How Georgia’s Monty Rice made up for what he perceived to be a ‘mistake’

Monty Rice held up a large LSU pennant in front of a large crowd in the James Clemens High School gymnasium. He flashed a bright smile to the cameras and was seemingly ready to go play for the Tigers.

It was a slight surprise as Rice was silently committed to Georgia before changing his mind on Dec. 12, 2016. Shortly thereafter, the four-star linebacker was reminded of his true desire.

Rice rushed into the school bathroom shortly after his ceremony and dialed up a member of the Georgia coaching staff in a panic.

“I think I just messed up,” Rice said, as recalled by Georgia head coach Kirby Smart during a news conference at SEC Media Days. “I made a mistake.”

The highly-touted prospect was torn on his collegiate decision. After being overcome with emotion, Rice fixed his so-called mistake and flipped his commitment to Georgia less than three weeks later.

As the 2017 season progressed, the Bulldogs benefited from flipping Rice. Georgia faced attrition within its linebacker corps as Reggie Carter suffered a concussion and Natrez Patrick was sidelined due to multiple suspensions associated with marijuana use.

Rice started in Georgia’s 53-28 win over Missouri and recorded five tackles, including one for loss. Earlier in Georgia’s 13-win campaign, the then-freshman led a goal-line stop to hold a 28-point victory in the waning seconds against Mississippi State.

After each occurrence, Rice drew rave reviews from his teammates and coaches. He is less than two months away from beginning his sophomore campaign, and Rice is receiving more of the same.

“He was determined to fix that mistake, and he has grown as a player,” Smart said. “He loves to smile and is a bright young man. He loves to practice and is always working.”

Rice is now part of a revamped group of inside linebackers after Carter and Roquan Smith both departed from the program. Inside linebackers coach Glenn Schumann has a plethora of underclassmen to choose from, and Rice could be near the top of the Bulldogs’ preference list.

Rice is listed at 6-foot-1 and 235 pounds and recorded multiple hard-hitting plays as a freshman. Sometimes, he likes to have fun with his stature in battles with elder teammates. Jonathan Ledbetter, a Georgia player representative at SEC Media Days, recalled a recent challenge posed by Rice in the locker room.

It was a wrestling match. Rice, according to Ledbetter, thinks he is the “biggest man on campus sometimes.” He wanted to take down the senior defensive lineman — listed at a heftier 277 pounds and three inches taller.

“Try your luck,” Ledbetter said.

Ledbetter knew he would win, and he did. But it gave a reminder about Rice’s ability: An opponent will feel his presence across the line-of-scrimmage on every snap.

“He will knock his socks off, no matter what, every single time,” Ledbetter said. “He might hurt himself, but he will get back up and do it again.”

This story was originally published July 17, 2018 at 1:13 PM.