The Georgia Bulldogs played 14 games last football season.
Inside linebacker Monty Rice was healthy enough to play nine.
Rice was leading the team in tackles before suffering a foot injury in warmups before Georgia's 66-27 dismantling of UMass in Sanford Stadium. That setback forced him to miss the UMass contest and the rivalry game with Georgia Tech, as well as the Southeastern Conference championship thriller against Alabama and the Sugar Bowl against Texas.
"At first I was frustrated, but it was God's way of telling me to slow down," Rice said in a recent news conference. "I think I handled it well."
The Bulldogs held their fifth spring practice of the preseason Tuesday afternoon and their first in full pads, working out for two hours amid a heat index of 97 degrees. They will take today off and resume Thursday.
Before his injury, Rice had developed into one of the SEC's most productive linebackers. In a three-game stretch against Florida, Kentucky and Auburn, he racked up 27 tackles, forced a first-quarter fumble against the Gators and had a 13-yard sack against the Wildcats.
The Bulldogs won all three of those contests by at least 17 points and earned their second straight trip to the SEC title game, where Georgia built a 28-14 lead against the Crimson Tide but couldn't hold it and lost 35-28. Stunned by that setback, the Bulldogs were lethargic in New Orleans, losing 28-21 to the Longhorns.
Having to watch those losses wasn't much fun for the 6-foot-1, 235-pounder from Madison, Alabama, who is looking to blow off some steam at the start of his junior season.
"We lost. Who wants to lose?" Rice said. "That's been on my mind all year. I didn't even get to play because I was dealing with the foot thing. I've got a bunch of motivation."
If Rice picks up where he left off, the Bulldogs should reap some quick rewards. Rice wound up with 59 tackles in his nine games last season, an average of 6.6 stops per contest, but fourth-year Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart isn't planning on measuring him by numbers.
"I just want him to give me all he's got," Smart said. "I don't tell him to get 64 tackles and three sacks. My expectations are that he leads our defense, gives us all he's got, competes and teaches the younger players."
Rice was a four-star member of Georgia's 2017 signing class that was headlined by offensive standouts such as quarterback Jake Fromm, running back D'Andre Swift and tackles Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson. Rice played right away, getting in 14 of 15 games as a freshman and making a start in a home triumph over Missouri.
He enters this season knowing the defensive playbook better than ever, and he is eager to resume how he was performing. He's also ready to halt that two-game losing streak that he couldn't control and is tired of hearing about.
"Those games happened in the past, and they happened for a reason," Rice said. "There is nothing we can do about them now. If we're crying about it now, what's it going to change? We lost."
Odds and ends
Georgia's first-team offensive line continues to contain Thomas at left tackle, Solomon Kindley at left guard, Trey Hill at center, Ben Cleveland at right guard and Wilson at right tackle. Jamaree Salyer has been backing up Wilson, while Cade Mays has been backing up Cleveland. ... The first-team receivers during the portion of Tuesday's practice that was open to the media were Matt Landers, Tyler Simmons and Demetris Robertson.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.