Letting everyone know he is paving his own path, Chandler Hamilton senior wide receiver Brenden Rice announced he is committing to Colorado in a video on social media on Tuesday.
“Many say I’m living off someone else’s name,” says Rice, son of Hall of Famer and NFL receiving leader Jerry Rice, says in the video.
“A young kid in the shadows of a name. A legacy many thought he couldn’t uphold.”
Rice, 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, has become one of the nation’s best high school wide receivers. He is a 247Sports Composite 3-star, ranked as the 70th-best wide receiver in the nation in the 2020 class.
“He’s his own guy,” Hamilton second-year coach Mike Zdebski said. “It’s by his choice. He wasn’t peer-pressured into anything. There were some name-brand schools that wanted him.
“For him, the personal preference was Colorado.”
Many will question my path but I put myself into your hands my Lord. ✞
Nameless™️ Committed💯. @KotgMedia pic.twitter.com/CJ85DNRuLT— Brenden (@BrendenRice) October 15, 2019
Rice had more than 20 offers, including Arizona State, Michigan State, Michigan, Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, California, Iowa State, Louisville, Texas A&M and Nebraska.
He was one of the state’s fastest sprinters last track season.
This football season, he is playing both offense and defense, starting at outside linebacker, helping the Huskies in their turnaround season after missing the last part of last season with an injury.
He has 28 catches for 458 yards and four touchdowns for the 7-1 Huskies, who won only three games last year. He also has 12 tackles, three for losses.
“He’s just doing anything to help us win,” said Zdebski, whose team has a bye this week, before getting ready for Gilbert Perry next week.
Zdebski said that Rice was impressed by Colorado’s coaching staff.
“When we had a college recruiting our underclassmen, I brought him over and asked him what went into his decision,” Zdebski said. “For him, it was the coaching staff and the relationships the coaches had with each other. And the stability.
“Not to say there is negativity on other college coaching staff recruiting him. But he really liked how the coaching staff got along and really liked each other.”
