One of the biggest takeaways from the initial signees was the Owls’ response to that need. More on the decision to take two quarterbacks and the outlook for the offensive line after losing three graduate starters.
  • Position by position outlook —  Beyond the generic information (height, hometown, position, etc), each addition has a specific role they’ll be asked to play for Rice football in the near future. Which players will see the field soonest and which players will benefit the most from an offseason workout program with head strength and conditioning coach Hans Straub?

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 Recruiting: Breaking down the 2020 signees – Defense

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National Signing Day is in the books and the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting is jam-packed with defensive talent. Here’s an update on that side of the ball.

Defensive Line (2) – Cole Latos, Jalen Reeves

Getting to the quarterback has been a challenge for Rice in each of the past two seasons. Their 32 sacks are the fewest by any C-USA team over the past two years and 22 sacks fewer than the conference average over that span. The leader over the time, UAB, registered 3.4 sacks per game whereas Rice managed 1.3 per contest.

With Anthony Ekpe in the Transfer Portal and senior defensive tackle Myles Adams departing, Rice needs to find players who can become difference makers quickly at this position. Early returns look extremely favorable for the Owls, who landed two potential game-changing players here in the early signing period.

When they offered Cole Latos, there was uncertainty as to which side of the ball he would play on in college. His physicality and stature quickly endeared him to the Rice coaching staff. Bloomgren spoke of him as a player with legitimate “NFL measurables”. Latos settled in this season, pairing the body type with the production on the field. He’s emerged as someone the Owls have full confidence in plugging at defensive end.

More: The Roost Podcast – 2019 Rice Football end of season awards

The home run swing could come in the form of fellow edge rusher Jalen Reeves. His offer list was impressive — LSU, Syracuse, NC State, Pitt and Boston College, among others — but it only took him one day on campus to decide this was the place for him. Reeves is a true havoc wreaker with a proven track record of harassing quarterbacks. If any of the current commits in the front seven becomes an early star, it’s safe to bet on Reeves to break through quickly.

Reeves’ recruitment had a very “De’Braylon Carroll” feel to it. The entire time both players were being courted by the Owls, the questions being asked behind the scenes were “This guy is too good and he’s dominating everyone he plays. Why hasn’t anyone picked him up already?” Carroll ended up on the Pro Football Focus All-Freshman team playing behind Myles Adams this season. It kind of feels like that might be Reeves’ floor, especially considered the size of the potential opportunity.

Linebacker (2) – Geron Hargon, Jaren Banks

Rice has relied on a two-linebacker set for most of their defensive snaps. As long as Blaze Alldredge and Antonio Montero are on campus, the need for additional reinforcements at that decision won’t be too high, especially with guys like Garrett Grammer ready in the reserves.

The staff had some liberty to be particularly choosy with their linebacker offers, ultimately zeroing in Geron Hargon, who picked Rice over UAB, and JUCO product Jaren Banks

Hargon is a prototypical mike linebacker, capable of traversing the whole field from side to side and moving quickly to the ballcarrier in space. His senior season ended abruptly with an ACL injury, but not before Hargon could put an exclamation point on his high school career. Hargon returned to the game after the injury, scooping up a fumble and rumbling down the field for a defensive touchdown.

Banks spent two seasons in the JUCO ranks, improving from Year 1 to Year 2. The staff hopes to see the same progression as he plays out his remaining two seasons of eligibility at South Main. Coach Bloomgren profiled him in accordance with Antonio Montero, a “ballhawk” with “the ability to run and hit”. The ball finds him.

Safety (2) – Plae Wyatt, Gabe Taylor

Safety is another spot where the team has plenty of depth. The playmaking ability of Naeem Smith and the reliability of George Nyakwol combine for arguably one of the better safety duos in Conference USA. And that’s prior to considering Treshawn Chamberlain’s breakout season at the Viper spot. Rice was more than happy to ride their commitment of Plae Wyatt to his signing on Wednesday.

Wyatt was the first commitment of the 2020 class and stuck to his word for 10 months when he made it official by signing his letter of intent. A four-year varsity starter, Wyatt is a hard hitter, comfortable making plays on ball carriers in space. His coverage game continues to progress, making him one of the better all-around players in an impressive 2020 Rice Football recruiting class. There’s as much depth to his game as any of the Owls’ defensive signees.

Getting to study under players like Smith and Chamberlain will only elevate his already strong game. Like both of those two, he has a similar ballhawking-style to his game.

More: Breaking down the Rice Football recruiting 2020 offense and special teams signees (UPDATED)

Gabe Taylor was the signature addition of National Signing Day. His addition helped make the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class the highest rated in school history. Taylor somehow managed to fly under the radar after only playing one year of high school football. That’s likely the only reason Rice was able to land him. Now he’s the highest-rated signee in Rice football program history.

Taylor posted a gaudy 10 interceptions as a senior, returning half of them for touchdowns. That’s an absurd stat line at any level of football. The younger brother of the late Sean Taylor, Gabe is rooted in football and ready to make a name for himself.

Corner (3) – Sean Fresch, Jordan Dunbar, Lamont Narcisse

Jordan Dunbar was the first corner in the 2020 class, making his pledge to the Owls early in the summer. Listed at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Dunbar is a great cover man who will instantly bolster the corner room. He has the size and skills to play on the edge at this level.

The second cornerback signee, Sean Fresch, was on campus for the Owls’ junior day this summer. The staff didn’t let him leave without an offer, and for good reason. They saw him run a 4.39 and already knew how good he was on the field. As it stands, he’s also the third highest-rated commitment of the Mike Bloomgren era.

Recall back to when Tre’shon Devones turned heads when he won a starting corner job midway through the 2019 season. 2020 signee Sean Fresch could be right behind him. A high school quarterback, Fresch is one of the most dynamic players in the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class. It doesn’t take more than a glance at his film to see how versatile and game-breaking he can be for the Owls. He’s quick with plenty of extension, a state qualifier in the long jump during this past track season.

Landing those two was a good start, but Rice fortified the position with Lamont Narcisse who picked Rice over Washington State. Narcisse has elite speed. He’s someone Bloomgren described as “a true cover corner”, one that Rice could trust to win one-on-one battles as soon as this upcoming fall.

Last update: Feb. 5, 2020
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