Chase Rice Clearing His Own Path to Country Stardom Posted Aug 20, 2014 Chase Rice began to take music more seriously after playing college football at the University of North Carolina. He had NFL dreams before an injury ended his career. Ask and he’ll tell you he still fights off an urge to thump a running back bursting through the two-hole. Rice is a rare artist with the smarts to nurture an independent career, and he doesn’t plan on changing a thing now that he’s finding commercial success. (TasteOfCountry.com)