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Rice Football Recruiting: Owls target o-line in latest run of offers

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The Transfer Portal has been a focal point of Rice football recruiting in recent weeks, including a flurry of offers on the offensive line.

The 2022 Rice Football recruiting class got off to a great start during the early signing period, but there’s more work to do before the class is completed later this spring. For the time being, the Transfer Portal has taken center stage. Rice has been active in recent weeks, shifting their focus to transfer targets with much of their high school contingent now signed.

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It only takes a brief look at the Owls’ most recent offer list to identify the current priority: offensive line.  The five most recent offers for the upcoming 2022 Rice Football recruiting class have all come at that position, including four transfer targets and one high school senior.

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Rice Football: linebacker Blaze Alldredge enters Transfer Portal

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Rice Football linebacker Blaze Alldredge has entered the Transfer Portal. He will be missed at South Main.

The first few weeks of the offseason passed quietly for Rice football. The Owls picked up a few additional recruits, but for the most part, things were quiet on South Main. That silence was broken this week with two big news items regarding two of the most influential players on the 2020 team.

Wide receiver Austin Trammell will play in the College Gridiron Showcase, marking the end of his collegiate career as he aspires to a pro career. It appears that Trammell’s teammate and fellow team captain Blaze Alldredge will not return to South Main in 2021 either, instead, he has chosen to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, confirmed by The Roost.

A senior this past fall, Alldredge came to Rice from junior college. He’ll take advantage of the blanket waiver extended to all athletes that participated in FBS football in the fall, giving him one more year of collegiate eligibility.

The list of accolades Alldredge amassed in three years at South Main is staggering. He finished second in the nation in tackles for a loss during his junior season, receiving all-conference honors in each of the past two seasons. He’s been among the best at his position in Conference USA since he arrived. Now, presumably, he’ll use his post-graduate season at a Power 5 program.

Alldredge is the most notable player to enter the portal following the season. So far, Chris Boudreaux, Jonathan Sanchez and jawan King are the only other Owls to enter. Like Alldredge, both Boudreaux and Sanchez would be graduate transfers.

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Rice Football: Breaking down the impact of the Tyrae Thornton transfer

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Rice Football starting corner Tyrae Thornton has entered the Transfer Portal. How will his absence impact the Owls in 2020 and beyond?

It’s been an unusual offseason in more ways than one for Rice football, but unexpected attrition has not been a problem for the Owls so far. Rice lost linebacker Anthony Ekpe to transfer, but his starting job had already been overtaken by Kenneth Orji. Like there is with every team, the roster went through a bit more churn, but on the whole, Rice wasn’t losing anyone they hadn’t previously anticipated losing.

Then starting corner Tyrae Thornton entered the Transfer Portal this week. Prior to Thornton’s decision, the most notable departure of the summer was the loss of scout team quarterback Parker Towns. He was omitted from the preseason roster released in early August. Thornton was expected to line up opposite Tre’shon Devones. Now Rice will have to adjust.

The Depth Chart Impact

Corner and the interior of the defensive line were thin spots on the roster prior to Thornton’s announcement. Planning for a two-deep without him is doable, but the margin for error (or injury) beyond that is dicey.

Andrew Bird stands to benefit with the largest increase in playing time right away. His size (6-foot-1, 181 pounds) sets him apart from the rest of the unit. He also has the benefit of being one of the more experienced returners.

I also think Jason White is going to get some more time on the outside. He started against Southern Miss last year and held his own. Don’t let his smaller stature (5-foot-8, 158 pounds) fool you. He’ll be in the mix and could have a slight edge in coverage over Bird. This would be an excellent battle to watch in fall camp had Rice started it yet.

Being able to utilize Blaze Alldredge more in coverage will be another added wrinkle to keep an eye on. Beyond those more seasoned commodities, Rice could turn to a freshman for key minutes.

