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Rice Football: 10 Takeaways from 2022 season

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The 2022 Rice football season was unpredictable and one-of-a-kind. What can we take away from the Owls’ five-win campaign?

An appearance in the Lending Tree Bowl served as the culmination of a five-year journey for Rice football under head coach Mike Bloomgren. The Owls were bowling for the first time in a long time, paying off on goals set many years ago.

That doesn’t mean the journey was full of roses. Rice football still finished with a losing record, leaving questions to be answered before the Owls take the field again next year. In the meantime, it’s time to unpack the year that was before turning our attention to the future,

Make sure you check out The Roosties, our take on an annual Rice football awards show from The Roost Podcast. There will also be Team Superlatives released throughout the next few weeks featuring more traditional awards like Team MVP, Offense and Defensive Player of the Year and more.

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Here are a few final thoughts on the 2022 Rice football season, ordered with five initial positives from the year that was and five pressing questions for the future based on what we saw on the field this year.

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Historic Rice football recruiting class to send Owls “soaring to new heights”

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Another top-flight Rice football recruiting class is in the books and like many beforehand, it carries some history-making swagger.

“Today was a great day for the Rice Owls,” head coach Mike Bloomgren said as he opened up his Early Signing Period press conference. “We believe this class will take us soaring to new heights.”

The wording might have changed from year-to-year, but the refrain sure sounded the same. Rice was making waves on the recruiting front, and the best was yet to come.

It took a year or two to get things rolling, but the rhythm of the Rice football recruiting machine continues to amplify. Now, for the third time under head coach Mike Bloomgren, the Owls have made history.

If it feels like this story has been told before, that’s because it has. Under Bloomgren, the 2020 signing class was, at the time, the highest-rated recruiting class in program history. Then, two cycles later, the Owls broke that record with a new best-ever haul with the 2022 class. And now, again, Rice football recruiting has made history.

The rankings will fluctuate some between now and February when the traditional signing day occurs, but as things currently stand, the 2023 class is the No. 80 class in the nation, the highest ranking in school history. When it comes to average recruit rating, the class is second by fractions of a point to the 2022 class, but that could change when newcomers like transfer quarterback JT Daniels are accounted for.

And that’s one other noticeable change as the history-making continues. Daniels, a former high school national player of the year and five-star recruit, has signed with Rice. Daniels is the highest-rated signee in program history. He surpasses four-star commitment quarterback-turned-wide receiver Luke McCaffrey, who was also brought in by Bloomgren and his staff.

More: 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class early signing period live blog

On the high school front, the Owls added linebacker Ty Morris and defensive end Joseph Mutombo in this class. Both are among the 10 highest-rated signees in program history, five of which have been signed by this staff in the past five cycles.

No matter where you look, it’s all coming up Owl. “We were trending on Twitter,” recruiting director Marco Regalado mentioned, specifically addressing the late night announcement that Daniels was heading to South Main. “People were talking about the Rice Owls, and that’s recruiting. That helps.”

It’s going to take more than some social media shout outs to turn positive recruiting momentum into results. Regalado and the Rice staff know that as well as anyone. But it wouldn’t be fair to them not to acknowledge how they raised their level of recruiting as they prepare for a big test next season when they move to the AAC.

“What we recruited in the past to compete in that conference is not going to work in the next one. We saw that every year when we played Houston and how athletic they were across the street,” Bloomgren said. “Now, also playing Houston this year and being able to hit them in the mouth a little bit … gives us a lot of hope that as long as we’re signing the right kids from an athletic standpoint, we can make some noise in that conference.”

The Owls have made just about as much noise as they could on the recruiting front. Up next? The AAC.

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Rice Football Recruiting: TE Ethan Powell signs with Owls

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The 2023 Rice Football recruiting class picked up an important signing day addition, landing DIII tight end transfer Ethan Powell to their ranks.

