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Rice Football Recruiting: 2022 Safety Reece Sylvester commits to Owls

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The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class closed the summer on a high note, adding safety Reece Sylvester to the fold as the calendar marches toward the fall.

Fall camp is right around the corner, but that hasn’t slowed the Owls down on the recruiting front. The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class has now added its sixth member to the fold, earning a commitment from Baytown Sterling safety Reece Sylvester.

Sylvester is the second defensive back among the Owls’ current 2022 commits and the fourth defensive player so far. The other safety in the class, Southwest Christian safety Tyson Flowers, was the most recent pledge prior to Sylvester.

Rice was the first to offer Sylvester, who had no other public offers when Rice made their push in mid-July. That was true on August 1 when Sylvester decided to pull the trigger.

Sylvester played a little on both sides of the ball in high school, but although he proved himself a capable wide receiver, he’ll primarily slide in at safety for the Owls. The proven versatility and knowledge of the game should give him a leg up in Brian Smith’s defense.

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When it comes to his prowess as a safety, Sylvester is an intriguing prospect. He reads the ball well coming out of the quarterback’s hand and closes the distance between himself and the pass catcher at a furious rate. When he gets there, he’s not afraid to deliver a punishing blow. His pursuit seems to have an extra gear and his drive has the makings of a difference maker at the next level.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 84 – Conference USA Football with Phil Steele

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Creator of one of the most in-depth previews in college football, Phil Steele joins the show this week to dig into his 2021 Conference USA football outlook.

We were fortunate enough to cross paths this week with Phil Steele, create of the most jam-packed college football preview year after year. He was excited to step away debates about the Alabama’s and Texas’s of the world, turning his attention this week to the UAB’s and Texas San-Antonio’s of Conference USA.

Be sure to stick around for some Conference USA sleepers that Steele thinks could have big years, including a couple of picks from the Rice roster. You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 84.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping
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    • Pick up your copy of the Rice Football or Conference USA Season Preview today or as it’s been called by others, The Bible for Conference USA!
  • Phil Steele joins the show — Steele unpacks his Conference USA projections and dives deeper into the 2021 Rice Football season, including:
    • The impact Luke McCaffrey will have on Rice football
    • Where Rice fits in his Conference USA projections
    • The potential upside Rice football has in 2021
    • How the magazine comes together
    • Under-the-radar players to watch in Conference USA

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Conference USA Football: Evaluating CBS’ 2021 coaching hot seat rankings

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In accordance with annual tradition, CBS Sports has updated its annual coaching hot seat rankings. Where do the Conference USA Football coaches fit in?

Before digging in much deeper, here are the hot seat rankings from CBS Sports for every Conference USA football head coach.

School Coach Years Record 21 Rating 20 Rating
UTEP Dana Dimel 3 5-27 4 5
MTSU Rick Stockstill 15 94-92 3 2
FIU Butch Davis 4 23-21 3 1
FAU Willie Taggart 1 5-4 2 2
LA Tech Skip Holtz 8 61-41 2 1
North Texas Seth Littrell 5 31-31 2 1
WKU Tyson Helton 2 14-11 2 1
Rice Mike Bloomgren 3 7-23 1 2
UTSA Jeff Traylor 1 7-5 1 2
Marshall Charles Huff — 0-0 1 1
Old Dominion Ricky Rahne 1 0-0 1 1
Southern Miss Will Hall — 0-0 1 1
Charlotte Will Healy 2 9-10 1 0
UAB Bill Clark 5 40-22 0 0

Hot Seats

Out of the 130 coaches on the total list, only nine coaches had rankings of four or higher. The lone C-USA coach to make that inauspicious list was Dana Dimel, who actually improved from “win or be fired” status last year to “start improving now” status in 2020. Four of the Miners’ first five games come against teams that didn’t play football last fall, giving him a decent shot (or a lack of an excuse) concerning improvement this coming season.

The only other coaches within the vicinity of the hot seat, according to CBS Sports, are MTSU’s Rick Stockstill and FIU’s Butch Davis and that seems about right. Both programs have arguably flatlined (at best) and things are starting to go stale. Finding a reason that 2022 will be different rather than more of the same is paramount, making the “pressure is mounting” tag for Level 3 fitting.

On the lookout

The bottom half of this list seems more or less untouchable. Bill Clark isn’t getting let go, regardless of how 2021 turns out. The remaining coaches on that half of the list have one (or fewer) years of head coaching experience. It’s the middle tier of Willie Taggart (FAU), Skip Holtz (Louisiana Tech), Seth Littrell (North Texas), Tyson Helton (WKU) and Mike Bloomgren (Rice) that has the potential to be interesting.

A bowl berth, or somewhere in that vicinity, probably keeps all of those coaches safely employed in 2021, but an unexpected down season would put them right up near the 4s or the 5s in 2021.

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Rice Football Recruiting: Early impressions from current 2022 commits

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The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class has five commitments as the summer winds down. We caught up with a few of them to hear about their early impressions.

The 2021 season is right around the corner and while the Owls begin their preparations on the field, they’re working hard to build the future of the program off of it. The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class has five commitments to date, putting them in the middle of the pack among their Conference USA peers.

To understand how the class was progressing and get to know some of its foundational pieces, we caught up with a few of the Owls’ initial members of the class.

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CUSA Media Day Roundup: All eyes on the Rice football offense

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After a busy offseason, change was the pivotal word for Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren when speaking about his offense in 2021.

The Rice football defense was one of the most dominant units in Conference USA last year. The Owls climbed all the way up to No. 12 in the nation in scoring defense and blanked a Top 15 team on the road. If any facet of this team deserved to be the focal point of conversation when the 2021 season rolled around, the defense had done everything they conceivably could to put themselves in the spotlight.

But beginning with the first question Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren was asked during Conference USA Media Days and proceeding to the last, the focus was clear: offense, offense, offense.

To some extent, the defense is a known commodity at this point. They’re going to be good, really good. But minus one notable departure, former linebacker Blaze Alldredge, that unit will look the same. The offense is going to look different.

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“I’m not normally very comfortable with change,” Bloomgren admitted in his opening remarks, “but I’m excited about these changes,” he said, referring primarily to the hiring of new offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo. The addition of transfer quarterback Luke McCaffrey fits in that “change” category as well.

Bloomgren didn’t get too far into x’s and o’s, beyond specifying from a play design and scheme standpoint “a lot of it’s the same”, with only so many different combinations of blocks and routes. But how that offense is executed, and who’s executing on those instructions is what’s meant to be differential.

That’s where Luke McCaffrey comes in. Although he wasn’t guaranteed anything beyond a locker and helmet when he arrived, early returns are already positive. Bloomgren was effusive when praising his character and how he carried himself. The on the field production, that matters too.

“That’s a very talented individual that’s been successful on a big stage coming to our program,” Bloomgren said knowingly before getting into how the offense can utilize the run game to take shots downfield. They’ll also have the benefit of returning all five starting offensive linemen, what Bloomgren estimates is probably a first for him in his coaching career.

Add in 10 returning offensive starters overall and you get a delicate mix of familiarity and change. How the coaching staff sorts through the chaos and puts the pieces together will mean all the difference.

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