Rice is perhaps best remembered as the dynamic option quarterback of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish's 1988 national championship team under coach Lou Holtz.
Rice played professional football for three seasons for the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Barcelona Dragons of the World League from 1990 to 1992.
If they failed to meet those standards, the athlete would not be allowed to play or practice with a college team their freshman year.
The Irish finished the season 8-4 and earned a berth to the Cotton Bowl Classic, where they lost 35-10 to 13th-ranked Texas A&M in a game where Rice played only sparingly.
Despite standing only 6'1" 200 lbs., he had great speed (4.48 40 yard dash time) for a quarterback, and tremendous strength, which made him an incredibly difficult player to contain.
The season featured wins over top-ranked opponents including Michigan, USC, and Miami in addition to featuring several future NFL players Raghib Ismail, Ricky Watters, Chris Zorich, Derek Brown, Todd Lyght, Pat Terrell, Tony Brooks, Anthony Johnson, Andy Heck, Tim Grunhard and Rodney Culver.
The Canes attempted the two-point conversion and failed to convert as Notre Dame's safety Pat Terrell batted down the ball.
[7] Coming into the 1989 Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz insisted that his team couldn't pass the ball against West Virginia.
Rice outplayed Mountaineer quarterback Major Harris, who went down with an injury early in the game, by completing 7 of 11 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns.
On September 16, 1989, the Irish defeated the Wolverines in Ann Arbor 24-19, which included two Raghib Ismail kickoff returns for scores.
Notre Dame overcame five turnovers to win 28-24, thanks to a fine effort from the defense led by linebacker Chris Zorich.
Miami grabbed a 17-10 halftime lead and won 27-10, and, led by its defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy and help from his teammates, shut down Notre Dame's running attack as Rice was limited to 50 yards on 20 carries.
Raghib "Rocket" Ismail, filling in at tailback for an injured Ricky Watters, scored a 36-yard touchdown run to increase Notre Dame's lead to 14-0 with 7:19 left in the third quarter.
Notre Dame completed a successful 12-1 season and was ranked #2 by the AP College Football Poll after the win over Colorado.
Rice won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award on December 1, 1989 and finished fourth in the 1989 Heisman Trophy the next day.
In June 1990, Rice was working with the Saskatchewan Roughriders during training camp as the third-string quarterback behind starter Kent Austin.
The Roughriders finished 9-9 in his only season in the CFL as Rice served in mop-up duty while the starting quarterback Austin threw for 4,604 yards.
In February 1991, he was drafted in the second round by the Barcelona Dragons in Spain of the World League of American Football, which played its season in the spring beginning in March.
[20] Rice's first season with Barcelona was very successful as the Dragons finished 9-3 and reached the championship game that was known as the World Bowl '91.
He had nearly equal playing time with the team's starter, Scott Erney, as Rice went 69-of-129 passing for 915 yards with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions for the season.
Tony Rice and his ex-wife Felicia have five children—Alex from Bad Girls Club (season 12), Madeline Santi, Anthony, Michael, and Jasmine.