But when draft time approaches, Rice recalls those days on the field, and his hopes of reaching football’s highest level. “I certainly felt headed in that direction,” Rice says. “My (2006) year I was the only player who didn’t come off the field, I could play inside and outside, and it was looking good. Then I only got a quarter and a half in my junior year, and that would have been my year and hopefully we were headed for the top of the ACC. “The next year the ankle was not the same, and I wasn’t the same player.”