One of the more important components for Georgia filling its defensive goals this season is the healthy return of linebacker Monty Rice. So it bodes well for the Bulldogs that Rice said he’s feeling better than he has in a long, long time.
“I feel so much better than last year,” Rice said with a beaming smile after Georgia’s 22nd practice Wednesday. “Last year, it was just like one thing after another just kept happening and kept happening.”
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Rice did have more than his share of setbacks. In a season where he was expected to be the primary replacement for all-world linebacker Roquan Smith, Rice started only five games, missed four all together and played so little in another it shouldn’t even count.
The first issue came with a knee injury that he took into the season and pretty much played with all year. The second was a late-developing foot issue that hit him like a two-by-four to the back of the head.
Rice was coming off the best four-game stretch of his career, averaging eight tackles against LSU, Florida, Kentucky and Auburn, when he was named captain for the UMass game in November. But in pregame warm-ups, Rice felt a sharp pain in one of his feet.
“I was just doing a tackling drill,” Rice said. “My foot was already bothering me and during the tackling drill it just started hurting worse. We went and X-rayed it, and there it was.”
A fracture. Rice’s season was done.
Rice would try to make a comeback for the Sugar Bowl, but couldn’t compete. He finished the season with 59 tackles. It doesn’t sound like much until you consider he averaged about seven tackles in the games he was full go, and that’s while alternating regularly.
Now, as the Bulldogs prepare for Saturday's opener at Vanderbilt, Rice is full go again. In fact, he said he's feeling better than ever. And he’s doing what he can to stay that way.
“Last year I got treatment sometimes but, I mean, I’m getting treatment this year way more than I was last year,” said Rice, a 6-foot-1, 235-pound junior from Madison, Ala. “So I think that’s helped a lot. One of the biggest changes is I get in the ice tub every day. I’m not the biggest fan of the ice tub because it’s cold, but I think that’s helped a lot. It helps keep your legs fresh. I stretch more than I did.”
Rice won’t have to go it alone. He and senior Tae Crowder are the expected starters at inside linebacker. But the plan of first-year coordinator Dan Lanning is to rotate liberally and seek the best match-ups for down and distance.
Georgia can also turn to sophomores Channing Tindall and Quay Walker, junior Nate McBride and freshmen Rian Davis and Nakobe Dean. Dean signed with Georgia out of Horn Lake, Miss., as the No. 1 inside linebacker prospect in the country.
“I expect him to play like he always does, make plays and run to the ball and be effective,” said Rice, who has taken Dean under his wing.
But Rice, above all other linebackers, is the one linebacker coaches can count on to get the job done when he’s healthy.
“He’s a difference-maker for us because we don’t have a ton of speed at the position,” coach Kirby Smart said. “His future is bright as far as being a leader for our defense. We need him to play well.”
Rice is planning on it.
“I’m ready to get back on the field, that’s for sure,” he said. “We left last year with a bad taste in our mouths. We’re ready to get out there and play.”
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