For fans and players alike, there’s no feeling like the opening Saturday of the college football season. Tailgaters return the lots as fumes from the smoker infiltrate the late-summer air. Thousands flock into home stadiums for the first time in nine months, eager to capture a glimpse of that first touchdown. Players also run out of the tunnel wide-eyed, equipped with a spotless 0-0 record and determined to improve upon last year’s performance.
Rice strong safety Plae Wyatt was one of those players
fully immersed in that atmosphere on Aug. 31, 2024 as his Owls challenged Sam Houston in the confines of Historic Rice Stadium. After leading his team with 80 tackles in 2023, Wyatt was ready to move into an unforeseen gear, excited to showcase his strongest season yet.
And that was materializing. During a second quarter Sam Houston drive, Wyatt registered four tackles in a five-play span as the Owls’ do-it-all defender. But on his 38th snap of the season, an entire offseason of work, buildup, and hype suddenly seemed trivial as Wyatt lay down motionless on the turf at a silent Rice Stadium.
“Growing up, I never had any major injuries through my whole career,” Wyatt said. “In high school, started every game from my first game on varsity. As soon as that play happened and I fell on the ground, I immediately knew something was wrong. I grabbed my knee. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I had never felt pain like this before.”
Wyatt tore his ACL, medial meniscus, and lateral meniscus in his left knee.
“It’s been different than anything I expected,” Wyatt said. “Before the year, I prayed to God and asked for a challenge. He gave me that challenge with the injury and the setback and having two surgeries. It’s been a long ride, but everything’s coming together and everything’s been worth it.”
Given the severity of the knee injury, it’s been an extended recovery process for Wyatt. He underwent surgery shortly after the injury, but that wasn’t enough. A second maintenance surgery was scheduled in March after going through rehab, keeping his movement limited for roughly three-to-four additional weeks in the spring.
The recovery process for such an injury is not only a rigorous physical test, but it’s equally tough from a mental standpoint. Wyatt reeled through long days filled with monotonous exercises like leg raises and single-leg jumps, attempting to build a weakened leg back to the same strength it had when it drove 80 ball-carriers to the ground in 2023.
“It’s been a big mental game,” Wyatt said. “Some days you feel like you’re doing great. The next days you’re in your head like, ‘Can I still even do this?’ I know deep down I still got what it takes to come out and ball.”
Last offseason, Wyatt challenged himself to be an even better player than he was in 2023. This offseason, the McKinney, TX native receives the added task of recalibrating his body in addition to elevating his gameplay. Every day is essentially a two-a-day for him: He participates in team workouts and then completes physical therapy on the side — all with the goal of living out his passion on the field once again.
“It’s crazy because ever since that incident, everything’s changed,” Wyatt said. “Everything I had to do with my process from waking up in the morning, first thing on my mind when I wake up is my knee and my leg. I’ve gotta get it going. I’ve gotta get on the bike. I’ve gotta get rehab in. It’s been a heck of a year.”
For a college athlete, especially at a demanding academic institution like Rice, the situation can be overwhelming. But Wyatt has spent every moment since Aug. 31 ensuring the comeback is stronger than the setback.
Linebackers coach John Kay was elevated to defensive coordinator under Rice’s new coaching staff, causing the playbook to slightly evolve. Operating in the ‘viper’ role — essentially an outside linebacker/strong safety hybrid — Wyatt has not only mastered understanding of the updated playbook at his position, but he’s obtained a figurative PhD in knowing the roles of the free safety, MIKE and WILL linebackers, and defensive line. Even when sidelined for physical reps, every snap in fall camp serves as a critical mental rep.
“I feel like I’m ready to go,” Wyatt said. “Body’s for sure coming together. I feel like I’m working toward the best shape I’ve ever been in my career, really. Mental-wise, playbook-wise, physical-wise — everything’s put together right now, and I feel like I’m gonna have a great year.”
Wyatt is the ultimate veteran in the room. He holds status, alongside inside linebacker Andrew Awe, as the longest-tenured member of the roster. Wyatt’s time dates back to 2020 and he is the only current Owl to see snaps during that pandemic-shortened season. Through highs, lows, health, and injury, the sixth-year senior has never wavered in commitment to his one university.
“It’s a blessing to be in this atmosphere, in this city,” Wyatt said. “I tell everyone I know I wear the ‘R’ proudly. Rice is a great school. Being able to get my bachelor’s degree and now working on my master’s degree, it’s been awesome staying here. There are a lot of opportunities people are searching for, but all that’s temporary. This is a permanent thing — the lifelong connections. I tell people when I graduate, I still want to be apart of the brotherhood.”
That commitment is one driving force leading Wyatt back to the field in 2025. For nearly an entire Earth’s rotation around the Sun, he’s been eagerly eyeing the date Aug. 30 on the calendar. That represents Rice’s 2025 season-opener at Louisiana — exactly 364 days after Wyatt suffered his knee injury in the 2024 opener.
The upcoming airline trip to Louisiana is the culmination of 364 days of severe pain, grueling work, incremental progress, and most of all, perseverance. Those 364 days were not structured just to revert to his previous level, but to provide the best version of Plae Wyatt anybody has seen to date.
“I know what I can do on the field. I know what I can bring to the table, energy-wise, play-wise, and I know I still got everything in me,” Wyatt said. “It was a little setback coming off of 2024. It’s a blessing that if it was gonna happen, to have it happen game 1 and allow me to be able to bounce back and be grinding since the injury. I’m hungry right now. I’m ready to eat. I’m ready to get out there and get out on the field. I feel like a lot of people forgot who I was, forgot what I can bring to the team.”
