Brett Rice of Hamburg is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Player of the Week.
Brett Rice has had stout statistical games during his career at Hamburg, but he couldn’t recall the last time he experienced an outing like the one he had Friday night against Helena-West Helena.
The senior quarterback completed 15 of 19 passes for 384 yards and 5 touchdowns to power the Lions to a 4712 victory over their 4A-8 rivals.
But the final numbers didn’ t seem to surprise Rice, a 6-0, 165-pounder. According to him, you get out what you put in, and he said he’s done a lot to improve his play.
“You’ve got to put in the work,” said Rice, this week’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette player of the week. “As far as our offense goes, we’ve been kind of off and on. We’ve put up more than 39 points in every game we’ve won this year. But for me, it’s just a mindset.
“Me and my receiver [Nick McNeil] have a really good connection. I can kind of tell where he’s gonna be and how he’s gonna react. I can just put the ball up, and he can go get it.”
McNeil caught all five of Rice’s scoring tosses last week.
Hamburg (3-3, 2-0) is gearing up for a stretch run in league play. If the Lions are going to win their first outright conference title since 1997, they’re going to need additional strong performances from their quarterback.
Rice completed 54% (106 of 196) of his passes last season for 1,315 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also had nine interceptions, but Hamburg Coach Cecil Ray Cossey said that experience has been key to Rice’s emergence.
“He’s a lot more confident in his reads,” he said. “Last year, I felt like there was some hesitation at times that cost him. So this year, we’ve really kind of refocused on his reads and his progressions maybe moreso than fundamental throwing motions.
“We focused more on the X’s and O’s side of it, and he’s playing with a lot more confidence.”
That self-belief showed up in bunches against the Cougars, with Rice connecting on nearly 79% of his passes. Cossey said that defensive coverages no longer bother his quarterback, which was something he felt Rice struggled with as a junior.
He also noted that Rice handles pressure smoothly.
“West Helena has two of the better D-linemen around,” Cossey said. “[Rice] had that pressure in his face a lot but was still able to play at a high level. And that’s the kind of play you want out of your quarterback.”
Rice believes things will only get better for the Lions, especially if he continues to play at a high level.
“Getting to start as a junior helped me a whole lot,” he said. “Getting to work all summer to get better … that experience was big for me.
“But as a team, it’s going to take us being disciplined and playing our best up until the playoffs. Then hopefully, we can play even better then.”