Freshmen Brenden Rice, son of Jerry Rice, has some huge goals. After playing his first season for the Colorado Buffaloes, he wants to be one of the greatest to come out of the program. Looking at his first year in Boulder, it seems that he has the tools to be like his father. The young route runner has a lot of learning to do in his next three years but his goal is reachable.
Brenden Rice: Background
In high school, Rice was a four-star wide receiver on Rivals which put him at number 50 for the position, and top 8 in the state of Arizona. By 247Sports, ESPN, and PrepStar he was named a three-star WR. For 247Sports he was No. 67 receiver in the nation and 11 from Arizona. For ESPN he was the 18th WR in Arizona. During his high school career, he finished with 123 receptions for 2,139 yards and 27 touchdowns. Rice also ran the football for 11 yards and a touchdown on top of that. He had a total of 2,150 yards of total offense and 2,150 yards of all-purpose yards while in high school.
As a senior, he had received 21 offers that included Colorado, Michigan, Arizona, California, Iowa State, Louisville, Nebraska, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Purdue, SDSU, Texan A&M, UCLA, USC, Utah, WSU, and Wisconsin. Rice committed to CU on October 15, 2019, and signed three days later.
Brenden Rice: Shooting for the Stars
Rice has a lot of time ahead of him before he can be mentioned as one of the greatest, however, he has the potential. In his true freshmen year, he only played in four games with six receptions for 120 yards along with two touchdowns. His best game was against Utah where he finished that game with a 61-yard touchdown pass.
The other thing that Brenden Rice did well was his return game. Rice had two kick returns with 37 yards and an average of 18.5 per return. He also had one punt returned for 81 yards and a touchdown. Rice was second in the Pac-12 for punt return yards with 81 and he was first in punt return touchdowns with one. Rice is an electrifying returner who can take it to the house at any given moment. Expect him to do much of the same in 2021. For a true freshman to come in and have some decent highlights is impressive.
Brenden Rice: 2021 Season
In 2021, Rice will move up the depth chart with KD Nixon transferring to USC. Rice should get the starting kick and punt return job next year as well. He did an excellent job on both returns and should get the job next season. Brenden Rice could easily be the second or third receiver for the Buffaloes in 2021 and slowly work his way up the depth chart.
For predictions, I have Rice playing all 12 games returning kicks and punts for a total of 650 combined yards. That is a total of 54 yards per game for returning. He will play wide receiver in 10 games with 65 catches and 550 yards. That gives him an average of 55 yards and 6.5 catches per game. He will also get a combined 10 touchdowns, he will get two touchdowns on returns and eight receiving. This prediction might be low for him but we will see how much playing time he receives, as he’s still a young prospect on the Buffaloes depth chart.
It is nice to see the former freshmen having high goals for himself. By the little time that we saw him play, he’s shown flashes of greatness. Seeing a lot of transfers this offseason should put Buffaloes fans in a good mood that Rice wants to finish his career with CU and do it by being the best.
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