The 2025 Rice Football Recruiting class includes several hand-picked impact players on defense and special teams. Here’s how those sides 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 13 play on the defensive side of the ball as well as one specialist.

“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

Defensive Line (5) – Rob Rooks*, Braden Bays, Luca Akirtava, Dillan Botts*, DeReyon Jenkins

One of the most athletic members of the class, Rob Rooks was the lone defensive signee in the trenches in December. A former two-way player who was named all-league on both sides of the ball as a junior, Rooks’ focus on South Main will be getting to the quarterback, something he excelled in during his high school career. “He moves well,” Abell said of the 6-foot-1, 261-pound Rooks, “he’s got great size.”

The Rooks’ addition was the tip of the iceberg at a spot head coach Abell was emphatic about getting more bodies. “I think winning football in the trenches is the most important thing,” Abell said. “And we will focus on that year in and year out and that shows up in this recruiting class.”

The Owls picked a pledge from defensive tackle Dillan Botts from Mary Hardin-Baylor in January, adding him to the fold in time for the spring semester. Weeks later they signed Luca Akirtava and Braden Bays, a pair of talented and versatile high school additions who each bring a long list of accolades with them to South Main,

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Bays racked up 60 tackles for a loss in his high school career, finishing with 10 sacks his senior season. Akirtava was the 5-5A District 1 Defensive MVP this past season, racking up seven sacks and 12 quarterback hurries.

In addition to those additions, Rice also signed edge player DeReyon Jenkins, rounding out one of the most extensive National Signing Day hauls for the team at any position. Also a powerlifter in high school, Jenkins brings more than 200 career tackles to South Main.

Defensive lineman Ejike Adele was not formally introduced because he has not officially enrolled, but the former Bushnell Cup winner as the best defensive player in the Ivy League is set to join Rice football after his graduation from Dartmouth this spring.

Linebacker (2) – Ty Thames, CJ Witten

Jon Kay is going to have his work cut out for him in a good way this spring. In addition to being named the defensive coordinator during the offseason and assuming addition responsibilities, he has a linebacker room stacked with talent and flush with new faces.

The Owls will lose a few key leaders at the position to graduation but already have a promising young core in the middle of the field. And that’s before adding Ty Thames and CJ Witten to the room.

Both Thames and Witten have something in common which Abell made sure to call out in his comments during his introductory remarks about the class on Wednesday, both are still playing in their respective high school playoffs.

“As we begin this new era, we want to surround the program with kids who are used to competing at a high level,” Abell said, “Certainly this class speaks to that.”

Witten is the son of former All-Pro tight end Jason Witten, his current coach for Liberty Christian in Westlake, Texas.

Corner (3) – Jerrick Harper*, Omari Porter*, Ahran Ogbor

Abell wasn’t as explicit about the need for reinforcements in the secondary, but Rice brought in more transfers on the back end of the defense than anywhere else this offseason, grabbing from three different areas to supplement rooms that lost a lot of players to graduation and the Transfer Portal.

As far as transfers go, both Omari Porter from Stanford and JUCO signee Jerrick Harper have already enrolled and will participate in spring ball. Porter has experience at safety and corner, giving him a level of versatility that’s always been necessary of players in this defensive scheme. The plan as of now is to play him at corner, a position where he spent most of his time with the Cardinal.

More: Breaking down the Offensive signees in the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class

Unlike Porter, Harper and Ahran Ogbor will have more than one year to make their mark on South Main. Harper was a standout corner at the junior college level whereas Ogbor comes to Rice as one of the most productive two-way players the Owls have signed in some time.

Ogbor was an All-District 6A selection at a quarterback and running back this season in addition to playing defense, where he broke up four passes and was credited with 15 tackles. At 6-foot, 203 pounds he has the requisite frame and speed to excel as an outside corner at the collegiate level once he’s fully transitioned to the defensive side of the ball.

Ogbor’s addition lines up with one of the other key aspects Abell stressed with this signing class: speed.

“When you look at the athletes that we were able to attract here, the common thread is speed,” Abell said. I think it’s important to put players on the field who can run at all levels on both sides and I think we did a great of doing that.”

Safety (3) – Michael Amey III*, Jo Chavez*, Max Lofy*

“Versatile” was the word Abell used to describe Michael Amey III, something Rice fans familiar with the defensive scheme the Owls have run under Brian Smith know all too well. Being able to move around the formation and play multiple different spots is crucial for this scheme and with Smith officially being retained as the Owls’ defensive coordinator, keeping Amey in the fold was a crucial development.

Amey arrives at South Main with 10 interceptions during his high school career. The Owls hope to leverage that propensity toward taking away the football to their advantage in the years to come. He’ll be joined by Jo Chavez and Max Lofy, a pair of Transfer Portal additions who enrolled this semester.

Chavez comes to Rice from the junior college level while Lofy is a fifth-year player from Wisconsin. Lofy was mentioned by name a couple of times in Abell’s introductory remarks about the class, appearing to be someone Abell was particularly excited about getting to campus.

More: Biggest Roster Questions for Rice Football Entering the Spring

As for Chavez, he’s already been listed as a VIPER on the Rice roster, presumably setting him to compete for the backup role behind returning veteran Plae Wyatt at the position.

Altogether, that’s two graduates, two junior college players and two high school additions in the secondary alone. Rice returns two starters there, Max Ahoia and Plae Wyatt, but the odds suggest at least a few of these new faces will have to be heavily involved this season if this defense is going to continue to operate at a high level. This will be a group to watch this spring.

Specialists (1) – Chase Allen (Kicker)*

With Tim Horn departing, Rice football was in search of a kicker to compete with Enoch Gota this coming season. They landed on Alabama and UTSA transfer Chase Allen. While with the Roadrunners, Allen led the AAC in field-goal percentage (13-of-15, 87 percent) and ranked Top 15 in the country during the 2023 season.

Allen was replaced in 2024 after a 4-for-9 start, oddly enough attempting one his final kicks of the season against the Owls at Rice Stadium in October; it was no good.

Getting someone with Allen’s experience who has been extremely productive at the position previously is huge for the Owls who have struggled for several years when it comes to field goal accuracy. Getting him back to his 2023 form would be a huge boost for the Rice special teams.

** This piece has been updated to reflect new signees as of 2/5/2025 **

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