Rivals Reaction: Rashee Rice commits to SMU

In the wake of Chad Morris’ departure for Arkansas after bringing back some excitement to SMU, new head coach Sonny Dykes has done a pretty good job of keeping the momentum going on the recruiting front. On Monday evening, he landed a big commitment in three-star wide receiver Rashee Rice, the second wide receiver committed from nearby Richland High School, the first being Shamar Johnson, who committed in June.

First and foremost, Rice is a legitimate downfield threat. This summer he’s started to fill out a bit more physically, but his bread-and-butter has always been beating his man off the line and making tough over-the-shoulder catches look routine. Although he has good straight-line speed, he tends to roll through cuts on his more intermediate routes, and doesn’t create a ton of separation that way. That being said, he’s a smooth, fluid athlete when he’s running and doesn’t need to be super-bursty to get open. Part of the reason he’s so successful at making those deep grabs, is because he has great concentration just looking the ball in. He knows where to get his hands and always trusts that the ball will find them. This helps him make tougher catches in traffic as well, and overall, he’s a valuable weapon in the red zone.

Nebraska looked like the team that was in the driver’s seat, as he took his most recent recruiting visit to Lincoln and had primarily been posting references to the Huskers on his social media. His offer from Nebraska has been pinned to the top of his Twitter profile since he received it. The Huskers also only have one ‘true’ receiver of their own committed so far in this class, however, and considering head coach Scott Frost is expected to overhaul the offense a la the way he did UCF’s, another home run threat wouldn’t have been the worst thing to add to his first class. Minnesota is still very much in the position of not passing on playmakers when they’re available, but outside of Tyler Johnson - who enjoyed a relative breakout season last year - the Gophers relied heavily on the run last season and are continuing to focus on building their team from the inside-out

SMU has been on a recruiting tear since June acquiring talent and all but three commits have come from in-state. More importantly, quarterback commit Terrance Gipson has a big arm and loves to chuck the ball downfield, which is right in Rice’s wheelhouse. The two could very easily become an exciting combination in the passing game, and with Ulysses Bentley committed at running back, Dykes appears to have a nice core of offensive weapons coming out of the 2019 class. Rice’s commitment is also another positive move for SMU to continue establishing itself as a legitimate destination for talent within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and Rice should be a strong influencer with other Mustangs targets.