The 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class had its high school component wrapped up in the week or so leading up til the Early Signing Period, but there was more work to be done. Next, the Owls raided the transfer portal, picking up several instant impact players including DIII transfer tight end Ethan Powell from Southwestern University.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren praised Powell’s commitment to the game, nothing that DIII players aren’t on scholarships. They have to want to be there. Now Powell’s commitment is paying off.

On the field, Powell is almost as much of a wide receiver as a tight end. He’s a true vertical threat, filling the “F” position in the Rice offense. In the words of offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo, Powell’s addition will allow Rice to “continue to live in 11 personnel” with Powell able to line up outside rather than in-line with that role fitting incumbent starter Jack Bradley better.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

Powell was part of a three-man haul at the position for the Owls, all of which possess different skill sets. While the pass-catching highlights are the ones that tend to make it onto the film for all tight ends, seeing what Powell has already done on the field with the football is particularly encouraging including 879 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 10 games last season.

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Rice Football Recruiting: JT Daniels to transfer to Owls

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Former five-star recruit JT Daniels is the newest member of the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class, starting the early signing period with a bang.

The 2023 Rice Football recruiting class got off to a roaring start on the eve of the Early Signing Period. First reported by Pete Thamel, former five-star quarterback JT Daniels is set to transfer to Rice.

Even before his inclusion in the rankings, the 2023 class was already trending toward the highest rated in program history. Now Daniels — who incidentally will become the highest-rated player to ever play for Rice football since recruiting rankings were introduced in the early 2000s —  will send that rankings score even higher.

Daniels initially committed to USC out of high school and has since had stints at Georgia and West Virginia. He helped the Bulldogs win a national title in his time in Athens and brings 45 career touchdown passes and just shy of 7,000 passing yards. He’s 17-12 as a starter, most recently starting 10 games with the Mountaineers last season.

Rice has taken swings at relatively big quarterback names in the Transfer Portal before under head coach Mike Bloomgren, but this is arguably the biggest windfall the Owls have had at the position yet, based purely on the talent and resume Daniels brings with him to South Main. It’s also worth noting, as Thamel reported, Bloomgren had recruited Daniels before.

Daniels provides Rice with an influx of talent at the most important position on the field, a position Rice has struggled to find consistency at under Bloomgren thus far. If things work out for the best, all parties might have found exactly the pairing they need for a productive future in the American Athletic Conference

There’s more… Stay tuned to our Early Signing Period live blog for live updates on the 2023 class as it unfolds. Who knows, maybe there are some more fireworks coming?

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2023 Early Signing Period Live Blog

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The majority of the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class will become signees during the Early Signing Period. Follow all the action here.

Like many others before it, the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class is shaking up to be a strong group. Rice has had three of its five highest-rated signing classes under Mike Bloomgren and they don’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.

This live tracker will follow all the latest news and updates throughout the day, 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 as soon as they arrive on campus like Isaiah Esdale, Chris Conti and others did this past fall? This class has plenty of talent which could find its way to the field soon.

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

Updates

9:20 p.m.

Historic Rice football recruiting class to send Owls “soaring to new heights”

5:00 p.m.

What’s next? Stay tuned later this evening for a writeup on the historic haul. In the next few days there will also be detailed position-by-position breakdowns of the entire class plus some coaches notes on the new additions.

We’ve also recorded a brief microcast on the Daniels addition for our All-American and Booster level patrons.

4:55 p.m.

It’s official. The rest of Wednesday’s haul is official and as follows:

West Virginia transfer quarterback JT Daniels is in.

https://attheroost.com/2022/12/20/rice-football-recruiting-jt-daniels-to-transfer-to-owls/

Nassau CC transfer defensive lineman Jordan Campbell is in.

Safety Ashton Ojiaku is in

Linebacker Ty Morris is in

Corner AJ Stephens is in.

Corner Jamarion Clark is in.

Southwestern transfer tight end Ethan Powell is in.

1:58 p.m.

Linebacker Beau Barton is in.

1:21 p.m.

Defensive lineman Coleman Coco is in.

12:55 p.m.

Defensive end Chris Clark is in.

