Antonio Rice has plans. And they have something to do with his choice about where to go to college.
On National Signing Day, Wednesday, the Bryant Hornets’ senior cornerback inked a national letter of intent to continue his education and his football career at Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, a two-year school, a junior college with an outstanding reputation for quality athletic programs.
“I just wanted to go JUCO so I can get more experience playing corner, learn the game,” he said. “I want to go to the SEC one day. I want to go to LSU.”
Two years at Hutch would give him a chance and that’s all he wants. He chose the junior college over Henderson State and Arkansas Tech.
As a senior for the 10-2 Hornets last fall, Rice became a tough match-up for opposing receivers. He tied Bryant’s other corner Andrew Hayes for most pass break-ups with 14, intercepted a pass and got in on 45 tackles.
“Antonio didn’t play much in junior high,” noted Hornets head coach Buck James.
“I played receiver in 10th grade,” Rice said, “but it didn’t work out. I didn’t have the footwork and wasn’t able to catch, but Coach (Darrell) Burnett (secondary, defensive coordinator) saw that and he tried me at corner. He decided I could play corner. I was tall and physical.
“I’m always angry,” Rice asserted. “I come with an attitude. I don’t show it but it’s in there. It comes out on the football field.”
He got some time in the secondary as a junior but more on special teams, getting in on 11 tackles including one for a loss in varsity games.
“He can really run, the fastest guy on our football team,” James stated. “He’s got 6-foot qualities at corner. He’s got long arms. He has little fear of anybody that he’s covering.
“I thought both our corners this year shut down the best receivers in the state,” he added. “With the proper coaching and proper approach to all this, he’ll be a guy that will have the university of a state on the side of his helmet one day.”
It was actually in practice that Rice decided he could play.
“When I started to lock down one of our receivers who was faster than me,” he related.
“By going to Hutchinson Junior College, it gives him an opportunity to be a Division I player in two years,” James agreed. “He’s got to graduate from that junior college.
“I think he’s one of these guys that, if you started him from 12th grade and worked him back, I think you’d see a totally different guy,” he added. “The sky’s the limit.”
