The source for Rice sports news

Rice Football Recruiting: DB Lavonte Johnson commits to Owls

By

The 2024 Rice Football recruiting class picked up a massive late cycle get, adding DB Lavonte Johnson, the highest-rated commit in program history.

One of the higher-rated unsigned players following the early signing period, North Shore defensive back Lavonte Johnson has his fair share of opportunities to play at the next level. With time ticking down before National Signing Day, Johnson has made his decision and become the latest member of the 2024 Rice Football Recruiting class.

Johnson picks Rice after receiving offers from a host of notable programs including Ole Miss, Houston, Nebraska, Purdue, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and SMU. He was also offered by fellow AAC programs Tulane, North Texas and UTSA.

Recruiting services agreed with his lengthy offer list, grading him out as a high three-star prospect. As things currently stand, Johnson would become the highest-rated signee in program history when he puts pen to paper in February. That distinction currently belongs to Jeremy Eddington (2010). Gabe Taylor (2020) is the highest-rated signee under head coach Mike Bloomgren so far, third all-time.

Johnson played his senior season at North Shore High School, the longtime home of current Rice linebackers coach Jon Kay, however, he spent his first three seasons at CE King High School and wouldn’t have played for Kay. This isn’t merely Kay landing a former player of his, this is Rice continuing to elevate their talent level with an impressive recruiting win.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

The tape matches the ratings. Johnson is quick out of his breaks and arrives ready to deliver a heavy blow. At 6-foot-2, 180 pounds he has the size to match up with just about any pass catcher. It remains to be seen where he’ll land in the Owls’ defensive scheme which emphasizes versatility, but his natural athleticism and abilities to cover one-on-one downfield will suit him wherever he lines up

Become a Patron!
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Women’s Basketball: Dominque Ennis the best-kept secret in the AAC?

By

Sophomore guard Dominque Ennis has quietly become a difference maker for Rice women’s basketball. It’s not long before the rest of the AAC takes notice.

In much the same way Rice women’s basketball managed to fly under the radar when it came to offseason prognosticators evaluated the new-look American Athletic Conference, so too has the Owls’ newfound star scorer avoided the spotlight. For now, at least. However, it’s becoming increasingly more and more difficult for sophomore guard Dominique Ennis to avoid notice.

Rice was picked to finish third by the league’s coaches, with no players on the all-conference first team. Just a few weeks into conference play, the Owls have already beaten three of the five members of that all-conference first team they’ve faced, in large part because players like Ennis have stepped up.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Basketball drops defensive slugfest to FAU

By

Rice basketball was able to hold FAU well under its seasonal scoring average, but couldn’t make their shots when it mattered most, falling to the Owls at home.

In much the same way Alem Huseinovic’s insertion into the everyday starting lineup for Rice basketball has come as a pleasant surprise for the Owls’ on-court production, so too was seeing him hit the opening layup to put Rice ahead of No. 22 FAU and then continue to ensure this clash of Owls was much closer than anyone else might have anticipated.

Rice kept FAU within striking distance throughout a contest most oddsmakers tabbed to be decidedly one-sided, mixing in a stout defensive effort with timely threes from some of the more unlikely candidates. Travie Evee didn’t make a shot from deep. Sam Alajiki had a pair of triples in the first half alone.

Even if the formula was unusual, it worked to a great degree, allowing Rice to keep pace with FAU throughout. That didn’t look like it was going to happen near the midpoint of the second quarter, but with FAU leading by a game-high 14 points, Huseinovic, Anthony Selden and Mehki Mason provided a burst that pushed the margin back down to single digits.

Free throws would play a pivotal role in the finale. FAU made its final 12 shots from the charity stripe, including a perfect 8-0 in the final three minutes. Rice missed its last four, effectively ending any last-chance attempts at a comeback.

