Local wide receivers and quarterbacks beware; The 2011 Birmingham Brother Rice football squad is once again going to sport an excellent defensive backfield this season, making life difficult for all opponents attempting to beat TEAM FRACASSA through the air.

Last year, the Warriors were loaded at safety, having a pair of three-year starters in Jimmy Pickens and Loran Jaddou, leading the way. This fall, Coach Fracassa and the ORANGE&BLACK will be stacked with standout senior cornerbacks.

Brother Rice has four corners on its roster getting serious interest from college recruiters.

Devin Church – The Warriors best overall player that has offers from a wide selection of Division I schools and even though he will get most of his headlines on the offensive side of the ball, expect Church to make noise as a DB for Rice this year, too.

Eddie Kidd – This sparkplug of a corner is as determined and relentless as they come locking up any and wideouts he's assigned to cover

James Hendrix – Burney pegged his boy JH with the obvious nickname "The Voodoo Child" last year because this kid's sticky coverage skills befuddles opposing receivers much like his namesake Jimi Hendrix's master guitar playing wowed all of who ever saw him perform  

Cody Ellwanger – A gritty, intelligent ballhawk of a defensive back who made some huge plays last season and will probably see some time at free safety this fall as well.

Church, Kidd, Hendrix and Ellwanger were all critical cogs in the Warriors miraculous run to a Catholic League title last year.  

Anchoring Rice at safety this season will be senior Travis Ferguson, a star baseball player for the Warriors in the spring and another significant returning contributor from last year's team. Look for John Plaskey, Jason Alessi and Jordan Rabban to each be big parts of Rice's safety brigade this fall also.

ORANGE &BLACK FLASHBACK

Some former notable defensive backs who have suited up for WARRIORSNATION in the recent past:

Aaron Jackson, Kaunda Hancock, Kenny Watkins, Joey Henry, Jeff Snow, Jimmy Pickens, Loran Jaddou, Michael Brown 

 

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