Devones proved he was the most talented man for the job and won a starting job midway through last season. I wouldn’t bet against the younger contingent with guys like Sean Fresch, Lamont Narcisse and Jordan Dunbar. We’ll learn a lot about how this position will play out if/when fall camp begins.

The Roster Impact

The continuity Rice football had built this season cannot be understated. Southern Miss saw five players opt out of the 2020 season this week. Defensive end Jacques Turner, linebacker Racheem Boothe and receiver Jaylond Adams will all not play this season. Turner and Boothe have entered the Transfer Portal.

FAU, Western Kentucky, Marshall have all lost expected starting quarterback during the offseason. A slew of other programs have seen marquee players leave for one reason or another.

It’s foolish to write off the departure of Thornton as “no big deal”. Losing a starting-caliber player at any position this close to the start of the season is a tough pill to swallow.

For better or worse, it sets Rice up to hit the restart at the position a year in advance. A redshirt junior, Thornton wasn’t going to be in the long term plans for this defense. He very well might have kept the starting job had he returned next season as well, but there’s no promises he would have held off the wave of incoming players.

At best, Thornton’s absence allows for an early transition and Rice is forced only to deal with the growing pains of a younger player. At worst, the Owls’ secondary will be exposed from a weak link uncovered in the final weeks before the games begin. I lean closer toward the former.

The loss is real, but Rice is going to be okay in the long run, particularly if the season is delayed or canceled and Thronton’s replacements get an extended audition and practice in the scheme with the first team.

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Rice Football: Corner Tyrae Thornton enters Transfer Portal

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Rice Football will have to deal with some attrition in the secondary. Cornerback Tyrae Thornton has entered the Transfer Portal.

The projected two-deep for the Rice football defense looked pretty stout for Rice football entering the 2020 season. The Owls expected to return 20 of their top 22 players. That included 10 starters and 10 backups, losing only defensive tackle Myles Adams (to graduation) and linebacker Anthony Ekpe (to transfer).

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Read more on what the depth chart looks like behind Thornton in the 2020 Rice Football Season Preview.

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Transfer Portal: How Rice soccer found a recruiting edge

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Rice soccer coach Brian Lee is a believer in the Transfer Portal. Despite others’ conflicting opinions, Lee views it as a tool for the Owls to stockpile talent.

The Transfer Portal is almost a taboo subject in the world of collegiate athletics. Depending on your vantage point, it’s either a brilliant or tortuous invention.

For the most part, coaches are reticent to endorse it. There’s no denying the ease of access to other schools that it provides makes retaining their own student athletes more challenging. But it also opens up doors for coaches to improve their teams. Beauty, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder.

Rice soccer head coach Brian Lee likes what he sees. “I think it’s a very good thing for women’s soccer,” he said, adding a quick caveat that “it’s very different for every sport.”

So why does it work for women’s soccer? Lee’s contention is two-fold. First, the sport is at the forefront of high school recruiting. Players make their commitments as highschool sophomores, three years before they’ll ever step foot on a college field.

A lot can happen in three years. That’s especially for athletes who were 16 at the time of their decision and nearing 20 when college arrives.

Beyond the time component, the academic prestige of Rice University is a differentiator as well.

Lee believes that, in general, players’ priorities and reasons for choosing a college the second time around “are way smarter and for the right reasons.” That why he believes the developmental growth combined with all Rice has to offer makes the Transfer Portal a competitive advantage for the Owls.

Last fall Rice soccer went into the portal to snag Boston College transfer Mijke Roelfsema, who picked Rice over dozens of other scholarship offers. This offseason Rice landed LSU transfer Ashton Smith who also selected Rice over more than 50 competing schools.

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“It’s certainly a really good tool for Rice soccer, because short-term, we’re going to be very attractive to kids on the portal as we try to improve our talent level,” Lee said, taking the best from both worlds. The Transfer Portal serves as an intermediary as he continues to lay the groundwork for the future, one that he believes will be aided by talented players hoping to find their way to Rice.

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