Final Box | FAU 69 – Rice 56

Key takeaway | Functional defense

Wednesday’s defensive performance was more in line with the one Rice basketball fans were envisioning to start the season. It wasn’t a lockdown, stellar night of defensive execution, but it was an aggressive brand of basketball that forced FAU to make some mistakes and settle for less-than-ideal shots. As a result, Rice held FAU to 15 points under their season average. Three days ago they dropped 112 on UTSA in overtime.

If we’re nitpicking the defense, FAU shot a little below their season average but held a significant margin on the boards. Even still, it was a five-point game in the closing minutes thanks in large part to the defense. The offense and the free throw shooting certainly weren’t doing the team any favors.

No, it was a sub-50 percent free throw shooting performance and an off night from Travis Evee and Keanu Dawes (who combined to go 0-14 from the field) that was more to blame for the Owls’ coming up short than the defense. Strange times, indeed.

Up Next: vs Tulsa (Saturday, Jan. 27)

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Women’s Basketball falls short on the road vs Tulsa

By

Rice women’s basketball started slow but rallied late, taking Tulsa down to the wire before suffering their first road loss in AAC play.

Things couldn’t have gotten off to much of a worse start for Rice women’s basketball on Wednesday night against Tulsa. Just days removed from climbing to the top spot in the AAC standings, the visiting Owls found themselves in an early 18-3 hole. Malisa Fisher did not play in this game, throwing a wrench into a rhythm that had gotten Rice off to a 5-1 start in league play.

Rice shot 26 percent in the first half, failing to close the gap by any meaningful amount. They would need quite an adjustment at halftime to make a game out of a contest that had been quite one-sided to that point.

The third quarter brought with it a spark. Emily Klaczek provided the first, adding to a strong start with a team-high two steals, two rebounds and seven points in that frame, alone. That helped Rice narrow the deficit to six points, getting the game within reach for one last push in the fourth quarter.

Rally they did, blasting out of the gates in the final quarter on a 9-2 run, narrowing the gap to a single score. After trailing by as many as 19, the combination of Dominque Ennis and Destiny Jackson carved up the Tulsa defense. They played off each other so well, propelling the Owls to a tied game with less than a minute to go. An untimely deflection would thwart the Owls’ chances, giving Tulsa one extra possession late as they secured the lead for good.

Final Box | Tulsa 70 – Rice 65

Key takeaway | On a bad night

On the road without one of their key players in a massive early deficit, Rice women’s basketball was one bad bounce from a game-tying shot in the closing minutes. This trip to Tulsa checked a lot of the boxes head coach Lindsay Edmonds might have laid out when asked for a potential worst-case scenario, and still, this team was right there in the thick of it.

There are no moral victories and this team has come far enough that they’re not going to treat this game as such. But we’ve now seen two conference losses for this squad and both required unusual circumstances for this program to lose in league play. Maybe Rice isn’t head and shoulders above everyone else just yet, that’s evident after nights like this. But the range of outcomes for this team is starting to fully materialize.

On bad nights, this team is still good enough to challenge you to the very end and perhaps even beat you without playing their best brand of basketball. On good nights…. good luck.

Up Next: vs Memphis (Saturday, Jan. 27)

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2023 Team MVP: JT Daniels

By

This offseason Mike Bloomgren finally landed quarterback JT Daniels. The veteran quarterback delivered and became the 2023 Rice Football Team MVP.

It’s not every day national news media are buzzing about the latest happenings on South Main, but that was certainly the case when word broke last winter that long-traveled quarterback JT Daniels was headed to Rice. Expectations were high. Daniels delivered. He’s our 2023 Rice Football Team MVP.

On that day, Bloomgren stepped to the podium and explained the process that allowed the two sides to come together, after almost a decade of attempts from Bloomgren himself to get Daniels onto his team.

Bloomgren started recruiting Daniels in high school, while Bloomgren was on staff at Stanford, and followed every step of his college football journey. From USC to Georgia to West Virginia and, finally, to Rice.

“I’ve known him forever and have wanted to coach him forever,” Bloomgren said then. “As he and I are saying now, the fourth time’s the charm. I’m just really glad it’s working out.”

