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Rice Football Recruiting: 2020 Early Signing Period Expectations

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The Owls will sign their first members of the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class this week during the Early Signing Period. Here’s what to expect.

The Early Signing Period starts tomorrow, marking the first signing opportunity for the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class. The Owls started this process months ago, with safety Plae Wyatt the first to commit in February. Since then 17 additional players have jumped on board #FlightSchool20. You can view the full commitment list with player profiles here.

In the past week, Rice has picked up three commitments from transfers. Quarterback TJ McMahon and offensive lineman Adam Sheriff have chosen the Owls from the JUCO ranks. Offensive lineman Jovaun Woolford will come to South Main as a graduate transfer from Colgate.

Rice Football Recruiting

How we got here

As it currently stands, the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class is the fifth highest-rated class in Conference USA, per 247 Sports. That’s one spot shy of the Owls’ No. 4 class in 2007, the highest-rated class in program history since 247 began compiling rankings in the early 2000s.

Credit is due to the entire Rice staff, who have proven themselves to be astute evaluators of talent. Every current commit is rated three-stars by 247, but nine of them were unrated players at the time of their commitments.

Rice didn’t cherrypick from a list of established recruits, they found the talent themselves and let the rating services catch up. Rice football recruiting director Alex Brown, who was hired in April, has done an incredible job setting the stage and pulling the strings for what promises to be a tremendous crop of players.

What to expect this week

As of now, there aren’t any players currently commitment that have indicated they won’t sign this week, that includes former TCU quarterback Michael Collins, the most recent commitment prior to the Early Signing Period. Otherwise, the Owls will continue to pursue their remaining targets into the spring. The 18 already in the fold should make it official during the Early Signing Period.

Many are having signing day ceremonies at their schools. Khalan Griffin and Sean Fresch will sign at 10:30 a.m. Plae Wyatt will sign at 2:45 p.m. Others will send their letters in throughout the day. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and follow our live blog during the day for updates.

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2020 Offensive Tackle Mike Leone commits to Owls

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The 2020 Rice Football recruiting class has flipped a talented offensive lineman from the Northeast. Mike Leone has committed to the Owls.

More than a dozen members of the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class were under the radar prospects on the national stage. Most rating services hadn’t evaluated them yet. There was not list for the Owls to go off, instead they identified talent and got it to South Main.

Then there are guys like Hun School offensive lineman Mike Leone. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound offensive lineman is from New Jersey, about three hours away from Maryland, an ACC school that has been after Leone for a while. Not only did Leone pick the Owls over the Terps, he opted to fly down to Houston the weekend before the Early Signing Period rather than visit Maryland.

Rice Football Recruiting

Leone has bought into Mike Bloomgren’s proven track record of development in the trenches. The successes of young players like Clay Servin, Isaac Klarkowski and Cole Garcia juxtaposed with several successful transfers makes it a pretty easy sell to incoming recruits on the line.

Prior to making the flip, Leone had been committed to Yale. He maintained that commitment since July, even after Maryland offered him in October. Now he’s set to be a Rice Owl and is a rather prominent figure in a 2020 haul loaded with talent.

He and Jovaun Woolford, a grad transfer who also made his commitment this week, give Rice plenty of options at the tackle spot for 2020 and beyond. Rice is building an arsenal of high-caliber offensive lineman, setting themselves up for sustained success up front for years to come. Leone could be one of the best.

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Rice Football 2019: Owls in the NFL Week 15 Update

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A pair of Rice Football products helped their defenses pitch dominant performances. More from Christian Covington, Andrew Sendejo and other NFL Owls in action in Week 15.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Week 15 results

Chiefs 23 – Broncos 3 (Anderson, Callahan) 
Cowboys 44 (Covington) – Rams 21
Seahawks 30 (Ellerbee, Willson) – Panthers 24
Bills 17 – Steelers 10 (Boswell, McDonald)
Texans 24 (Gaines) – Titans 21
Vikings 39 (Sendejo) – Chargers 10

Calvin Anderson, OT, Broncos

Anderson has yet to appear in a game for the Broncos this season. He was inactive again this week. The Broncos host the Lions in Week 16.

Bryce Callahan, CB, Broncos

Callahan was placed on injured reserve earlier this season, never playing for the Broncos in 2019. He will be sidelined for the remainder of the year. The Broncos host the Lions in Week 16.

Christian Covington, DE, Cowboys

Covington had three tackles, all solo, in the Cowboys’ Week 15 rout of the Los Angeles Rams. The Dallas defense pitched a shutout through the first 56 minutes of play before Los Angels tacked on a few garbage time touchdowns. The Cowboys visit the Eagles in Week 16.

