Heel Tough Blog: Former 5✮ OT Entering Portal

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After two portal entries last night, the team has lost a former high school star along the offensive line to the transfer portal.

As first reported by Hayes Fawcett of On3 Sports, junior offensive guard Zach Rice is entering the spring portal after concluding spring camp with the team on Saturday. Rice, who was a 5✮ offensive tackle prospect coming out of the high school ranks, will have two years of eligibility remaining.

In his three seasons with the program, Rice played in 27 games, spending the majority of his time on special teams. In his career, he played just 44 snaps on the offensive side of the football with most of his snaps coming in late game situations. On special teams, Rice played 141 snaps over the last two years, all of which came on field goals and extra points.

Rice’s departure shouldn’t come as much of a shock with him continuing to be buried on the depth chart this spring. The hope for him is that he can go down to a lower level and find some sort of consistent role with a team along their offensive line. For the Tar Heels, the team is still in good shape depth wise in the room, especially with the team having brought in two offensive guards in this past recruiting cycle.