July 13, 2025

Zach Rice transfers from North Carolina to Syracuse, hoping to anchor the Orange

A football player wearing a white uniform with blue accents and the number 55, a helmet with a blue and white design, and gloves, standing on a field with bleachers in the background.

While the Syracuse University football team is coming off its most successful season since it won the Camping World Bowl in 2018, the future of the team continues to be shaped and assembled by head coach Fran Brown and his staff. One player Brown hopes to be a integral part of that future is former five-star transfer offensive lineman Zach Rice.

The highly-touted lineman transferred to Syracuse after spending three seasons with the North Carolina Tar Heels. The former five-star prospect was ranked the 20th-best player in the 2022 recuiting class, as well as the second-best offensive tackle in the country and the top player in Virginia.

The Syracuse football team capped its 2024 season in style, picking up a 52-35 win over Washington State in the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl. It was just the third 10-win season for SU since 2000 and its first since 2018. Add the fact this was coach Fran Brown's first season at the helm, and you can make the argument Syracuse football has never had a higher ceiling. Syracuse's record-setting quarterback Kyle McCord finished in the top 10 of the Heisman voting last season. McCord was then selected by the Philidelphia Eagles in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL draft.

As a result, the Orange are in the midst of a quaterback battle between LSU transfer Rickie Collins Jr. and redshirt senior Michael Johnson Jr. In order for either of the quarterbacks to succeed, they will need a formidable offensive line they can count on for protection throughout that seaosn. A key piece of that offensive line can very well be Zach Rice. 

Rice is a junior from Liberty Cristian Academy in Lynchburg, Virginia. Rice, who appeared in 20 games (primarily on specicial teams) during his three seasons with the Tar Heels, comes in at an eye-catching 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds. Rice had originally signed with UNC over offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Texas.

Whether Rice plays at tackle or inside with the Orange reamins to be seem. If one thing is for sure, Rice may have the highest ceiling of any offensive lineman on the roster. If Fran Brown can tap into Rice's potential -- which former UNC head coach Mack Brown could not -- the Orange may have blue clip O-lineman they can rely on to protect their starting quarterback for the foreseeable future.