Elijah Palmer’s birthday wish fulfilled a need for the University of Hawaii football team.
After entering the NCAA transfer portal, DeVon Rice attended the 21st birthday party for Palmer, the Rainbow Warriors’ starting nickelback. Rice — similar to Palmer and 14 other Warriors — is a graduate of Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman High School.
“It was a crazy day,” Palmer recalled. “We were talking to him about joining Hawaii. I was getting on him about it.”
Rice said: “The guys were all around me. They corralled me. It was Elijah Palmer’s birthday. We were all back home in Vegas (on winter break). They kept saying, ‘What if you came to Hawaii?’ At first, it was a joke. After a while, it was, ‘OK, I’m coming.’”
Completing his transfer from Kansas State, Rice enrolled at UH just ahead of the start of the spring semester in January.
“Now look at it,” Rice said. “I’m here in paradise.”
Rice participated in spring ball, the offseason conditioning program, and the player-run practices. He reunited with quarterback Micah Alejado, also a Bishop Gorman graduate. Rice exited training camp as the run-and-shoot’s No. 2 running back, behind Cam Barfield, another former Gael.
In the season opener against Stanford, Barfield suffered a high-ankle sprain during UH’s first series. Barfield remained in the lineup until yielding to Rice and Sitani Mikaele.
“I know there are dawgs behind me who can get the job done,” Barfield said. “I was happy to see how they played.”
Rice, who logged 74 snaps in two seasons at K-State, played 33 against Stanford. He produced two touchdowns — one each as a receiver and speed back. Relying on dash-stop-dash moves and jump cuts, Rice ran 11 times for 35 yards. He had four catches on five targets for 25 yards. At 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, Rice also twice blocked heavier pass-rushers.
“That’s what comes with the position,” Rice said. “Especially with my size, everybody looks at me and thinks what I can’t do. Anytime I’m allowed to put it on tape that I can block, I’m going to do it.”
In practices, Rice honed his blocking skills against the Lion’s Den, the collective name of the linebackers.
“They’ve got all different types of linebackers,” Rice said. “Linebackers that will juke you out of your shoes. Linebackers that will take your face-mask off. (Blocking is) repetition, seeing all those different looks. It prepares you for (playing against) another player from another team. They’re not part of the Lion’s Den.”
Rice benefited from working with Game Changers Sports Academy, a Las Vegas-based program for grades six through high school. His father, Rodney Rice, a former NFL defensive back, and partners Cheva Branch and Mel Spicer founded the program, which emphasizes academics and athletics.
“School always comes first,” said Rice, who attended Game Changers in eighth grade before moving on to Bishop Gorman. Rice and several Las Vegas-reared Warriors, such as Alejado, Palmer and Jamih Otis, train at Game Changers during school breaks.
“We all go there,” Palmer said, noting Rodney Rice “is a great man, a man of God. He allowed us to grow under him. He taught us things, and not just football. He taught us about life, and the journey it takes.”
Ahead of their senior season in 2023, Rice and Alejado pledged to become Warriors. Alejado signed, joining in January 2024. Rice opted to sign with K-State.
“Just the timing,” Rice said. “Nothing extra to it.”
Two years later, Rice is experiencing a rebirth of his football career in Manoa.
“It’s really about stepping up,” Rice said. “When a guy goes down, it’s about stepping up and making a play.”
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