MILFORD MILL, Md. — "The reason why I moved back was because I felt there was unfinished business, and it had nothing to do with getting back on the field. It had everything to do with about how being in Baltimore made me feel. I've always felt genuine love being here."
Although it's been over a decade years since Ray Rice last suited up in the NFL, he never truly left the game.
Coaching youth football for a few years, Rice says his newest chapter includes guiding young 9th graders at Milford Mill Academy.
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"I'm a public school kid. I went to public school in New Rochelle, New York, and I know what the rhetoric is in public, and I want to help shape that narrative into something different," said Rice.
For him, this means serving as a mentor and a leading figure. Something he wishes he had as a high schooler.
"If somebody would've got to me before high school, that's where you really want to make the difference," Rice said.
As a man who has had his fair share of controversy, he understands experiences the best teacher for these kids.
"I've also developed this one quote, 'life is best understood in reverse,' so what I'm able to do now, in my own world, is just pour back in things I went and fixed in my own world," Rice said.
