Newly-acquired Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Brenden Rice, a former All-Pac-12 Second Teamer with the Trojans, saw his standing plummet during the 2024 NFL Draft. He was selected with the No. 225 pick in the seventh round.

In remarks to the press, Rice revealed that his famous father, longtime San Francisco 49ers pass catcher Jerry Rice, was not pleased he plummeted, per Michael Baca of NFL.com. Rice, however, considered his own descent “a blessing in disguise.”

“My dad was hot,” Rice told reporters. “The first words he said was, ‘Time to go to work.’ He said, ‘I will be with you every step of the way.’ He said, ‘Now, I’m going to be involved within all of your workouts from now on, and we have a lot of people to prove wrong, a lot of teams that go ahead.’ It’s going to be one hell of a story, that’s all that I’m going to say [laughter].”

In 2023, Rice caught a career-most 45 receptions for 791 yards and 12 touchdowns for the 8-5 Trojans.

“I’m in the best position possible to go ahead and make my mark and make my own legacy,” Rice said. “I went from Caleb Williams to Justin Herbert, and I’m in a room that’s going to allow me to compete, day-in and day-out. Everything’s upon me. If you guys don’t see me coming on this Fall, that’s on me. If you guys see me out there, then I put in the necessary work to put my best foot in the door and go out there and produce.”

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