Sept. 27, 2006
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -Ray Rice planned to play for Syracuse, a decision he made early in the recruiting process.
But when the Orange changed coaches, Rice had second thoughts - which Rutgers coach Greg Schiano viewed as a second chance at getting the talented tailback to play in New Jersey.
"I got the sense that something might be going on up there around their bowl game," Schiano said. "I said if it happens, we've got to take a run at Ray. As soon as that happened, I called him personally, because we felt we had missed the opportunity because he'd committed so early."
Schiano was the first coach to contact Rice, trying to sell the player on a program that had been languishing at the bottom of Division I-A for years.
Rice hopped on board and quickly become an integral part of the rebirth of Rutgers football. With Rice leading the way, the unbeaten Scarlet Knights (4-0) are ranked for the first time in 30 years and cellar-dwellers in the Big East no more.
"When you meet a coach who really cares about a program, you want to buy into what he's preaching," Rice said. "I came and visited with my mother, and it was an unofficial visit, but he didn't rush us out of there. He had flights scheduled depending on what time I could come. I thought, 'This guy's putting other stuff on hold so he can sit down and talk to me."'
The speedy Rice ran for 1,120 yards as a freshman last season, and through four games this season is fourth in the nation with 604 yards. He is on a pace to smash J.J. Jennings' single-season school mark of 1,353 yards set 33 years ago.
The rest of the Scarlet Knights are also poised to better last year's breakthrough performance. A season after appearing in their first bowl game in 27 years, the Knights head into Friday's game at South Florida looking to go 5-0 for the first time since their perfect 1976 season.
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The addition of Rice to a backfield that already included versatile fullback Brian Leonard has formed one of the country's most potent tandems. Leonard is a bruising runner who leads the team with 16 receptions and is in the top 10 among active Division I-A players in career touchdowns (40), rushing attempts (585), receptions (169), rushing touchdowns (27) and rushing yards (2,352).
Their running styles are as dissimilar as their body types: at 6-feet-2 and 235 pounds, Leonard has five inches and 40 pounds on Rice, whose nickname is "Sizzle."
"He's big, fast and he runs over people," Rice said. "I'm small and short, and quick. He's a great role model. He does it by example, not vocally."
Leonard first saw Rice play at Rutgers Stadium in the Governor's Bowl, a game pitting high school all-star teams from New York and New Jersey.
"He made some awesome plays in that game," Leonard recalled. "I didn't expect him to come in and make the same plays right away in college, but he did."
Their bond extends beyond football.
Leonard, a fifth-year senior from Upstate New York, also considered attending Syracuse but was persuaded by Schiano to help rebuild a program that ended a 25-game Big East losing streak in 2003.
Landing Rice, a native of New Rochelle, N.Y., a suburb just north of New York City that Syracuse has always recruited well, was another sign of the shift in power Schiano has helped orchestrate in the East.
Offensive linemen Pedro Sosa and Jeremy Zuttah, two blue-chippers, turned down offers from more successful programs to stay in New Jersey and play for Rutgers.
Along with center Darnell Stapleton, a JUCO transfer from nearby Union, they anchor a unit that helped Rutgers rush for 1,947 yards last season, the most for a Scarlet Knights team since 1995. Leonard and Rice combined for 1,860.
"It seems like we're running through tractor-trailer holes now rather than rabbit holes," Leonard said.
The euphoria that has accompanied Rutgers' renaissance has occasionally spilled over into excesses such as the decision to tout Leonard as a Heisman Trophy candidate and run his highlight clips on a billboard in New York's Times Square.
Rice has turned into the more deserving candidate with a 201-yard effort against North Carolina and nine touchdowns in four games. Like the similarly humble Leonard, Rice has no desire to tout himself.
"I keep myself grounded," Rice said. "I never want to get ahead of myself and think that just because I do this, I should get that."
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