UGA commit Monty Rice marked the Bulldogs sixth flip of their 2017 class and he may be the most underrated of the whole bunch.
Rice is only listed as a three-star recruit on many major recruiting sites but the Bulldogs staff have been hard pressed to land him and must see much more value in the Alabama native. The Bulldogs have gone after Rice hard and he seemed to be their number one target for the inside linebacker position in this recruiting class. Flipping Rice from the LSU Tigers was a big win for the Bulldogs as it marks this class as having a little over one-fourth being flips.
Pulling a linebacker recruit from the state of Alabama is a tall task and the fact that Kirby Smart was able to do it in his first year has to say something about his recruiting ability. Rice has great size for an inside linebacker and the coaching staff clearly saw something in him that made them go after him so hard.
Rice is like fellow inside linebacker commit Nate McBride, in that, they may be able to crack the inside linebacker rotation, but being day-one starters will be a tough task. This is because the Bulldogs will be returning the three players that started the most games at the position last season.
I do believe that Rice is the type of player that could make an impact on special teams right away, but he will definitely eventually see his role increase on the defensive side of the ball, as well. Rice could end up being a huge steal for the Bulldogs and his development will be fun to watch.