Ray Rice spoke to Rutgers before the team's spring game
Ray Rice, Rutgers' all-time leading rusher, spoke to the team before Saturday's spring game.
Having a program legend back for a spring game isn't usually incredibly notable. But for Rice it is given the events of the past year.
And those events were the subject of the comments he made.
"I had a chance to speak to the team, to give them some real life lessons, and hopefully, help them grow," Rice said.
"I just shot them straight. I'm sure if you speak to them, they'll give you a lot better explanation of what I told them, but I gave them the message to go out there and not make the mistakes that I made. If I can help them understand, then I've made an impact. It costs no money to give them a good message like that."
Rice punched his then-fiancee Janay in an Atlantic City hotel elevator 14 months ago. The incident, and whether or not NFL officials had the surveillance tape from it or took a look at it, became the defining topic of the 2014 NFL season.
The running back was initially suspended two games in July by commissioner Roger Goodell. But as the questions about the NFL's knowledge of the situation grew, his suspension also grew. He won an appeal of it in November, though didn't play in the 2014 season because he was released by the Baltimore Ravens in September. He's still currently without a team.
While it's easy to immediately wonder why Rutgers would want to be so closely associated with Rice given what's transpired recently, we don't think it's bad idea to have him speak to the team. The impact of horrible actions and their massive consequences is greater when the story is told by those involved, especially if it's sincere.
Rice played for Rutgers from 2005-2007 and has the school records for career yards, attempts, touchdowns and also has the two biggest rushing seasons in team history. He was a second-round pick of the Ravens in the 2008 NFL draft.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
