Still Available 2021 Q/A: Charles Rice/Fridley (2021)

<strong>FRIDLEY, MN-- </strong>We got an opportunity to chat with one of Minnesota’s top available linebacker prospects, Fridley’s [player_tooltip player_id="18093" first="Charles" last="Rice"]. Ranked in our top 90, Rice is a Division II prospect in my eyes that has just fallen under the radar in the Class of 2021. He has had some opportunities come his way, but he’s looking for that perfect fit. We caught up with Rice about his recruiting trail, what he’s looking for, and much more! <strong>Q: Introduce yourself (just a brief intro: name, school, favorite food, or hobby). Let us know what position you play and what positions you willing to play at the college level.</strong> <strong>Rice: </strong>My name is [player_tooltip player_id="18093" first="Charles" last="Rice"]; I go to Fridley High School in Fridley, MN; my favorite food has to be hibachi-style food, and a hobby of mine is listening to music. In college, I want to play linebacker (inside or outside) or defensive end. <strong>Q: What is your favorite part about the position you play?</strong> <strong>Rice: </strong>My favorite part of playing linebacker is being a physical and vocal leader of the defense, having the responsibility to know what my defensive guys have to do, and help be the defense’s vocal leader. <strong>Q: What has your recruiting process looked like over the past year?</strong> <strong>Rice: </strong>My recruiting process thru the years has been very up and down from going on visits and talking to D1-NAIA colleges. I can say it has been very hard due to Covid, and not being able to go to camps last summer and visits definitely impacted my career strongly, but I’m still grinding to find a home. <strong>Q: What is your pitch to college coaches about what you could bring to their program?</strong> <strong>Rice: </strong>If a college takes a shot at me, they will get a guy ready to come in and learn anything and who’s looking to impact a team right away! I am coming in with outstanding leadership and a great teammate with great energy! <strong>Q: What are some things from the 2020 season your coaches told you to work on &amp; how are you using this offseason to work on those things?</strong> <strong>Rice: </strong>Some things my coaches recommended me working on in the offseason has to be speed and technique, and I’ve been training every since the season been over 4-5 days a week with my trainer <strong>Eric Harrison</strong> spending time working on position-specific techniques and doing a lot of speed and conditioning work to get bigger, stronger and faster. I can say I feel great, and I am in what feels like the best shape I’ve been in physically and mentally I’ve been in a while. <strong>Q: Who is your football mentor? Can be any coach, alumni, family member, etc., anyone that’s had an impact on your football career or in life.</strong> <strong>Rice: </strong>Some guys I mentor and look up to would have to be my Head Coach <strong>Justin Reese</strong> and my trainer <strong>Eric Harrison</strong>, those two guys have been with me for some time, and I’ve had sit down talks with them about many things outside of football, and they’ve helped me get to places I’ve never seen myself going to and been with me and motivated me to be more than just an athlete but to be a better man and leader! <strong>Q: What is the biggest thing you are looking for with a potential college football opportunity?</strong> <strong>Rice: </strong>The biggest thing I’m looking for with a college opportunity would have to be just showing the college who took the opportunity to give me a better opportunity to show my inner dog mentality they’d be getting a dog who’s ready to play through any adversity and will be ready when his number is called! Check out my evaluation I did on Charles from a few weeks ago in Iowa: [embed]https://twitter.com/CharlesRice23/status/1377822254873112576[/embed] See his film for yourself below! <iframe src="//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/10066789/5f498c0c96764a03c856b0d5" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>