The source for Rice sports news

Rice Football Recruiting: Army LB Shepherd Bowling commits to Owls

By

Rice Football recruiting has picked up a commitment from a hometown player. Army transfer Shepherd Bowling has committed to the Owls.

Shepherd Bowling is headed back to Texas. Formerly a star linebacker on the 2020 Katy High School state championship team, Bowling committed to Army during the 2021 recruiting cycle. After spending one season at West Point, the hometown product is coming back to Texas as the newest member of the 2022 Rice Football recruiting class.

As a high school senior, Bowling chose Army over offers from Air Force, several Ivy League programs and a few local FCS schools — Sam Houston, Lamar, and Incarnate Word among others.  After redshirting in his lone season at Army, he comes to Rice with four years of eligibility remaining.

Bowling’s addition comes after the recent defection of one-time Rice commit linebacker Cam Dillon, who elected to enroll at Duke this summer instead of coming to Houston. That left Rice in need of reinforcements at the position. Bowling had entered the Transfer Portal in the weeks prior to Dillon’s decision.

The 2022 Rice football recruiting class has now grown to 37 players, accounting for scholarship and preferred walk-on players. That number is likely to grow in the coming weeks prior to the beginning of the fall semester.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

As for Bowling’s prowess on the field, there’s a lot to like. In high school he primarily lined up outside and made a beeline for the ballcarrier. His film shows a player who is tremendous in pursuit but can still get low and bring his opponent to the ground with a thump. He also showed good awareness in coverage, something that’s always a plus to have given the variety of roles in the Owls’ defensive scheme.

Become a Patron!
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

London to Houston: NFL Academy makes Rice Football Recruiting visit

By

More than a dozen players from the NFL Academy, based in the United Kingdom, were on campus Friday to check out Rice football.

The most recent Rice football recruiting visit had some international flair. Visiting Houston from London, England the NFL Academy brought 13 of its players for an unofficial visit on Friday morning, meeting with Rice staff in their first collegiate welcome to the United States which will kick off a busy recruiting weekend for these particular visitors.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

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.

From London, to Houston

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: WVU OL John Hughes commits to Owls

By

Rice Football recruiting continues to hammer the trenches, picking up another offensive line commitment, this time from WVU transfer John Hughes.

For the third time in this cycle, Rice football recruiting has added an offensive lineman from the Transfer Portal. The Owls added JUCO players Weston Kropp in April and Isaiah Gonzalez in May. With the calendar only recently flipping to June, they’ve picked up a commitment from West Virginia transfer John Hughes.

Hughes played in 31 games, making at least seven starts over three seasons in Morgantown. In 2020, He played 365 offensive snaps without giving up a sack and was part of an offensive line unit that ranked No. 28 nationally in total offense and No. 4 in the Big 12 in the fewest sacks allowed. Now as a graduate, he’s headed to South Main.

Also offered by Florida State and Houston coming out of high school, Hughes has experience at both right guard and right tackle. Redshirt freshman Ethan Onianwa manned the right tackle spot throughout spring and the guard duties were shared by Braedon Nutter and Shea Baker.

At this point in his career, he’s played more college football than Nutter and Onianwa and he should get a shot to compete for a meaningful role in fall camp. When he arrives, he’ll join fellow ex-Mountaineer wide receiver Isaiah Esdale who announced his intention to transfer to Rice on National Signing Day.

Premium: Rice Football Recruiting Offer and Commitment Tracker

The Rice offensive line was run through in the early portions of spring practices before ending on what seemed to be a high note in the spring game. Three transfer additions, as well as five high school commitments, seem to suggest the staff might have had more concern up front than they let on. Still, they’ll have plenty of options to work with come the fall, and that’s definitely a good thing.

Become a Patron!
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football 2022: Early Position by position confidence levels

By

Spring ball is long gone and Rice Football is preparing to turn the page toward the 2022 season. How confident should we be in each position group?

Every Rice football position group entered the spring facing a different set of questions. For some, spring was about identifying starters. For others, it was assessing the depth and determining if reinforcements were needed. Not all those questions were answered, but we did learn enough to project how confident we might be in each position group heading into the 2022 season.

Get Caught Up

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

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.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: Transfer Portal churn, offers and staff changes

By

It’s been a whirlwind week on the Rice football recruiting front with new additions tempered by a few departures along the way.

More than two dozen offers were handed out to prospective members of future Rice football recruiting classes in the past week and a half. Those offers resulted in four commitments: former Notre Dame safety Litchfield Ajavon, JUCO offensive lineman Isaiah Gonzalaz, former HBU wide receiver Tyson Thompson and 2023 corner Jamarion Clark.

Subscriber content.<br /> Please login to see the full post or visit our Patreon page.

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.

This update will touch on those new commits, the wave of new offers and other changes on the recruiting front, including one portal loss and a staff change that will impact the Owls going forward.

Sorry! This part of content is hidden behind this box because it requires a higher contribution level ($10) at Patreon. Why not take this chance to increase your contribution?
Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts