Rice Recruiting Outlook

Rice:

• Zach Abercrumbia, Skyline (Dallas, TX), DT, 6-3/262  
• Carl Thompson, Guyer (Denton, TX), DT, 6-3/270  
• JT Granato, The Kinkaid School (Houston, TX), PRO QB, 6-3/198  
• Blain Padgett, Hardin-Jefferson (Sour Lake, TX), SDE, 6-4/240  
• Jackson Tyner, Edgewood (Edgewood, TX), ATH, 6-4.5/225  
• Isaiah Edwards, Cinco Ranch (Katy, TX), OG, 6-8/355  
• Nahshon Ellerbe, Trinity Christian Academy (Addison, TX), APB, 5-8.5/184  
• Christian Bertrand, Hightower (Missouri City, TX), S, 5-11/185  
• Emmanuel Esukpa, Mansfield (Mansfield, TX), RB, 6-0/210  
• Brandon Douglas, Hutto (Hutto, TX), ATH, 5-10.5/175  
• Crockett Mokry, Pleasanton (Pleasanton, TX), OG, 6-4/310  
• Houston Robert, Parkview Baptist School (Baton Rouge, LA), APB, 6-0.5/180  
• Josh Cummings, Jesuit (Dallas, TX), CB, 5-10/175  
• Justin Bickham, Pflugerville (Pflugerville, TX), CB, 6-0/185  
• Castin Neumeyer, Wylie (Wylie, TX), OT, 6-5/262  
• Matt Terrill, Hyde Park Baptist School - Central Campus (Austin, TX), ATH, 6-6/245  
• Roe Wilkins, Hardin-Jefferson (Sour Lake, TX), DT, 6-3/260  
• Jack Fox, Ladue Horton Watkins (Saint Louis, MO), K, 6-2/200  

The Owls have struggled to turn a good 2014 on the field into a great recruiting class, even in the football hotbed of Texas. The Owls are ranked 98th in the country with their recruiting class, putting them 10th in Conference USA. Rice currently has 18 commits for the spring with 16 coming from in-state. The others come from Louisiana and Missouri. Seven of the 18 recruits are rated 3-star or higher.

Rice is coming off of an impressive 8-5 season culminated by a dominant 30-6 win over Fresno State in the Hawaii Bowl. The Owls went 5-3 in conference play with wins over UTSA, FIU, Southern Miss, UTEP and North Texas. Rice also went 3-1 versus other Texas colleges with their only loss to SEC member Texas A&M.

Returning Starters (6 or more starts in 2014):
Offense (4):
Driphus Jackson (13 starts, 2,842 passing, 24 TD, 401 rushing, 1 TD, QB), Caleb Williams (13 starts, OL), Andrew Reue (13 starts, Honorable mention All-CUSA, OL), Dennis Parks (9 starts, 29 catches, 389 yards, 1 TD, WR)

Defense (5):
Ross Winship (6 starts, 9 tkl, 2 tfl, 1 fr, DT), Brian Nordstrom (13 starts, 1st team All-CUSA, 49 tkl, 19.5 tfl, 7.5 sacks, 3 pbu, 3 pd, 1 fr, 1 ff, 1 blocked kick, DL), Ryan Pollard (10 starts, 27 tkl, 1 tfl, 2 INT, 8 pbu, 10 pd, DB), Alex Lyons (12 starts, Honorable mention All-CUSA, 71 tkl, 5 tfl, 3 sacks, 2 fr, LB), Christian Covington (6 starts, 20 tkl, 3.5 tfl, 2.5 sacks, 1 fr, DL)