Baltimore's Little Big Man Continues To Overcome Obstacles

When Ray Rice was drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft in 2008, the move was highly criticized. The so-called experts claimed that Rice was too small to be a successful running back in the NFL, and that he would probably be nothing more then a third down or change of pace back.

This was just another obstacle that Ray Rice has overcome during his life.

Rice was one of four children that were raised by a single mother after his father was killed in a drive-by shooting when Rice was only a baby.

As if that was not enough tragedy for a young child to endure, Rice also had to deal with the loss of his older cousin, who had served as his father figure.

The strength of his mother helped shape Rice into the football player he would eventually become: fearless.

“I was taught that I cannot back down to anything. I was trained never to be scared.”

With a 5’9, 200 pound frame, Rice would have to be fearless playing the running back position, because none of the other leviathans that play the sport would go easy on him.

Rice would go on to find great success with his high school team at New Rochelle, winning the state title his junior year and leading the team back to the title game his senior year.

His great and fearless play would not go unnoticed, as he began catching the attention of several Division I schools. After reneging on his commitment to Syracuse due to a coaching change, Rice would eventually decide to play his collegiate football at Rutgers.

Now for those of you that are unaware, the Rutgers football program was not one of the stronger programs at the time, so signing Rice came as a bit of a shock.

Not too much was expected of Rice when he got to Rutgers. The team seemed as if it was destined to perform at a low level and never win more then three to four games a season.

Rice would not accept these low expectations.

He would team with Brian Leonard to provide a devastating one-two punch that would propel Rutgers to success the school had never known before.

When Leonard left for the NFL in the 2007 Draft, many thought that Rice would not be able to live up to the expectations he and Leonard had created by himself.

Rice would go on to have a very solid season, culminating with him winning the MVP of the International Bowl, which saw Rutgers defeat Ball State 52-30.

During his time at Rutgers, Rice would go on to amass 4,926 yards rushing to go along with 50 total touchdowns. At the time of his declaration for the NFL Draft, he was the second-leading rusher in Big East history as well as the all-time leading rusher in Rutgers history.

With nothing left to prove at the college level, there was only one stop left for Ray Rice: the NFL.

Rice didn’t exactly impress the scouts at the pre-draft combine, and in addition to his small frame, most “experts” predicted Rice would be a fourth round pick at best.

Then the Baltimore Ravens shocked many by making Ray Rice the 55^th selection of the 2008 NFL Draft.

So Rice had finally made it to the NFL. The only problem was that he was now in Baltimore’s crowded backfield along with Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain.

Baltimore would use the three backs interchangeably and ride them to a surprising playoff run.

Rice would end the year with only 107 carries, but he was able to prove what he could do in his Week Nine start against the Cleveland Browns when he ran for 154 yards on 21 carries.

Even after that big game, Rice would still cede the majority of the carries to the more established backs. Rice kept positive and continued to work hard in practice.

His hard work would finally pay off this year, as he was officially named the starting running back for the Ravens. Of course that was not met without some obstacles as he would still lose goal line touches to McGahee for the first half of the season.

Rice’s real coming out party came Week Six against the Minnesota Vikings, when he went off for 194 total yards and two touchdowns. Since then he has become the focal point of the Ravens attack.

Along with Maurice Jones-Drew, Rice has proven that the smaller back can still find success in today’s NFL.

What makes Rice different from so many of the other smaller backs in the league, such as Leon Washington, Darren Sproles, and Warrick Dunn, is that Rice will look to initiate contact and runs effectively between the tackles.

Rice has been able to prove all the doubters wrong, as he has become not only an every down back, but he is also a complete running back.

While he runs fearlessly between the tackles, Rice also has excellent hands that make him a threat to catch the ball out of the backfield. Additionally, Rice does a tremendous job of blocking and protecting Joe Flacco from blitzing linebackers.

It was no coincidence that in the Raven’s biggest game of the season this past Sunday against the hated Pittsburg Steelers that Ray Rice made one of the game’s defining plays .

Some people were surprised that Rice was able to perform so well against the vaunted Steelers defense; but for Ray Rice this was just another obstacle for him to overcome.