23 DAYS TO 2025 KICKOFF: DeVon Rice

Freshman running back DeVon Rice’s (23) name is starting to come out of the coaches’ mouths more consistently this fall and it sounds like he has the inside track to the No. 3 running back position. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

#23 DeVon Rice

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

Courtesy Kansas State Athletics

DeVon Rice

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

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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.)

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.)