Andrew Sendejo, Saf, Vikings

It was a relatively quiet day for Sendejo, who registered one tackle in the Vikings’ win over the Chargers. The Vikings host the Packers on Monday Night Football in Week 16.

Emmanuel Ellerbee, LB, Seahawks

Ellerbee was placed injured reserve prior to the start of the season. The Seahawks host the Cardinals in Week 16.

Luke Willson, TE, Seahawks

Willson has missed the past four games. He was inactive again this weekend against the Panthers. The Seahawks host the Cardinals in Week 16.

Chris Boswell, K, Steelers

Boswell didn’t see much of the field in Week 15. He made a 49-yard field goal, his eight successful kick from 40+ yards this season. He also added an extra point. The Steelers visit the Jets in Week 16.

Vance McDonald, TE, Steelers

McDonald left last week’s game with a concussion and was inactive for the Steelers’ Sunday night loss to the Bills. The Steelers visit the Jets in Week 16.

Phillip Gaines, CB, Texans

Gaines was placed on injured reserve following an ankle injury suffered during the Texans’ Week 8 game against the Colts. The Texans visit the Bucs in Week 16.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are others Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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Rice Football Recruiting: JUCO Offensive lineman Adam Sheriff commits to Owls

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The offensive line contingent of the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class is getting bigger and better. JUCO tackle Adam Sheriff has committed to the Owls.

You can never have too many offensive linemen. That creed is truer few places than South Main. After watching true freshman walk on center Isaac Klarkowski finish out last season, the 2020 Rice Football recruiting class will not lack a sizable collection of trench-defending athletes. Even though they already have some talented prospects in the fold, the Owls continue to prioritize the position.

Rice nabbed grad transfer Jovaun Woolford from Colgate last week but didn’t ease up. 6-foot-4, 280-pound offensive tackle Adam Sheriff, a transfer from Butler Community College, was among their top targets at the position. Sheriff was on campus the final weekend before the Early Signing Period and saw all he needed to make his decision. Now he’s the latest member of an impressive haul in the trenches.Rice Football Recruiting

Sheriff had drawn interest from North Texas and Arkansas State, ultimately opting for the Owls. The addition is a nice head-to-head victory over a C-USA peer and a talented Arkansas State team that had posted a winning record in sixth consecutive seasons under head coach Blake Anderson.

 

Quarterback and offensive line were the biggest gaps the 2020 Rice Football Recruiting class needed to address. With Sheriff on board, the Owls have gone a long way to filling those holes. Rice could still opt to bring in another piece to man the front lines, especially with the potential loss of Uzoma Osuji to the transfer portal.

No matter how the rest of the pieces come together, Sheriff has the potential to be a mainstay on the Rice offensive line for several years. Rice has done well with their offensive line recruits. Sheriff looks to be the next in a great line of enforcers up front.

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Rice Football 2019: Two Owls enter Transfer Portal

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Following the end of the 2019 season, two Rice football players have entered the Transfer Portal: linebacker Anthony Ekpe and offensive tackle Uzoma Osuji.

Attrition may have found its way to South Main. Rice fared well in the transfer shuffle last year, swapping out two presumed starters (Roe Wilkins and Zach Abercumbia) for a half dozen impact players like Brad Rozner, Naeem Smith and a trio of offensive lineman.

The first Owls to enter the portal this season are linebacker Anthony Ekpe and offensive tackle Uzoma Osuji.

Ekpe led the team with six sacks last season but injuries hindered his impact in 2019. He appeared in eight games, registering 23 tackles and 2.5 sacks. The majority of that production came early in the season — he tallied 17 of his tackles in the Owls’ first two games. Kenneth Orji plated well in his stead, finishing with 40 tackles, fifth most among members of the front seven.

Osuji started the first six games of the 2018 season before injuries and the emergence of Clay Servin pushed him into more of a reserve role. This year Servin was locked in at the left tackle spot. Incoming transfer Justin Gooseberry manned the right side of line. Osuji was the odd man out, seeing action primarily as a backup in nine games.

Both players were wanted and expected to be a part of next year’s team, per a source. Ekpe projected to be heavily involved, if not a starter on the Rice defense. Osuji would have been in the mix for playing time at the right tackle spot, but likely would have had to beat out a new wave of players at his position. They are the only two Rice football players in the portal at this time. The Owls would certainly love to have both back in the fold in 2020.

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