Bloomgren casts wide net in Year 2

When Mike Bloomgren was hired as Rice’s coach two weeks before last year’s early signing period, he was forced to play some defense.

“Phase one for us is simply to hold on to our commits,” he said. “But more than that, it’s to play a little defense; to try to get people who may have had interest in Rice at one time — or maybe they're committed to some place down the road — not to sign on Dec. 20 and give us an official visit in January and let us show you why we think this might be the place for you.”

Ultimately, just one player, Prudy Calderon, re-committed. But he and several others went on to become significant contributors in Bloomgren’s first year.

With a full year under his belt, Bloomgren and his staff could top last year’s early signing haul —which saw five players make their decisions official.

With the recent commitment of lineman Hunter Jones, Rice’s current crop stands at 14. The group touches on the team’s primary needs (cornerback and offensive line) and almost every other position.

Jones joins Dallas-area linemen Regan Riddle and Izeya Floyd up front, where the Owls will lose senior tackle Sam Pierce after parting ways with guard Joseph Dill late this past season.

On the other side of the ball, Rice’s defense ranked last in Conference USA in pass defense, allowing a conference-worst 280.1 yards per game and 28 touchdowns.

While Bloomgren finally seemed to settle on a young, new-look secondary toward the end of the year, the unit will still lose more veteran players like cornerback Justin Bickham and safety Houston Robert, who both opted to transfer.

Reinforcing those losses are a trio of late-season commits in safety Hunter Henry and Cedar Hill defensive backs Kirk Lockhart and Joshua Landrum.

Overall, Bloomgren anticipates Rice will add around 15 high school signees when all is said and signed. But the coach has built on two budding trends from last year, which could bolster Rice’s class by February.

Last offseason, Bloomgren signed linebacker Blaze Alldredge from Los Angeles Pierce College.

Like many Owls newcomers, Alldredge was productive — finishing second on the team in tackles after taking over at inside linebacker halfway through the season.

But more intriguing was the fact that Alldredge, a former junior college player, was at Rice in the first place.

In former coach David Bailiff’s 11 seasons, Rice signed two junior college athletes. But Bloomgren was optimistic more could play — and thrive academically — at Rice.

His class currently has a commitment from Cisco College receiver Bradley Rozner, who could be Bloomgren’s second junior college signee in as many years. Rice expects as many as three to five JUCO players could join the 2019 class.

It’s characteristic of the other trend that Bloomgren has developed, generally spreading a wider recruiting net than Bailiff did.

While Bailiff developed a minor pipeline to Canada — partially through former special teams coordinator Darrell Patterson — he signed four players from four states outside of Texas in his final five years (including the 2018 class up until his November departure).

On tap to sign the first members of his first full class, Bloomgren has gotten commitments from 10 players from 10 different states outside of Texas in nearly a year on the job.