A different kind of pro prospect helps revive Rice football

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As one example: Bailiff regularly shifts practice times to accommodate players’ class schedules or allows guys to arrive late or leave early for lab sessions.

“They have to post high GPAs to get into the medical schools they want or the law schools they want,” he says. “And there’s times they’re just gonna have to miss practice. That’s part of it here.”

Darik Dillard, a junior running back from San Antonio, says the Owls’ mindset is different than most of their FBS peers.

“You don’t see your only purpose of going to Rice as being an athlete,” says Dillard, who followed his older brother Jarett, an All-America receiver who went on to play in the NFL. “You really take the importance of being a student and doing well in your classes. … You understand you’re not gonna be treated like a celebrity here. You’re just like any student.”

To find qualified candidates who can also play, the coaching staff annually holds satellite camps across Texas. The typical attendees are kids who believe they’ll qualify for admission; the camps essentially allow Bailiff and company to quickly narrow their focus. They don’t typically cast a wide net — though freshman receiver Lance Wright, who’s from North Pole, Alaska, and has been making waves early during preseason practices, is a notable exception.

There are no hard and fast entrance requirements, but instead a “holistic” admission process that examines an applicant’s academic résumé along with an array of extracurricular activities.

“If a young man has a 32 on the ACT, we’re probably good there,” Bailiff says. “If he’s got a 26, he probably needs to be an Eagle Scout.”

The overriding principle, according to Bailiff, is this: “The worst thing you can do here is bring in a young man you’re not sure can make it academically, because there’s no place to hide academically here.”

To qualified prospects, Bailiff and his coaches pitch the value of a degree from Rice, with its reputation as one of the nation’s best universities. Bailiff tells recruits and their parents that five years after graduation, he expects them to be the boss. Ten years out, he expects them to be successful enough pay back their scholarship in donations.

read more:  http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/08/cusa-rice-football-david-bailiff