‘He’s stepping up every day’: How Monty Rice became Georgia defense’s young leader

A broad grin stretched across Dan Lanning’s face.

Lanning, who arrived in Athens to coach outside linebackers in Mel Tucker’s defense in January 2018, drew the short straw to speak to the media in New Orleans Saturday. The slot was originally held by Tucker, the ex-Bulldogs defensive coordinator-turned-Colorado head coach.

Lanning did the duty as professionally as he could, answering questions about position players he likely seldom coaches (such as Deandre Baker, a corner) and no-commenting questions about his interest in the Colorado defensive coordinator job.

One question, though, had the assistant coach clearly excited to answer.

It was about Monty Rice, the Bulldogs’ sophomore inside linebacker who missed the team’s previous three games after suffering an ankle injury during pre-game warmups back on November 17.

“Monty’s got a great personality,” Lanning said. “He’s a guy that’s a lot of fun to be around. He has a smile on his face, and works extremely hard at his craft.”

That idea — that Rice works extremely hard despite only being a sophomore — is something that the rest of the linebackers group agrees on. It’s Rice’s work ethic, and the positive attitude he pairs with it, that has gradually transformed him into a real leader for a group plagued with injuries throughout 2018.

Rice’s status remains unclear for the Sugar Bowl, but the sophomore has taken part in practice both in Athens and in New Orleans since that injury. One piece of news Lanning did confirm, though, is that it’ll be a team effort coaching-wise, as for who calls plays on Tuesday. Lanning said it’ll be a combination of himself, Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart, inside linebackers coach Glenn Schumann and defensive line coach Tray Scott.

And getting Rice back would certainly help. An early-enrollee, Rice appeared in 14 games his freshman year. He’s played in all but three this season, and registered at least eight total tackles in his last three games before injury. That’s including an 11-total-tackle effort in the Bulldogs’ win over Florida in Jacksonville, his career-best performance since arriving in Athens from Madison, Alabama.

He’s big and he’s physical, standing at 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds, and thus an important piece to Georgia’s inside-linebacker puzzle consisting of seniors Juwan Taylor and Natrez Patrick, and junior Tae Crowder (a Hamilton native). First-year players Channing Tindall and Quay Walker played sparingly prior to Rice’s injury, but saw increased snaps afterwards.

For any given game, especially with Rice potentially back to full health, it’s unclear which two players will start the game’s first drive.

Rice’s intelligence, though, is what Lanning noticed about him. Inside linebacker is, at times, quite a complicated position to play. While linebackers generally have a run-first responsibility, they’re also asked to drop into zone (or even man) coverage when the situations arise.

That is, for the most part, the same for outside linebackers, while defensive backs have a pass-first responsibility and linemen seldom hold any pass coverage responsibilities. This makes linebacker, both outside and inside, one of the more complicated positions on defense. And facing a dual-threat quarterback like Longhorns’ signal-caller Sam Ehlinger, that job will become even more complicated on the first night of 2019.

“(Rice) is really intelligent,” Lanning said. “He’s a heavy hitter. When he puts his pads on you, I think guys feel it. So, it’s exciting to see some of the things Monty has been able to do this year.”

Added fellow inside linebacker Crowder: “Monty is stepping up every day. He’s a young guy, but he played a lot of snaps. He knows his role, and he knows what he’s got to do.

“He’s getting better each and every day.”

This story was originally published December 29, 2018 at 1:54 PM.