'22 Guard Rodney Rice Visits Louisville, Updates Recruitment

The DMV area prospect sat down with Louisville Report to talk about his recent official visit to the Cardinals, as well as his recruitment.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Since the end of the mandatory dead period earlier this month, the Louisville men's basketball program has not wasted any time out on the recruiting trail. They sent out several scholarship offers, hosted a handful of prospects on unofficial visits, and starting traveling to in-person events again.

Earlier this week, the Cardinals conducted their first official visit since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They hosted one of their top targets in the Class of 2022, Hyattsville (Mary.) DeMatha Catholic guard Rodney Rice.

"The visit was great. They showed me around and I had a great time," Rice told Louisville Report. Taking the second of his five allotted official visits, he "also wanted to experience the students being on campus as well."

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound combo guard has been a long time target of the Cardinals, as he was first offered by the staff in May of 2020 during the pandemic. Ranked as high as the No. 57 prospect in the class by Rivals, he has turned into one of Louisville's priority recruits.

"My relationship with Coach (Chris) Mack and (Mike) Pegues has grown since a year and a half ago when they started recruiting me," he said. "They talk about me coming in and playing right away, and having the right resources around me to succeed."

Both Mack and Pegues are splitting the proverbial reps in the recruitment, with the latter having graduated from Rice's alma mater of DeMatha Catholic back in 1996. Rice says that the duo has not only been recruiting him the hardest, but for the longest amount of time. Not only does Louisville have a great amount of interest in Rice, but the latter is also true.

"My favorite aspect of their program is that they have a great player development situation, Rice said. "That’s a big thing for me, which is to keep getting better."

Of course, Louisville is not the only school in the mix for the highly touted guard. Rice says that Virginia Tech, Maryland and Alabama have been recently recruiting him hard, and he took an official visit to the latter in early June. As far as a list of schools and their subsequent placement, Rice says he does not yet have one.

Louisville currently has one commitment in the Class of 2022 in the form of Tae Davis, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound small forward who is the brother of current Cardinal Dre Davis.

(Photo of Rodney Rice via University of Louisville Athletics)

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