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Rice Football Recruiting: Ratings bump boosts Owls’ 23 class

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The 2023 Rice football recruiting class is off to a strong start, checking in near the top of the latest Conference USA 247 Sports rankings.

Over the past several months, the 2023 Rice Football recruiting class has begun to pick up steam. Their first commitment, from Alief quarterback Chase Jenkins, came this March. Their most recent came from Joseph Mutombo, their highest-rated current commit, in late July. Here’s a quick rundown of what has changed in the weeks since.

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 2022 Season Preview: Roster Grid

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Rice football has a 109-man roster entering the 2022 season. From position changes to eligibility remaining, this chart will help keep everything in order.

Keeping track of eligibility and positions can be challenging and there wasn’t one single source that had the most up-to-date information — now there is. As a complement to the roster, which has been updated to account for all the final additions and changes with the start of camp, this grid tracks every  Rice football player by position and classification. Position changes are also detailed below.

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: Conference USA’s best kept secret?

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Rice football enters the 2022 season with a revamped roster and high expectations. Are outsiders sleeping on the Owls this year?

Saturday’s Rice football media day served as another touchpoint in the ever-quickening run up to the 2022 season. Beyond the encouraging sentiments and discussions of schemes and depth charts, the gathering served as a reintroduction to a host of Rice players that wasn’t on the field in the same capacity last season.

Last September, TJ McMahon was the scout team quarterback. Now he’s vying for the starting job. Luke McCaffrey threw passes; now he’s catching them, alongside Bradley Rozner who has missed essentially the past two seasons with injuries. Safety George Nyakwol, who hasn’t played in a conference game since 2019, was there as well.

And while these are familiar faces to Rice fans, few outside of South Main have any real level of appreciation for what they could become on the field in 2022.

Nyakwol, typically a soft-spoken leader in years past, wasn’t bashful when given the opportunity to inform the world what the Owls were truly capable of becoming this season.

More: Offense shines in Rice Football fall scrimmage

“I definitely think we’re underrated.” Nyakwol declared. “And this year, I think people will notice us. When we’re in a dogfight and we come out on top, people are going to notice because the guys we’ve had before are more experienced and older, wiser, smarter, faster and stronger”

Optimism always abounds in the preseason, but Nyakwol stressed this team isn’t relying on individuals improving their own games, although that would certainly be a component of his team’s growth. No, instead Rice was finally getting all of their weapons back on the field at the same time.

“We’re pretty much just reloading,” he surmised.

Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren has taken notice of Nyakwol’s increased outspokenness. “He’s become an awesome leader. He’s been more vocal than he’s ever been,” Bloomgren said. “It’s still not in his comfort zone to be rah-rah but he is coaching and leading that group back there. And it’s been awesome for me to see.”

More: Conference USA Football Preseason Preview

Bloomgren can see the growth. Nyakwol sees how talented his peers are around him. The roster on a whole is, objectively, as talented as it’s been in Bloomgren’s tenure. Rice football hasn’t accomplished what they’ve hoped to on the field just yet, but they seem to be embracing their underdog role with vigor.

When asked about the program’s perception from outsiders, McCaffrey — now a wide receiver — just grinned. “I don’t know if [being underrated is] a bad thing. Hopefully, if it’s a well-kept secret, we can shock some people.”

Nyakwol offered a more emphatic tone. “This is the year, believe me. I can see it in the eyes of our guys. I can see through the attention to detail that we’ve had and the focus that we’ve had,” he declared. “It’s good to be back.”

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Rice Football 2022 Fall Camp Notebook 4: Offense shines in Scrimmage 1

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The Rice football offense put its best foot forward in the first scrimmage of fall camp, scoring four touchdowns and coming close on a few other drives.

Rice football reached the halfway point of fall camp this week. capping a run of six straight practice days with their first scrimmage. The offense stole the show, piling up touchdowns and points against a Rice defense that — on this rare occasion — looked mortal. Luke McCaffrey in space can make that happen.

More: Rice Football Preseason Preview Series

There was some separation on the quarterback front, a few offensive playmakers worth noting and even a few defensive standout that warranted some praise despite the tough day for their side of the ball. Altogether, we learned a lot and the team as a whole should be pleased with how things are progressing so far in camp.

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Rice Football 2022 Fall Camp Notebook 3: Assessing the Defense

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Defensive Coordinator Brian Smith answered some questions and shared his philosophy for the Rice football defense as the Owls start fall camp.

For the better part of the past two seasons, it’s been tough sledding on the injury front for the Rice football defense. Key players like Treshawn Chamberlain, George Nyakwol and De’Braylon Carroll have missed significant time. Now, they’re back and most of the players who held down the front in their place are still on campus. That’s good news for the Owls’ defense in 2022.

More: Rice Football Preseason Preview Series

Defensive coordinator Brian Smith, who has had to make do with square pegs and round holes, looks to finally have his full arsenal at his disposal, and perhaps of equal importance — he has depth. How will Rice utilize that depth this season and how will they deploy their many assets on this side of the ball. Smith sat down with The Roost this week to share his plans and discuss some big-picture themes for his unit this fall.

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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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