In which BracketCat counts down the 23rd day until the 2025 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State running back DeVon Rice.

#23 DeVon Rice

Redshirt Freshman | 5-9 | 182 lbs. | Las Vegas, Nevada

Position: Running Back
Previous College: None
Projection: Co-Second-String
Status: On Scholarship

DeVon Rice (b. Oct. 21, 2004) is a talented, speedy young running back from the legendary Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas who is majoring in kinesiology.

He is vying with Monterrio Elston Jr., Antonio Martin Jr. and JB Price to be No. 3 back. (Based on recent reports from the coaches, he may have the upper hand in that battle already.)

“A guy that jumps out at me that’s a skilled kid that’s playing some wide receiver, a running back for us, is DeVon Rice,” head coach Chris Klieman said this week in his news conference. “DeVon Rice flashes.”

He’s a fast, explosive kid who was injured some in spring and didn’t get a great chance, and who had a really good kick return last year against Colorado, but was just trying to find his way. He’s an explosive guy that’s playing with a lot of confidence, which helps us a bunch to have that other person with Dylan of the same skill set that we could put them both in the backfield or both out as a wide receiver or in the return game.

Running backs coach Brian Anderson also had a lot of praise for Rice’s improvement of late:

He’s done a really good job. He’s come in and has gained weight and has done all the little things right now. The biggest thing is to not get into your own way. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be perfect. Sometimes, it’s not going to be perfect, and you’ll get a 1-yard run or a 5-yard run and sometimes you’ll have to make a guy miss. It’s like, “How’s my alignment?” I’ll say, “It was good.” He’ll say, “How was my footwork?” I’ll say, “It was good.” He’ll say, “How was my aiming point?” I’ll say, “It was good.” And we move on.

Rice arrived on campus in time to participate in spring camp and then played in four games as a kickoff return specialist in 2024, retaining his redshirt.

He returned four kickoffs for 97 yards (a 24.3-yard average) and had three returns for 70 yards (a 23.3-yard average) — including a season long of 36 yards — at Colorado, while he returned one kickoff for 27 yards against Arizona State.

Rice also had one carry against Cincinnati and saw time in the Rate Bowl against Rutgers.

He prepped under head coach Brent Browner at Bishop Gorman, where he was regarded as the 66th-best running back in the Class of 2024 by ESPN, while the organization viewed him as the fifth-best overall player in the state of Nevada.

Rice was rated as an athlete by 247Sports, which ranked him 92nd in the nation, in addition to ranking him as the fourth-best prospect in the state.

He was named to the 2023 Nevada Preps All-Southern Nevada football team after helping the Gaels to capture three state championships during his career. (They finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA TODAY and also won the 2022 ESPN GEICO Bowl.)

Rice rushed for 1,679 yards and 25 touchdowns during his prep career, in addition to hauling in 18 receptions for 350 yards and seven scores.

He had multiple two-score and three-score games (displaying some nice juke moves, too), and he is the first K-State scholarship signee from the state of Nevada since at least 1989.

Rice chose K-State over scholarship offers from BYU, Colorado, Hawai’i (from which he de-committed), Portland State, San Diego State, Texas A&M and hometown school UNLV.

His father, Rodney, played football at BYU before spending the 1989 (New England Patriots) and 1990 (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) seasons in the National Football League, while his brother, Quenton, was briefly a transfer wide receiver (also from BYU) for the Wildcats.

(Quenton Rice is now on the K-State track and field team.)