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3-star WR Calvin Wiggins Jr reflects on his recent visit

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Rice football recruiting is in full swing. We caught up with one of the Owls recent offers, wide receiver Calvin Wiggins Jr, to talk about his visit and outlook on the program.

In the last few days before the dead period began the Rice football staff hosted a handful of recruits for on campus visits.  One of those visitors, 2019 wide receiver Calvin Wiggins Jr., left with an offer and several kind words about the university.

In addition to enjoying his discussions with the staff and the football talk, Wiggins impressed by the beauty of the campus and its unified culture. “It’s like a town in itself,” Wiggins recalled, “I like how everyone is connected and close.” For Rice student-athletes, the commitment to the university lasts much longer than four years. Students, like Wiggins, that realize the importance of the trimmings around the football field are important for this program going forward.

Rice is going to have to work to get Wiggins into the fold. The 3-star recruit from Trophy Club, Texas has 14 offers, including the one from Rice he picked up in late June. Right now, the Owls are up against programs like BYU, Kansas, Army, Navy and Arkansas State, among others.

For now, Wiggins is focussing on getting his feet grounded. “This process is something I’ve never been through before,” Wiggins admitted when discussing his visit. “It’s been exciting to get the opportunity to talk to the coaches and view the campus. My experience on campus was really good.”

Rice can’t have students back on campus for an official visit until the fall. For now, coach Mike Bloomgren and his staff will have to stay in contact with guys like Wiggins and others remotely. Perhaps if that relationship continues to strengthen the Owls can get Wiggins back to Houston soon.

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2019 Kicker Zach Hoban commits to Owls

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Rice Football picked up a commitment from Zach Hoban (West Orange, New Jersey), their first specialist of the 2019 class.

More: Complete list of 2019 Rice football commits after the early signing period

The 2019 class continues to grow. Over the span of a few weeks, the Owls have climbed the recruiting ranks. After lingering at the bottom of Conference USA they own the No. 7 class in the conference and the No. 93 class in the nation thanks to their most recent addition, kicker Zack Hoban from West Orange, New Jersey.

Hoban is the second out-of-state commitment for the Owls this cycle. He joins fellow New Englander Garrett Braden. Hoban made his announcement on Twitter:

A punter and kicker in high school, Hoban first earned the attention of the Rice staff when he won the field goal competition at the Owls’ camp in early June. His strong leg earned him an offer which later turned into a commitment. Hoban picked Rice over an offer to kick at Army.

In 2017 Hoban connected on 7-of-11 field goals and 27-of-28 point-after tries. His long of the season was a 42-yarder. He also handled kickoffs and punt duty while in high school. Whether its placekicking or punting, Hoban will have an opportunity to get on the field early at Rice.

The Owls leading kicker from last season, Will Harrison, attempted four field goals last season and made two of them. That’s a small sample size. He’ll have one more year to earn the spot, but will be short on eligibility by the time Hoban gets to campus for the 2019 season. The same is true for the rest of the kicking competition – both Jack Fox and Haden Tobola will be seniors this coming season.

There’s a bit more depth at punter. Fox handled the punting duties last season, but Rice has two other punters on the roster: Nick McQuarry and Chris Barnes. Hoban could be in the mix there as well.

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Owls enter dead period in middle of CUSA recruiting ranks

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Rice football is looking to turn over a new leaf on the recruiting trail and so far it looks like head coach Mike Bloomgren is doing just that.

Rice football enters the dead period in the thick of the CUSA recruiting ranks. No school has a particularly large class up to this point, and there are still a little more than five months to go before the early signing period begins in December. At that point, most staffs will look to have the majority of their classes locked down. That means a lot can, and probably will change.

As far as things look right now, Rice has the No. 6 class. With three 3-stars in the fold, it seems to primarily be a numbers game. The leader, North Texas, has nine commitments. As Rice continues to grow their class they’ll continue to edge their way up the list. If the Owls add one more 3-star commitment they’ll vault from the No. 6 class to the No. 4 class. Here’s how the full ranks look:

Rice being in the middle of the recruiting standings at all is noteworthy. The Owls haven’t finished in the top six since the 2013 class and are coming off of three consecutive seasons in which they finished dead last in the conference. The progress made my Bloomgren and his staff at this point is impressive, and their class is only beginning to take shape.

If Rice wants to contend for conference championships they’ll need to improve the level of talent on the field. Finishing at the bottom of CUSA won’t be enough, and Bloomgren certainly knows that. Checking in right in the middle of the pack at this point of the race is a good start, with plenty of opportunities to turn the 2019 class into a significant milestone in Rice’s push for relevancy on the gridiron.

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Recruiting dead period begins Sunday, June 25

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Rice football recruiting is going to look a bit different over the next month as the dead period begins. What is it and how does it impact the Owls?

Coach Mike Bloomgren and his staff have put together a strong few weeks on the recruiting front. As the summer sun began to beat on the city of Houston the Owls picked up several commitments. Since June 10th the Owls have added three new faces to their 2019 class:

The commitments might not (and hopefully won’t) stop, but the way the staff goes about their recruiting efforts will look different during the coming weeks. The “dead period”, as it has come to be known, officially begins on Monday, June 25 and runs through July 24.

What is the dead period?

During the dead period, no recruits are allowed to visit schools. That means no official visits or unofficial visits. Effectively it puts a pause on recruiting weekends, camps and face-to-face meetings between recruits and coaches. What it doesn’t end are the conversations.

Although coaches can’t talk with players in-person they can still call and text recruits. You can be sure that coach Bloomgren and his staff will be just as active with their targets during the next month as they were in the weeks leading up to the dead period.

When the dead period is over there will still be a halt on official visits. These can’t resume until the regular season kicks off this fall. This will give coaches time to work with their players already on campus and get ready for the upcoming season. Unofficial visits are still allowed, but Rice will be primarily focused on working the phones and preparing for their first game against Prairie View A&M on Aug. 25.

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2019 defensive lineman Izeya Floyd commits to the Owls

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Rice football has made the offensive and defensive lines a priority in the 2019 recruiting class, the latest addition coming in the form of defensive lineman Izeya Floyd.

More: Complete list of 2019 Rice football commits after the early signing period

The recruiting run on the offensive and the defensive lines has continued. After securing the commitment of 3-star tight end Jack Bradley on June 11 the Owls have added multiple additional pieces to the trenches. 2-star guard Regan Riddle committed to Rice on June 16 before 3-star Izeya Floyd joined him on Tuesday evening.

All three of those commitments are from the Dallas area — possible building blocks of what promises to become fertile recruiting ground for the Owls in the coming years. In the near future, Floyd is a savvy addition for the Owls.

Standing 6-foot-2 and tipping the scale at 305 pounds, Floyd has a body built for the trenches. Bloomgren and his staff were the first Texas school to take notice. Up until the Owls offered him this week, Floyd’s offers consisted largely of Ivy League schools like Harvard, Cornell, Brown, Yale and Princeton. Outside of the Ivies, Floyd also had offers from Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Air Force.

247 sports ranks Floyd as the No. 18 center in the 2019 class and the No. 303 player in the state of Texas. It’s still a bit unclear where he’ll suit up in the college ranks. He played primarily at left guard during his junior season but Bloomgren’s staff plans to play him on the defensive line.

His willingness to flip over to the other side of the ball make it seem likely that he’ll find a way to get on the field sooner rather than later. For now, he’ll join current defensive end commit Justin Moore somewhere along on the defensive front.

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