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Rice Football Recruiting: DL Braden Bays commits to Owls

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A National Signing Day addition to the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class, Boerne defensive lineman Braden Bays has signed with the Owls.

One of the final additions to the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class was a big one, literally. Announced publicly for the first time on National Signing Day, Boerne defensive lineman Braden Bays has committed and signed with the Owls.

Rice beat out a host of interested parties for Bays’ services. At the time of his commitment he’d received offers from the likes of Utah, Washington State, UNLV, Colorado State, Tulsa, UTEP and Central Michigan as several Ivy League schools and the service academies. And how he’s headed to South Main.

Bays joins Luca Akirtava, who committed earlier in the week, and Rob Rooks as the high school representatives in the defensive line room in this class. That trio combined with transfers Dillan Botts (Mary Hardin-Baylor) and Ejike Adele (Dartmouth) makes for a robust group in the trenches for head coach Scott Abell’s first class.

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The 6-foot-3, 265-pound Bays can and has lined up all over the field and has demonstrated and ability to win inside and outside. He’s a pass rusher who moves well rather but packs some power in his punches, too, all of which jumps out quickly when you turn on the film.

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2025 National Signing Day Live Blog

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The 2025 Rice Football Recruiting class wraps up on National Signing Day. Follow all the action here as the Owls close out the class.

National Signing Day marks the culmination of the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class. This live tracker will follow all the latest news and updates throughout the day, with further updates on the class as it’s finalized. If you’re not a subscriber yet, here’s your chance.

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As we did during the Early Signing Period, we’ll have a Live Blog up and running with updates throughout the day. (Not a subscriber? We’ve unlocked this post from a prior cycle to give you a flavor of what to expect — live updates as soon as we get them). Subscribers get access to the full list of Rice offers, commits, signees and more.

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Which newcomers are program-changing talents? Who is the diamond in the rough? More to come. For the time being, let’s dig into the latest from National Signing Day, below.

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Rice Football Recruiting: What to expect from 2025 National Signing Day

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The 2025 Rice Football Recruiting class is essentially complete with the bulk of the outstanding pledges putting pen to paper on National Signing Day.

National Signing Day is Wednesday, February 5. As we did during the Early Signing Period, we’ll have a Live Blog up and running with updates throughout the day. If you’re not a subscriber, now’s a reminder that you can get access to the latest live Rice news and analysis, a full lineup of current commits and signees and more.

This is normally the part where I’d post an updated snapshot of the Owls’ recruiting ranking and compare it to the program’s standard and the conference. With the continued growth of the Transfer Portal, mainstream recruiting websites have all but given up on maintaining most G5 team lists, at least until classes are finalized this week.

It’s impossible to say where the Owls’ compare right now given most services have less than half the Owls’ current class listed. The Roost’s offer and commitment tracker remains the best place to find this information.

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.

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Rice Football Recruiting: DL Luca Akirtava commits to Owls

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One of the finishing touches to the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class is officially on board. Defensive lineman Luca Akirtava has committed to the Owls.

National Signing Day is days and the 2025 Rice Football recruiting class is nearly complete. Before the bulk of the remaining members put pen to paper on Wednesday, though, the Owls have added one more difference maker to their haul. Defensive lineman Luca Akirtava has committed to the Owls.

When head coach Scott Abell arrived on South Main, Akirtava was expected to be available. The Reedy high school product had originally signed with Arkansas State in December before a shakeup in the Red Wolves coaching staff opened the door for Akirtava to explore other options. He seized that chance, reopening his commitment, eventually landing at South Main.

Before he committed, Akirtava piqued the interest of programs across the state, garnering offers from North Texas, Texas State and UTEP as well as out-of-state programs like Arkansas State, UMass, Washington State and others.

The addition of Akirtava gives the Owls a solid base in the defensive trenches. He joins high school signee Rob Rooks as well as transfers Dillan Botts (Mary Hardin-Baylor) and Ejike Adele (Dartmouth).

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Akirtava is a fun watch on film. The 6-foot-3, 260-pound defender can line up at several spots up and down the line, a level of versatility which will suit him well in the Owls’ defensive scheme. Adding pass rushers like this is always a good call.

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Rice Football Recruiting Profile: DB Omari Porter signs with Owls

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The 2025 Rice Football recruiting class added a pair of veteran defensive backs to its roster including former Stanford defensive back Omari Porter.

The growing 2025 Rice Football recruiting class added a lengthy group of spring reinforcements who enrolled in classes this January. Many made public announcements on social media, but not all. One such under-the-radar addition was former Stanford defensive back Omari Porter.

Porter was an active member of the Cardinal secondary for five seasons on The Farm, making his college football debut and made his first tackle in Stanford’s 2020 season opener against Oregon. He would go on to play in 31 games for the program over the span of five seasons, seeing his involvement peak in 2023 when he appeared in 12 games with two starts.

Injuries limited Porter in 2024 before he opted to enter the Transfer Portal and explore opportunities elsewhere. Originally a three-star signee from Auburn, Alabama, Porter played his first few years at Stanford under David Shaw before spending the last two seasons under the leadership of Troy Taylor.

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Porter has an extensive history playing special teams as well as flexibility on defense. He saw most of his usage at Stanford as a corner before moving to safety for one season. He expected to play corner for Rice. At a bare minimum, he’ll be an asset to Rice football in multiple phases. With so many spots up for grabs in the defensive backfield, Porter will have a chance to quickly come in and compete for playing time.

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