Bloomgren goes far and wide for big class.
C5
By Glynn A. Hill STAFF WRITER
Rice football coach Mike Bloomgren is casting a wide net — numerically and geographically — to fill his roster.
On Wednesday, Rice announced the signing of 14 recruits, bringing the school’s total class to 31 players (including preferred walk-ons), with more expected to sign in the coming weeks.
“We’re not done,” Bloomgren said. “There’s three targets out there right now — grad transfers — that we’re really still pursuing. I feel like if we land those three, we take our class from a B or a B-plus to a freakin’ A.”
Ten states (Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Wisconsin) are represented in the Owls’ 2019 class, including seven in their February haul alone. It’s the second straight year Rice has drawn recruits from at least seven states.
But more than seeking out talent wherever it might be, Bloomgren was intent on strengthening the program’s foundation heading into his second season.
“I sat here at this podium and really probably didn’t have any idea this time last year that we’d only have 47 healthy scholarship guys for spring ball,” he said. “That we’re going to come into training camp (this) year at 105 or maybe the 110 that the NCAA allows us to is such a great compliment to this staff.”
In 2018, 19 of the Owls’ 28 true freshmen (20 scholarship players and eight walkons) saw the field. Of those, 11 started at some point.
That kind of opportunity for instant playing time helped attract some of Rice’s 2019 signees. Despite so many freshmen breaking into starting roles last season, those same players will be expected to fend off a new group of freshmen looking to do the same.
“One thing I’ve been clear about is yes, we need to raise the ceiling of talent on both sides of the ball in this program, but we’ve also got to raise the floor,” Bloomgren said, anticipating greater competition heading into spring.
“Now there’s a new dynamic with grad transfers. The grad transfer isn’t coming in to sit; he’s not coming in to watch. He’s coming in to start and play from day one, so if I’m already on our roster … it would excite me.”
The February signees include two graduate transfers (quarterback Tom Stewart and center Brian Chaffin) plus an additional pair of scholarship players (defensive tackle De’Braylon Carroll and quarterback Jovoni Johnson). The staff anticipates the three remaining scholarships will go to graduate transfers or a more traditional transfer from a Power Five school, pending their decisions and acceptances.
“He’s going to help us every day that he’s here,” Bloomgren said of Chaffin, whom he had recruited to Stanford. “He’s going to help us advance our culture; he’s going to microwave it, if you will. He embodies everything I want in intellectual brutality.”
Bloomgren is excited to see Stewart, who played at Harvard, not just for his talent but his presence. Despite a pair of young quarterbacks already in the fold in Wiley Green and Evan Marshman, Bloomgren is hoping Johnson and Stewart push each QB to elevate his play.
In Carroll, Bloomgren sees an undersized player with the talent to contribute early.
“(He) played in the state championship game,” Bloomgren said of the Duncanville product. “When you watch him, I know everybody is going to talk about a 6-foot defensive lineman right now and think about Aaron Donald. And obviously, that’s not a fair comparison. But what he does to high school people is very similar.”
Defensive coordinator Brian Smith also is excited about Carroll as well as December commitment Naeem Smith, who already has joined the Owls for workouts.
But more than welcoming any individual player, Brian Smith most looks forward to the increased competition and what it enables him to do schematically.
“That was the big thing about this class — we added some depth,” Smith said. “Getting the guys who can do the things that you like to do, you’re going to see a little bit of a change this year.”
But just as players like Carroll and Naeem Smith are expected to become future standouts for Rice, preferred walk-ons like Chike Anigbogu — a safety from Missouri City expected to transition into a viper — play a central role in populating the roster with “Bloomgren’s guys.”
“You’re going to get better feeling that pressure from younger guys,” Smith said of his non-freshmen. “It makes your football team better when the players at the bottom of the roster are good players.”