Rice head coach Mike Bloomgren talks EJ Warner, replacing JT Daniels

The beginning of the transfer portal era sparked a lot of conversation. But most of that was around how it would impact bigger programs -- not smaller schools like Rice University.

Owls head coach Mike Bloomgren is among those who have shown just how much a G5 program can both utilize and have success in the portal.

"I think a lot of people, when the transfer portal started, were very curious if Rice could be involved," Bloomgren said. "If this could be a good thing for Rice in any way. It's for sure been a positive for us."

One of the first players Rice landed in the portal was former WVU, Georgia and USC quarterback JT Daniels, who was once touted as the best high school football prospect in the nation and a potential Heisman Trophy candidate.

It paid dividends in the time he remained healthy as Rice had plenty of high points like defeating the in-state rival Houston Cougars for the first time since 2010. Daniels tied his career high of 401 passing yards that game en route to a 43-41 victory in double overtime.

"JT was a five-star prospect, the first kid I offered at Stanford back in the day when I was the offensive coordinator there," Bloomgren said. "You're not going to get that kid. We're not going to be able to get that kid coming out of high school. But when he realizes he's already done a program that is filling a stadium with 80,000 people win the SEC environment, but he realizes what he needs to have a chance at the next level and wants to go to a pro-style system."

One of the positives of coming to a program like Rice is that it uses West Coast terminology, something utilized by 24 of the 32 NFL teams.

"You're going to have to learn that foreign language at some point," Bloomgren said. "Come learn with us, we're pretty good tutors."

One of the latest prospects Bloomgren has landed with that pitch is none other than former Temple quarterback EJ Warner, the son of NFL legend, Kurt Warner.

He falls right in line with a program that has recently also had an AJ and two JTs at quarterback. Signal-callers with two initials for a name have become something of an accidental trend at Rice.

The Temple offense Warner comes from is RPO-based, but it does have some West Coast elements to it, as Bloomgren says.

"The last couple years he hasn't been under center as much. There hasn't been as much of a cadence," Bloomgren said. "There's been a lot of clapping. Now, this is him being under center. This is him being in the huddle all the time. Controlling the huddle. Looking the guys in eyes and getting them to understand the importance of the next play."

In addition to what he brings to the table from a consistency and accuracy perspective, Warner has also earned plenty of respect from Bloomgren for what her brings to the team intangibly.

"He spoke to our team the first time a couple days ago and it was absolutely phenomenal," Bloomgren said. "Outside of his comfort zone in a lot of ways, it seems, for him to be boisterous or talk to a group, but when he does, he's just on fire. He's got a great message and he's commanding of a group of men."

Coming into his first season in Houston, Warner is picking things up ahead of schedule in a complicated offense that some players have trouble adjusting to -- or ever learning in a way that meets the expectations.

"I think he's at a very high level and that's why he's able to play the way he does," Bloomgren said. "We've got other people who have come into things like this and they can't organize it all at the line of scrimmage. They forget a motion, they forget a shift, and he's just doing such a good job directing traffic and getting to the line of scrimmage, getting us to the right play."

Bloomgren sees some similarities between Daniels and Warner, but there are key differences.

And he doesn't expect them to be the same quarterback. They'll have been impactful in two different ways, but hopefully in at least equal capacity.

"I thought JT (Daniels) was an absolute football junkie. He was up here about all time just like our coaches in the building," Bloomgren said. EJ (Warner) is about the exact same way, and what I'd say the difference is that EJ (Warner) doesn't have any other hobbies."

JT (Daniels) was a gamer. EJ has football and loves football. EJ is so into football, which is so cool. He sees so much pre-snap and the ball comes out of his hands so quickly... when he understands what's going on, it's amazing just how quickly the ball comes out of his hands."

It will be interesting to see how things shake out for the Owls as they look to build upon last season's 6-7 record, but it's easy to see reason for optimism with the sparks Warner is already showing as spring practices come to a close.