12:42 p.m.

New 2024 offers are starting to come in. We won’t’ track them all here, but you can always find them and the latest updates on the 2023 signees/commits on the recruiting tracker.

12:28 p.m.

Finally, the first defender is in the fold. Not a fan of the Owls sitting on these signatures this long. Anyhow, defensive end Joseph Mutombo is in.

12:13 p.m.

Wide receiver Drayden Dickmann is in.

11:28 a.m.

Wide receiver Justin Williams is in.

11:01 a.m.

Wide receiver Landon Ransom is in.

10:34 a.m.

Quarterback Chase Jenkins is in.

10:12 a.m.

A quick recap. Nine official announcements so far.

  • OL Luke Needham
  • OL Phillip Gallegos
  • RB Daelen Alexander
  • OL Brant Banks [Nebraska]
  • OL Peyton Farmer
  • TE Matt Hall [Truman State]
  • OL Nate Bledsoe
  • OL Patrick Valent
  • TE James Falk

10:06 a.m.

The sixth (and likely final) offensive lineman in the 2023 class is official. Luke Needham is in.

9:53 a.m.

Offensive lineman Phillip Gallegos is in.

9:45 a.m.

Rice is clearly spacing out announcements today, but there are already a few commits that have publically announced they’ve signed including WR Landon Ransom and QB Chase Jenkins.

9:32 a.m.

Running back Daelen Alexander is in.

9:07 a.m.

Nebraska transfer offensive lineman Brant Banks is in.

8:47 a.m.

Another offensive lineman is official. Peyton Farmer is in.

8:36 a.m.

How on brand is this? Of the first four announced additions to the 2023 class, two are offensive linemen and two are tight ends.

8:32 a.m.

Truman State tight end Matt Hall is in.

8:14 a.m.

Offensive lineman Nate Bledsoe is in.

7:48 a.m.

Offensive lineman Patrick Valent is in.

7:13 a.m.

The first letter of intent is in! TE James Falk is official.

6:48 a.m.

While we wait for the presses to warm up, one tidbit to pass along. Rice hasn’t signed a recruiting class better than 80th in the country in program history. The Owls’ current best, from a national rankings perspective, was the No. 82 class in 2009. Rice started the day with the No. 75 class in the nation.

6:36 a.m.

As is typically the case, the majority of the incoming Owls are based in the central time zone. The class has no Florida commits as of yet, that’s usually where the fireworks have started in recent signing days. No official announcements as of yet, but 7:00 central in Texas is ticking closer and there’s going to be a lot happening then. Hang on.

Wednesday morning – 5:55 a.m.

National letters of intent can start arriving from the Eastern time zone in just a few minutes. It’s time to get this show on the road.

Tuesday night

The college football world was fixated on Rice football on Tuesday night. On the eve of the early signing period, the Owls landed former 5-star and national championship-winning quarterback JT Daniels.

https://attheroost.com/2022/12/20/rice-football-recruiting-jt-daniels-to-transfer-to-owls/

Tuesday afternoon

The initial group of December signees for the 2022 Rice Football recruiting class was a bit on the smaller side given the initial uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 waivers and their impact on future rosters. That’s not the case this time around. While there are a few spots remaining for additional Transfer Portal candidates, Rice has brought in a robust group they will sign in December.

And once again, as has been the case in year past, several Rice signees have yet to receive a 247 Sports rating. Even still, the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting class has already come in strong. Here’s where the group stands as of Tuesday evening. Players are eligible to fax in their signatures starting at 7:00 a.m. local time.

Rice has the No. 3 class in Conference USA entering Wednesday morning. When accounting for the conference moves upcoming in 2023, Rice football owns the No. 7 class among all 2023 members of the AAC. The Owls were as high as fourth in the new AAC as recently as Monday evening. There’s a lot to watch as the dust settles here.

Make sure to stay tuned on Twitter and follow our live blog here during the day for updates. Get the latest list of the 2023 Rice Football Recruiting commits by clicking the tracker below.

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting

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