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Rice Football 2022 Season Preview: Safety

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As part of our 2022 Rice Football Preseason Preview series, next we’ll examine the safety position and discuss the Owls’ plans for that group.

It’s been tough sledding on the back end of the Rice football secondary for some time now, although the rotating door at safety hasn’t been for lack of effort. Injuries have hammered this room hard in each of the past two years. This time around the Owls are looking as healthy as ever and they might even have some depth to go around, too. Here’s our 2022 Safety Preview.

Rice Football Preseason Preview: Check out the rest of the series here.

This piece is part of our 2022 Rice Football Season Preview. Get access to it, as well as all other preview posts such as positional breakdowns, depth chart and schedule analysis and more when you subscribe on Patreon today. New subscribers get our Conference USA Football Season Preview for FREE! 

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Rice Football Recruiting: Breaking down the 2021 signees – Defense

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The 2021 Rice Football Recruiting class has stocked with defensive talent at all three levels from a rangy secondary to powerful additions in the front seven.

Rice signed 18 players on the first day of the Early Signing Period. Of their new additions, 16 are current high school seniors. 11 of them play on the defensive side of the ball, the focal point of this update. Subscribers can check out this position by position breakdown of the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class.

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Defensive Line (4) – Cal Varner, Jalen Hargrove, Elroyal Morris, Blake Boenisch
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Rice Football Recruiting: 5 Takeaways from 2021 Early Signing Period

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The first members of the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class signed this week, setting the stage for an exciting future at South Main.

The ink is starting to dry on the first day of the Early Signing Period and the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class is off to a great start. Rice signed 18 players, representing the majority of their scholarship additions to their 2021 class.

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This class isn’t done yet — there are still a few more weeks before National Signing Day in February — but as it currently stands, here are a few immediate reactions from a group that could end up being pretty special for the Owls.

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1. Ratings boost

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2021 Early Signing Period Live Blog

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The majority of the 2021 Rice Football Recruiting class will become signees during the early signing period. Follow all the action here.

Recruiting is the lifeblood of all college football programs and Rice is not different. The Owls have brought in a tremendous amount of talent under Mike Bloomgren so far and this week will continue that trend. This live tracker will follow all the latest news and updates through the week, 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 like Khalan Griffin, Gabe Taylor and others did this year? This class has plenty of talent which could find its way to the field soon.

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

Updates

3:43 p.m.

Closing thoughts: Rice adds for the present and future with talented 2021 class

Rice Football Recruiting: Owls move from “needs” to “wants” with 2021 class

12:17 p.m.

Wide receiver MJ Singleton is the only scholarship commit not to sign today. He told me earlier in the week he’d be signing in February. That appears to still be the case, but we’ll follow up on him soon. With that, Rice has announced the remainder of their 2021 class.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren will meet with the media at 1:00 p.m. today, then we’ll have some further remarks to share with everyone.

9:53 a.m.

And one from the West Coast. Offensive lineman Faaeanuu Pepe has sent in his letter of intent.

7:42 a.m.

Two more in the trenches. Offensive lineman John Long and defensive lineman Elroyal Morris have signed.

7:39 a.m.

The entire linebacking corps is now in. Kenny Seymour has signed with Rice.

7:37 a.m.

Defensive lineman Blake Boenisch makes it six signees from Texas thus far.

7:29 a.m.

Another Katy product has inked with the Owls, defensive end Cal Varner is in. Right after him, tight end Jaggar Hebeisen‘s signature comes in, as well as another Alabama product, wide receiver Jayden Folmar.

7:26 a.m.

Another from Alabama, this time its wide receiver Peyton Stevenson.

7:18 a.m.

Just picked up a wave of Texas signees: linebackers Aidan Siano and DJ Arkansas as well as offensive lineman Ethan Onianwa are all in.

7:07 a.m.

Make that two from the Yellowhammer state. Fellow safety Marcus Williams has also signed.

7:05 a.m.

The first of a sizable Alabama contingent is on board. Safety Joshua Williams has signed.

6:40 a.m.

A quick reminder, recruits can sign at 7:00 a.m. local time, so the bulk of the Texas and Alabama commits should start getting finalized in the next hour or so.

6:25 a.m.

Defensive lineman Jalen Hargrove is in. That should wrap up the early morning east coast contingent.

6:14 a.m.

That’s two, and this one is a big one. Rice has its quarterback in the boat. Shawqi Itraish has signed.

6:08 a.m.

The first signature is in! Corner  Jonathan “Jojo” Jean is officially an Owl.

5:47 a.m.

Good morning folks. We’ll be posting updates here throughout the morning as players sign as well as updated the recruiting tracker. Should be a good day.

Tuesday night

The majority of the 2021 Rice Football recruiting class is in the boat prior to the beginning of the Early Signing Period. In most typical years, we’d have a firmer timetable of who is putting pen to paper when, but COVID-19 has impacted some of the traditional ceremonies. Players are eligible to fax in their signatures starting at 7:00 a.m. local time.

Rice has the No. 4 class entering Wednesday morning. From a rating perspective, the Owls are on track to surpass last seasons’ average rating, the highest ever from a Rice recruiting class.

Make sure to stay tuned on Twitter and follow our live blog here during the day for updates. Get the latest list of the 2021 Rice Football Recruiting commits by clicking the tracker below.

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

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Rice Football: 2021 Safety Marcus Williams commits to Owls

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The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class has added another piece to their future secondary, picking up a commitment from safety Marcus Williams.

Two weeks after adding their first safety commit, the 2021 Rice Football recruiting classed doubled their depth at the position. Joshua Williams committed on the last day of July. The newest addition is Hoover, Alabama safety Marcus Williams (unrelated).

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Williams picked Rice over several in-state schools like South Alabama and Troy and more than a dozen other offers. The Owls beat out Kansas and fellow Conference USA schools like Middle Tennessee and Charlotte for his services. He also held offers from Arkansas State, Harvard and Navy.

The addition of Williams will help solidify a 2021 defense that already includes seven commitments. Rice now has a pair of commitments on the defensive line, two at safety and three at linebacker. The offense has four commitments. The class as a whole ranks fourth in Conference USA and 92nd nationally.

If current trends hold, this class is on track to challenge the 2020 class as the highest rated in program history. Neither Marcus or Joshua Williams has been rated by 247 Sports at this time.

More: 2021 Rice Football Recruiting Tracker

Williams can do a lot of different things on the field and was dominant from the outside linebacker position. His athleticism combined with his comfortability in space makes him an ideal candidate for the Viper safety spot in the Rice defense.

A quick look at his highlights below will give you a flavor for how many things the Owls will be able to do with Williams when he suits up in Blue and Gray. He can attack the ballcarrier and position himself for the big play in coverage. His surehandedness in the open field is something no collegiate defense should take for granted.

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