Emmett Rice never imagined he'd be preparing for another spring practice at Florida State this week.
When he signed with FSU as one of the nation's top linebackers in the Class of 2016, Rice figured he would be off to the NFL within three years. That like former teammate Brian Burns, he would be entering his third year of professional football by now -- not his sixth year in Tallahassee.
"That was the goal," Rice said. "That really was what sold me on Florida State. A lot of their guys were declaring early -- three years. And that was my goal. I'm coming to college, and I'm leaving in three years. But everybody has their own path, and that wasn't the path for me."
Not even close.
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Rice discovered the first major obstacle in his path to the NFL at the end of his sophomore season. After playing in every game that year, the outside linebacker earned his first collegiate start in the Seminoles' 2017 bowl game against Southern Miss.
What Rice hoped would be a breakthrough moment, however, ended in misery.
The Miami native sustained a torn ACL in the first half of that game and would end up receiving a medical hardship in 2018. Rice appeared in four games that next fall, but he didn't feel like his old self again until 2019.
Even though his surgically repaired knee was sound, he had a difficult time overcoming the mental hurdles that came along with the injury.
"It's good. Everything is healed and back to normal," Rice said. "It's just your mindset. Being able to go out there and trusting your knee. Doing all of the football moves you were doing before the injury. You have to learn how to trust that again."
That trust clearly returned in 2019, when Rice took over a starting job and put up impressive statistics despite playing on a struggling defense. He finished second on the team with 72 tackles, including 4.5 for loss, and he played better and better as the season marched on.
Fifty-six of his 72 tackles (78 percent) came in the final seven games of a 13-game season.
The former four-star recruit was even more productive in 2020 as a fifth-year senior. He again finished second on the team in tackles with 62 (in just nine games), and he actually led the Seminoles with 7.5 tackles for loss.
