The source for Rice sports news

Rice Football Recruiting: Superlatives for the 2021 Signees

By

The 2021 Rice Football class made is flush with talent. Here are our picks for just a handful of standouts from the incoming class.

National Signing Day is in the books. With the possible exception of a key transfer addition (or two) in the months ahead, this will be the group of new players added to the Owls’ roster for the upcoming season. The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class has hometowns that span from California to New Jersey. Now they’re all headed to South Main.

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

The 20 new signees were hand-selected by the Rice football recruiting staff, and each comes with some sort of notoriety in their own way. If you haven’t yet, check out our breakdowns of the defensive signees and the offensive signees. Now, here’s our run down of class superlatives. Who is going to start out of the gate? Which player represented the biggest recruiting win for the Owls? Best athlete? Here are our picks.

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 and the Super Bowl: Owls’ connections to the Big Game

By

There won’t be any Rice football alums participating in Super Bowl LV, but the Owls do share a few connections with the Big Game.

Super Bowl LV marks the end of the 2020 NFL Season. Seven former Rice football players have made an appearance in the Big Game. And although there won’t be any Owls’ on the field this Sunday, several share a few connections to this year’s Super Bowl.

The first link comes by way of a very recent Rice offensive lineman. Nick Leverett, who played for the Owls in 2019 as a grad transfer before going pro, was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad for the entire 2020 season. He didn’t make any regular season appearances for the Bucs and was released following the NFC Championship Game. If things work out, he could be back with the Bucs next season.

The next close call is current NFL Pro Bowler Jack Fox. Now a Lion, Fox spent a good portion of last season on the Chiefs’ practice squad following a training camp battle with incumbent Dustin Colquitt. The Chiefs have since moved on from Colquitt and turned to rookie Tommy Townsend in his place. Had the stars aligned differently, Fox could have been playing in this game wearing red and white.

The Roost Podcast: Offseason recap and National Signing Day review

Another Rice alum had a close call in 2015. James Casey, now the tight ends coach with the Cincinnati Bengals, was a member of the Super Bowl Champion Broncos at the beginning of the season, but was released in October, prior to the team’s Super Bowl 50 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

The year prior to that marked the last time Rice football was represented on the Super Bowl field by one of their own. Luke Willson, tight end for the Seattle Seahawks, appeared in Super Bowl XLVIII following the 2013 season and Super Bowl XLIX following the 2014 season.

Willson caught two passes for 17 yards against the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, becoming the all-time leader in Super Bowl receiving yards for a Rice player. Earl Cooper, who caught a touchdown pass from Joe Montana in Super Bowl XVI, had held the record previously. Willson returned to the big stage the following season, playing in the Seahawks’ last-second loss to the New England Patriots.

Beyond the individual athletes, Historic Rice Stadium shares a Super Bowl connection, too. The Owls’ home field served as the host site for Super Bowl VIII where the Dolphins beat the Vikings, 24-7.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

The Roost Podcast | Ep 69 – 2021 National Signing Day and Offseason Recap

By

The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class wrapped things up on National Signing Day. We debrief it all and talk roster and offseason news.

We’re back! After a short break to recover from a strange 2020 season, Carter and Matthew open up 2021 talking about the most recent Rice Football recruiting class and everything that has transpired for the Owls over the past month.

For a more detailed position-by-position look at the class, listen back to the Early Signing Period recap, which included discussion on the fast majority of the new signees. Rice added just two players to the fold from mid-December onward.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 69.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping
    • Offseason schedule taking shape. We’ll have more interviews coming with some of your favorite Owls featuring returning (and hopefully a few new) guests. That schedule is currently in the works. Stay tuned!
    • Please support us on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. We’ll have more breakdowns of the 2021 class and a look ahead at 2022 coming soon, and that’s just on the recruiting front!
      Become a Patron!
  • Catching up on Rice Athletics news
    • COVID-19 impacts on non-football sports
    • Special Teams coordinator Drew Svoboda leaves for Memphis
    • 2021 Rice football schedule and spring ball on track
  • Rice Football recruiting and National Signing Day
    • Rice adds two transfers — QB Jake Constantine and WR Tre Patterson
    • Four early enrollees
    • 2021 class third-highest rated in program history
    • Wish list for future transfers
  • 2021 Roster Update
    • Updates on departing seniors
    • Who is coming back in 2021?

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: Robust recruiting hauls continue with 2021 class

By

National Signing Day is in the books and another highly-rated Rice football recruiting class is on its way to South Main.

Rice Football announced the hiring of Mike Bloomgren on December 6, 2017. He assembled his first official Rice Football recruiting class in the immediate weeks that followed. That first group, pulled together almost on the fly, ranked No. 12 in Conference USA and No. 117 in the nation. That set the floor.

It’s not uncommon for recruiting classes to wane in transition years, but that class actually was five spots better in the national ranks than the year prior (No. 122) and marginally better ranked. Things ticked upward in the following cycle for 2019 when Rice signed the No. 111 class in the nation and the No. 11 class in C-USA. The seemingly modest improvement proved to be the fifth most talented class in program history.

That 2019 group contained impact players like Bradley Rozner, Naeem Smith, De’Braylon Carroll, Jake Bailey and Tre’shon Devones, among others. Then Bloomgren and Co. signed the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class which earned the distinction of being the highest-rated class in school history. And now comes 2021.

With National Signing Day in the books, Rice holds the No. 93 class in the nation and the No. 5 class in Conference USA. It’s the first time Rice has finished in the top five in its conference in recruiting since 2013. From a rankings perspective, it’s the third-most talented class Rice has ever signed.

Stay Tuned: The Roost Podcast – NSD Breakdown coming soon

In short, Rice has signed three of their five most talented classes in program history in the past three seasons. Take a look:

Rice Football, Rice Football Recruiting
Rice football has signed three of their top five classes in program history in the past three recruiting cycles. (No. 1 – 2020, No. 3 – 2021, No. 5 – 2019 : No. 2 – 2010, No. 4 – 2013).

Bloomgren signees account for three of the top 10 highest-rated recruits the Owls have ever signed. That list includes safety Gabe Taylor (No. 1),  linebacker DJ Arkansas (No. 7) and wide receiver Jake Bailey (No. 8), one from each of the last three classes.

All this comes with the understood caveat that rankings systems aren’t perfect. But the current staff can’t fix inherent flaws in that system. All they can do is ensure they bring the best talent they can to South Main. Through four cycles, they’ve fulfilled that objective emphatically.

Follow all Rice Football recruiting updates and analysis by subscribing on Patreon.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: 2021 National Signing Day Live Blog

By

The 2021 Rice Football Recruiting class is wrapping up. Follow all the action here as the Owls close out another strong haul.

Everything in college football comes back to recruiting. The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class hopes to build on a strong foundation and raise the Owls to new heights. This live tracker will follow all the latest news and updates through the day, with further updates on the class as its finalized. If you’re not a subscriber yet, here’s your chance.

Become a Patron!

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.

NSD Recap

Rice Football Recruiting: Robust recruiting hauls continue with 2021 class

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