The source for Rice sports news

Rice Football Recruiting: 2021 OL Ethan Onianwa commits to Owls

By

The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class added a big addition in the offensive trenches. Cinco Ranch lineman Ethan Onianwa has committed to the Owls.

Going virtual hasn’t slowed down the 2021 Rice football recruiting class. The Owls continue to add talent to their ranks despite the challenging circumstances. This time they didn’t have to venture out that far from their home base, snagging Cinco Ranch offensive lineman Ethan Onianwa, the latest in a run of Texas commitments.

The Owls have been first too offer on several of their targets, but not on Onianwa. The 6-foot-5, 305-pound grinder in the trenches already held offers from Vanderbilt, SMU, North Texas and a host of Ivies prior to Rice making an official offer. Both parties were in contact often leading up to that moment, which came just a few days before Onianwa made his decision.

Onianwa is the eighth commitment of the 2021 Rice football recruiting class and one of the highest-rated additions to date. The Owls scooped up four before the in person restrictions were put in place. Since then they’ve added tight end Jaggar Hebeisen (April 6), linebacker DJ Arkansas (April 14) and defensive lineman Elroyal Morris (April 24).

More: 2021 Rice Football Recruiting Tracker

Onianwa isn’t coming in blind. He was on campus for the Owls’ last junior day in early March. He’s well aware of what is being built at Rice. And now he’s going to be a part of the growth already in progress. The Owls are well on their way to landing one of Conference USA’s best classes.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren had made a concerted effort to add the right pieces along the offensive line. Onianwa is a people-mover in the making and one that’s going to make waves down the road at South Main in the near future.

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

Recent Posts

BREAKING: Christian Covington signs with Denver Broncos

By

Former Rice football defensive lineman Christian Covington has a new NFL home, signing with the Denver Broncos in the days following the NFL Draft.

Christian Covington is on the move. Initially drafted by the Houston Texans after a standout Rice football career, Covington played four seasons in Houston. He tallied 7.5 sacks and 39 tackles, playing in the trenches alongside JJ Watt and Jadeveon Clowney.

From there, he signed a one-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys in 2019. He appeared in all 16 games with Dallas last year, setting career highs in tackles (20) and starts (six).

In mid-April, Covington joined The Roost Podcast and briefly discussed his free agency and future plans. He mentioned the current global climate was impacting how he and his agent went about normal business, but hoped to have a solution worked out soon.


Less than a week after the NFL Draft was finished, teams had answers to their depth chart questions and Covington had his next NFL home. Per Adam Caplan, Covington is joining the Broncos on a 1-year, $1.75 million contract with $625,000 guaranteed. Originally from Canada, this will be his first football season outside of Texas since coming to Rice in 2011.

Denver is a popular destination for former Owls in the NFL. Covington’s former college teammate corner Bryce Callahan is also with the team as is offensive lineman Calvin Anderson. Jordan Taylor, also a teammate of Covington’s, was with the Broncos through the 2018 season, just missing a reunion.

Find the latest updates on all former Rice football players in the NFL on our NFL Owls Tracker. The list has been updated to include the next wave of pro Owls. Three players from the 2019 squad have signed as undrafted free agents following the 2020 NFL Draft: Myles Adams (Carolina), Justin Gooseberry (Falcons) and Nick Leverett (Buccaneers).

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

Recent Posts

Rice Football: Undrafted free agent signings after 2020 NFL Draft

By

The NFL Draft has come to a close and a new crop of Rice football pro hopefuls have signed with NFL teams as undrafted free agents.

Every college football player hopes to one day be an NFL Draft selection, but that’s not how every pro career begins. Conference USA had 10 players chosen. Alex Highsmith, an edge rusher from Charlotte was the first C-USA player taken. He came off the board in the third round.

Rice did not have any players chosen in the 2020 NFL Draft. This year’s crop of Rice football NFL hopefuls will attempt to make their marks as undrafted free agents. We’ll keep you updated as announcements come out. So far, these former Rice football players have signed with teams:

Nick Leverett, a starter for Rice on the offensive line last season after transferring from NC Central, has signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Leverett started all season for the Owls.

Myles Adams, the lone senior starter for the Rice football defense this past season, is heading to the Carolina Panthers. Adams had 42 tackles last season and one sack.

Justin Gooseberry, a one-year starter on the offensive line after transfering from Ouachita Baptist, has signed with the Atlanta Falcons.

Other notable signings

Former Auburn punter Arryn Siposs signed with the Detroit Lions. He’ll join Matt Wille and former Rice punter Jack Fox in a competition for the Lions’ punting job next season.

Rice Football recent NFL Draft history

The Owls’ streak of drafts without a selection has now stretched to five. Christian Covington, selected by the Houston Texans in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, was the last Owl chosen.

Covington’s selection marked the end of a nice run of selections for Rice. From 2009 to 2015 Rice had eight players chosen: Jarret Dillard (2009), James Casey (2009), Cheta Ozougwu (2011), Scott Solomon (2012), Vance McDonald (2013), Luke Wilson (2013), Phillip Gaines (2014), Christian Covington (2015). McDonald was the highest selection, going No. 55 overall to the San Francisco 49ers.

