LEXINGTON, Va. – Since arriving at VMI, he hasn’t missed a game--constantly improving and showing his worth. Hunter Rice is like a Duralast car battery--built to last.
Coming off an 2023 season where he earned second team all-conference honors and voted on as a team captain for this year, there are no signs of the Lord Botetourt grad letting up any time soon.
Individually there’s always room for improvement, but there’s not much Rice hasn’t done. He rushed for nearly 900 yards and 14 touchdowns last year. he even threw the ball some, going 3-for-3 and a touchdown score. Without a doubt, Rice can catch it out of the backfield as well. Having a hard-working senior like Rice will benefit the Keydets again with a coaching staff focused on getting his full potential.
“He’s a really hard worker. He’s very committed. He’s very talented,” said VMI head coach Danny Rocco. “I think we have a little better idea like how to use him. As we got deep in the last season, I think we kind of figured that out, you know, and we’ll continue to build on that this year. But he’s going to get the ball a bunch and a lot of it will be downhill runs. But we do have plans of utilizing him in some other ways as well. And again, not to diminish our receiving corps. I feel really good about the talent we have in our receiving corps. So I just feel like this year we’re going to be more balanced.”
Being one of the team captains this season, Rice sees benefit from within his own position group.
“We have, I think, 10 guys in there. We’ve got depth. You know, every guy in the room is awesome,” said Rice. “You know, Kam’s great too. You know, he’s learning. He’s getting the hang of things. But, you know, we come out here every day. We push each other. You know, it’s a competitive room and that’s how I love a room. We’ve always had a competitive running back room.
Out of the 10 VMI running backs on the roster, four of them are from our neck of the woods. That includes freshman and North Cross grad Kam Johnson whom Rice referred to and former Alleghany standout Garrett Via.
VMI opens the 2024 season Thursday night on the road at William & Mary. It’s a 7 p.m. kickoff from Williamsburg.