Former Richland WR Rashee Rice is representing Fort Worth football in the NFL playoffs

Rashee Rice, a former Fort Worth-area high school football player, has had a key role for the Kansas City Chiefs in his rookie NFL season.

In Sunday’s playoff road victory over the Buffalo Bills, Rice tallied 47 yards on four receptions to help bring the Chiefs to their sixth consecutive AFC championship game. Rice leads the Chiefs with 177 receiving yards in the 2024 postseason.

“I love being able to come in here, just knowing you’re the outlaw,” Rice told NBC Sports after the Chiefs’ victory over the Bills. “It was nothing but a sea of blue in here. We turned it red.”

On Jan. 13, Rice led the Chiefs with 130 receiving yards and a touchdown in a 26-7 Wild Card win over the Dolphins.

“He went to high school in Texas, so I knew he was going to be a dog,” Patrick Mahomes said on the Peacock broadcast after the opening-round win.

The Chiefs will face the Ravens on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT at M&T Bank Stadium with a Super Bowl appearance on the line.

Representing Fort Worth Football

Before Rice was catching passes from Mahomes, he was Tanner Mordecai’s primary target and donned the number 11 with SMU. In his senior season with the Mustangs, he led the FBS with 113 receiving yards per game and was named to the All-ACC First Team.

Rice rose to stardom as a wide receiver at Richland High School of Birdville ISD. He tallied over 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns, leading the Fort Worth-area school with 105 receiving yards per game in his senior season.

When Rice was drafted 55th overall to the Chiefs, wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling was already using the 11 jersey number. Rice chose to go back to No. 4, a number he used in high school.

“He let me know right before he announced it,” Richland football head coach Ged Kates said.

Kates said Richland High School athletes follow everything Rice does in the NFL.

“It’s really become a fun thing for us to watch him and see how he’s developed as a player,” Kates said. “He really knows that he’s representing Richland football, and it means a lot to us.”

Kates said Rice has been back in the North Richland Hills area and that he made an appearance at a Little League game. He signed autographs, making time for the next generation.

Kates said Rice has been someone young athletes can look up to and aspire to be like.

“We watch him play on TV,” Kates said. “And he’s from here (North Richland Hills). He practiced on our field. He played at our stadium. It makes people think, ‘I can do that one day.’”

Rice posted a 4.51 second 40-yard dash in the 2023 NFL combine. His speed has always been dominant, but Kates said it wasn’t his best trait in high school.

“It was unbelievable ball skills and his brain and smarts,” Kates said. “It was how he understood the game, concepts, spacing and timing. He’s also a guy that can beat man coverage and can get some separation.”

Kates said his favorite memory of being Rice’s high school coach is a time they took a photograph during Rice’s freshman year, when he was 14 years old. He looks back at it often, and it reminds him of the wide receiver’s journey.

“It’s fun to watch what he’s become since then,” Kates said. “It’s a picture that I keep in my phone. I know exactly where it is because of what he’s become over the years, and I’m proud of him.”

Kates said Rice always had “something about him.” He said he knew that if he put in the work he would accomplish great things. Rice “did all the right things.” Now, he’s one of Patrick Mahomes’ primary targets in a deep playoff run.

“He always had this great smile,” Kates said. “He was destined for something really big.”

Nine years after the start of his high school football career at Richland, Rice has a prominent role with a Super Bowl contender. He’s representing Fort Worth-area football on the highest level.

Rice told NBC Sports that making an AFC Championship “feels great.”

“We have a lot more to do, and I can’t wait,” Rice said.