Football Recruiting
Report
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
By Sammy Batten |
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Country boy grooming physique
for Pirates
Mobile Palmetto State
tackle Rice thrives on protecting 'my quarterback'
By
Sammy Batten
©2013 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Growing up in rural South
Carolina, Messiah Rice loved just about any activity that could be done
outdoors.
"I was very active,'' Rice
said. "I'd climb trees, throw rocks, anything just to be outside. I played
all sports, too, but football was the thing I preferred. I was an aggressive
type, and I was real big and tall at a young age. I started playing Pee Wee
football and I just fell in love with it.
"It was something I was really
good at. People always told me I would be successful in that sport.''
Those predictions have come
true for Rice, now a 6-foot-7, 270-pound lineman at Orangeburg-Wilkinson
High School in Orangeburg, SC.
Entering his third season as a
varsity starter at left offensive tackle, Rice has attracted scholarship
offers from Football Championship Subdivision power Appalachian State plus
Charlotte and Liberty. But East Carolina, which was the first school to
extend a scholarship offer back in March, gained the verbal commitment from
Rice on August 28.
ECU offensive line coach
Brandon Jones handled the recruitment of Rice and made quite an impression.
"Coming into my eleventh-grade
year I was just an unknown lineman,'' Rice said. "But Coach Jones, he came
in with my first offer. He welcomed me with open arms and said he was
willing to teach me. They told me I was the No. 1 (offensive line) recruit
on their board.
"I started to do some research
on the school and found out they have great academics and that their
football program has sent a lot of (offensive) linemen to the league (NFL).
Plus, I love the coaching staff. All those things made my decision easy.''
Rice, who is also the starting
center on Orangeburg-Wilkinson's basketball team, has experienced some
significant physical growth over the past year that's enhanced his ability
on the football field. He's always been tall — he was already 6-2 as a
12-year-old — but with that height came a slender frame.
Rice was also playing
basketball, which didn't help him retain weight. He is the starting center
on the Orangeburg-Wilkinson's basketball team.
But since his junior season,
Rice has added more than 20 pounds to his frame.
"It was stressful,'' Rice said
of adding the weight. "I took protein and everything. I think it's going to
really help my production in football.''
Rice has already enjoyed a
productive high school career, according to Orangeburg-Wilkinson coach Tommy
Brown. He helped the Bruins achieve a 6-5 record last season and earn a spot
in the state 3-A playoffs.
Capable of running 4.91
seconds in the 40-yard dash, Rice can bench press 290 pounds, squats 385 and
carries a 3.6 grade point average.
"Athletically, he has great
feet and is a really good pass blocker,'' Brown said. "We run a spread
offense and multiple sets, so it's basically what they (ECU) do.
Potentially, he can be a pretty good offensive tackle at the next level.''
Protecting the quarterback,
Rice says, is his strength.
"I don't like to see my
quarterback get hit,'' Rice said. "I'm a mobile guy and have good footwork,
so my strength is pass blocking. I still need to work on my run blocking,
but I'm pretty good all around.''
Rice is the third offensive
lineman committed to ECU's recruiting class, joining
Kyle Erickson from Fayetteville's
Jack Britt High School and Erik Lenzen from Fort Lauderdale, FL.
E-mail Sammy Batten
PAGE UPDATED
09/10/13 05:58 AM.
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