MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Morgantown coaching staff has high hopes for Junior Cam Rice this season, but not exactly the way many would expect.
Rice is entering his second season as the Mohigans starting quarterback, and, after he ran through Albert Gallatin defenders on his way to a touchdown during Friday’s scrimmage at Pony Lewis, the Mohigans held their collective breaths.
After crossing the goal line, Rice was bumped in the leg and limped off the playing field, falling to the parking lot outside of the Glen McNew Coaches Office. After trainer’s worked with him for what seemed like an eternity, Rice limped his way to the bench and appeared to be fine.
“I tweaked my knee a little bit but the trainers think it’s just a bone bruise, so I should be good,” Rice said.
Thankfully for MHS, not only does it seem like its QB will be fine, but also its potential star linebacker. Rice hasn’t played defense in high school, but the coaching staff sees the athleticism in Rice to be able to go both ways. Defensive coordinator Matt Kelly thinks the sky could be the limit if Rice can commit to playing linebacker.
But like most quarterbacks, that’s where Rice’s heart lies. It took some convincing to get him to go both ways, but the coaches tried to tell him about his potential.
“You look at his size – 6-foot-3 and 200-plus pounds — he definitely has the size to play linebacker,” head coach Matt Lacy said. “We said we had to get the best 11 out there. If you look around, Martinsburg won the state championship and their quarterback also played linebacker. I told Cam all offseason, if you’re one of our best players, you’re going to play offense and defense.”
Lacy also emphasized Rice will not play 40 snaps defensively because of his role on offense, but there’s a strong possibility he will play 20-25 snaps.
On Albert Gallatin’s first offensive series, Rice towered in the front-7 of the MHS defense. On the second play, he exploded into the backfield and got a tackle for loss. That was the only series he played defensively due to his injury. With his new role on the other side of the ball established, Rice has one thing in mind — something he’s felt himself.
“I want to get a sack,” he said. “I just want to tackle another quarterback. Obviously, there’s a lot of differences between playing offense and defense and it can be a tough transition. It was tough getting into the groove of tackling and stuff like that, but I’m ready for it now.”
The Mohigans came out on top with a 21-7 win in their final scrimmage before opening the season Aug. 30 at Parkersburg. Rice ran in the first score, but Albert Gallatin answered on the last play before the half to tie it at 7-7. However, on MHS’s first possession of the second half, Jace Whetsell bounced off Colonial defenders and bolted to the end zone for an 80-yard touchdown. Freshman Keonn Mallett scored the final touchdown of the night as JV players for both teams got snaps.
“I thought we did some really good things, but we’ve got some things to work on,” Lacy said. “We saw a lot of improvement from last week’s scrimmage to this week. We’re still in search for some guys and that’s what we tried to tell them — anytime we go out to play on film, it’s a chance to be evaluated and move up or down the depth chart.
“I think some guys did that tonight.”
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