The pairing, alongside offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo, proved to be lightning in a bottle. Following seasons of a dogmatic commitment to the running game, the Owls leaned fully into an aerial attack in 2023 with Daniels at the center.

Take the ECU game, for example. Rice averaged less than two yards per carry, running the ball just 20 times. They turned to Daniels to air it out, tossing 32 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns.

“I really don’t care about the word balance in the context that I used to when I was trying to manage the game and shorten the game. Now I feel like we can score points,” Bloomgren said after that game. “I don’t really care how we do it, how we move the sticks and end up in the zone right now.”

Want More Rice sports news? Subscribe on Patreon

Move the sticks, Rice did. The Owls led the American Conference — a conference with a slew of talented quarterbacks — in passing while Daniels was on the field as Daniels climbed program leaderboards with each successive feat. He became the first Rice quarterback in program history to throw for 400+ yards twice in a single season, and tossed a career-best 21 touchdowns, which were fourth all-time in a single season at Rice.

It wasn’t just volume that powered Daniels up the charts, though, it was an unbelievable playmaking ability that you had to see to believe. Wide receiver JoVoni Johnson said it best. “It feels like he’s Houdini. Whenever he’s put in really tough situations, he always makes a play or finds something, somewhere on the field,” Johnson mused. “He makes all the plays he’s supposed to make, but when things break down and he has to make a split-second decision, he’s always finding something positive on the field.”

Every week, Daniels dazzled. From off-scheduled heaves down the field to laser-lined balls put into pockets with defenders on either side, no throw was too much for Daniels. He made them all. His prowess was so stunning that it almost became a running joke among his pass-catchers.

“I wasn’t even expecting the ball on the play I scored on. They were literally calling out my route while I’m sitting there,” freshman receiver Landon Ransom said, recalling his touchdown grab against Tulsa. “He can put the ball anywhere. I’m never surprised. That’s why I always run my routes to full potential because he can put it anywhere that he wants to, whenever.”

More: 2023 Rice Football Offensive Player of the Year — Luke McCaffrey

Injury would prove to be the only way to slow down Daniels’ dealing. He suffered an ankle injury that forced him out of the end of the USF game, a game many onlookers contend Rice could have won had they had Daniels down the stretch.

Playing on essentially one leg with no practice the following week, Daniels led Rice football to victory over ECU. Afterward, when asked about the injury to his leg, Daniels joked he spent a good portion of the game “basically trying not to use it.”

Without the luxury of rest, Daniels and the Owls marched on. He led Rice to a primetime win over Tulsa and nearly knocked off Tulane at home the following weekend, falling by two points. His season would come to a premature end the following weekend when he suffered a blow to the head against SMU, a hit that would end his playing career once and for all.

Daniels would not play for Rice football again after that game, suffering a concussion that would eventually lead doctors to recommend he medically retire from the sport. Even still, Daniels’ productivity and impact in nine games is hard to understate.

Daniels led a run-first team, with an explosive back in Dean Connors, to the top of the AAC leaderboard in passing. He took a team that hadn’t beaten crosstown rival Houston in 12 years to a thrilling overtime victory, the only Power 5 win by an AAC program in the regular season. Lastly, with Daniels leading the charge, Rice football reached six wins and a bowl game, their second-consecutive postseason trip.

“He’s one of the best guys I’ve ever coached,” Tuiasosopo declared after the regular season. “It would have been fun to have a fun version of him healthy. You know? What could have been?”

For better or worse, that will be the question that lingers from Daniels’ time with Rice football. He took the Owls to new heights, but how much higher could this program have gone had Daniels been able to finish the season healthy?

That question will never be answered, but the evidence Daniels delivered in his healthy games will be remembered by Rice football fans for decades to come. He was special.

“Everyone believed,” Tuiasosopo said. “When they see this guy perform, they’re like, ‘We have have a chance.’ And that’s exciting. ”

* Photo Credit: Maria Lysaker *

Did you enjoy the Rice Football postseason superlatives series? Consider showing your support by subscribing to The Roost on Patreon or making a one-time donation here.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts