FOXBORO, Mass. -– Devin McCourty will see a familiar face when he looks into the Baltimore Ravens’ backfield on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game.
Ravens running back Ray Rice will do everything he can to make life miserable for McCourty and the rest of the Patriots defense, something that McCourty saw Rice do to opposing defenses when the two played together at Rutgers.
"He's a great player," McCourty said of Rice, his teammate for just one season (2007) with the Scarlet Knights. "What he did for us in college was big, and he continued to do that once he got to the NFL."
While McCourty and Rice only spent one season together as teammates at the state college of New Jersey, McCourty says that he and Rice are good friends.
"There were a lot of guys in college who hung out with him in the offseason," McCourty said. "He's a good friend."
McCourty and Rice share more than just the same alma mater. They grew up just minutes from each other in the New York/New Jersey area before joining forces for a season at Rutgers.
In their only season together, McCourty and Rice helped lead the Scarlet Knights to an 8-5 record, including an International Bowl victory over Ball State, a game in which Rice ran for 280 yards and McCourty was in on nine tackles.
The two have only met once in an NFL game, with McCourty's Patriots edging the Rice's Ravens in Week 6 of last season, McCourty's rookie campaign.