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

Recent Posts

Rice Football Recruiting: 2021 DL Elroyal Morris commits to Owls

By

The 2021 Rice Football recruiting class continues to grow. Dekaney defensive lineman Elroyal Morris has committed to the Owls.

Rice football recruiting has developed a pretty strong track record. They’re not afraid to be the first to offer anyone who meets their rigorous criteria. Those were the circumstances surrounding the recruitment of Dekaney lineman Elroyal Morris.

Rice was the first to offer Morris. They were active in his recruitment from start to finish. In many ways, everything went according to plan.

The Owls offered Morris on National Signing Day as part of a 2021 blitz that included a half dozen other offers. Morris had already established a relationship with the staff at that point and seemed poised to make the jump in short order. His social media accounts profile pictures reflected him decked out in Rice attire, all that was left was to make his lean official.

More: 2021 Rice Football Recruiting Tracker

Morris has done that now, committing to Rice amidst the coronavirus lockdown. He becomes the seventh member of the 2021 Rice Football Recruiting class and the second defensive line commit, joining Blake Boenisch, another Houston-area product.

Rice has broadcast its commitment to a national recruiting strategy, but they’ve maintained a commitment to winning in-state too. Six of the Owls’ seven commits hail from the state of Texas.

The 2021 defensive haul is starting to look rather impressive. Along with Boenisch and Morris, a trio of linebackers rounds out Conference USA’s top-ranked recruiting class. The Owls were already No. 1 on that front before adding Morris to the fold. He’ll add to the Owls’ advantage as the Early Signing Period begins to approach.

Standing 6-foot-3 and tipping the scales at 270 pounds, Morris is a bully in the trenches. He’ll enter Rice with a frame ready to be built upon, already set with a strong foundation for his future.

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

Recent Posts

Contingency plans for the 2020 College Football Season

By

The 2020 college football season is unlikely to go on as planned. What alternatives are being discussed? How will they impact Rice football?

The sports world is on pause as the globe works through a pandemic that has left chaos in its wake. When can we play ball again isn’t the most important question that needs to be answered now, but a return to sports, to a unifying cause, would be a welcome distraction.

For that reason, contingency plans are being worked. Possibilities upon possibilities are being propagated. Rice football, like everyone else, waits for a resolution. Here’s what I’m hearing about potential options for the upcoming college football season.

When will the season start?

Playing the season as planned with kickoffs beginning in late August is the first, and most tenuous scenario. The next would be a delayed start. That could involve pushing games back several weeks and continuing the regular season through December. More drastic still, a third option is gaining traction: football in the spring.

Multiple sources have mentioned a growing sentiment in the industry toward a much later start date. College football is the monetary engine that drives so many athletic programs. The ramifications of a lost season could be potentially devastating. Even though the offset would inevitably cause challenges of its pow, playing later in the academic calendar would absolutely be on the table.

Potential schedule adjustments

Different states have been impacted by the coronavirus to varying degrees of severity. Individual governors have passed their own stay-at-home-orders and various public safety initiatives. Gathering together a conference that runs from Texas to Virginia will be an arduous task and Conference USA won’t be alone in that struggle. Every conference consists of members from a half dozen states, if not more.

Alternative schedules and games with and without fans are on the table. Quite frankly, everything is on the table. Here are three possibilities that I found most interesting.

1. Conference games only

If the season can be delayed and truncated, Rice would play some component of C-USA teams, possibly just those currently on their schedule. Nonconference games (vs Army, vs Houston, vs Lamar, vs LSU) would be canceled.

2. Semi-regionalized scheduling

The last two ideas seem like longshots, but nothing has been predictable over the course of the last month and a half.

A long-rumored intermingling between Conference USA and Sun Belt teams has been floated around. In that scenario, the C-USA West and the Sun Belt would “merge” for the 2020 season, allowing for reduced travel and a more localized footprint. The lack of any major TV considerations might make this plan more viable than Option 3.

3. Texas-only scheduling

What if Texas is able to return to football but nearby states can’t? That could prohibit Option 1 and Option 2 from taking place. The only alternative remaining that included the possibility of college football would be an all-Texas league.

The logistics to be navigated would be unimaginably complicated, but even in-state powers like Texas and Texas A&M have financial considerations that would make not playing football this season a major problem. Likewise, ESPN, Fox and others would prefer to televise some football games rather than no football games.

If all of those parties can thread the needle — and that’s what it would take — the results could be spectacular. For one year we could be looking at an All-Texas Conference split like this:

  • West | Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Texas State, UTSA, and UTEP
  • East | Texas A&M, Baylor, North Texas, SMU, Houston and Rice

All of this comes with a massive caveat. “There is no clarity right now for anyone,” a source familiar with these discussions told me. Right now, these ideas are just ideas, albeit ideas that have started to circulate within the college football community.

My two cents: if there’s any feasible way to bring together an all-Texas league for just one year. Please, someone make it happen. Have any theories or ideas? Leave them in the comments.

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

Recent Posts