Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jim Moldenhauer

Media Credit: Jim Moldenhauer Along with their last names, Rafael (above) and Cortes Rice (below) also share the same backfield on the ISU football team.

Nowadays, siblings playing together in the big leagues is commonplace. You've got your Mannings, your Barbers, your Jones'. What's much rarer is having two brothers play with each other on the same team, but ISU has managed the unlikely. Rafael and Cortes Rice, both running backs on the team, have played with each other since the age of seven, moving their way up together to the ranks of college football. Hailing from Los Alamitos, California, the boys were originally encouraged to play football by their father. Through time, however, Rafael and Cortes have become each other's motivators, as they speak with much respect toward one another.

"Basically, our father said we were always going to play football from the beginning, so basically as soon as we got old enough, he threw us out there on the field and let us do what we had to do," Cortes said.

"We both started playing at the same time, and [Cortes] developed actually a little better than I did. I was always better when we were young, but then he outgrew me once we got to high school, and that was when I encouraged him to push himself and get on the same field with me," Rafael said.

As a sophomore in high school, Cortes played along side the two years older Rafael, as the team made it to the state championship, but failed to clinch first place. Rafael reminisced about working alongside his brother during his final year of high school.

"He worked out there, and I kept him along with me even though we had a team full of seniors who were hard to get along with, but he was one of the better athletes on the team. He was able to hold his own and be a good player on the team. It was special to go through my senior year with him on the team, and he ended up developing on his own for his last two years of high school," Rafael said.

Cortes did not overstep his boundaries in high school, recognizing that Rafael had seniority on the team. Either way, he never felt out of place in giving his older brother suggestions out on the field.

"When he was a senior and I was a sophomore, I already understood that he was the man on the team, and I was willing to accept my role, just go ahead whenever they needed me. Whenever they needed me to back him up I came in and did my job, and I am where I am now," Cortes said.

"When [Rafael] first got to high school, I didn't play high school," Cortes said. "So I used to go to his games, encourage him, tell him what I think he was doing wrong. It was almost like it was second-nature when we got on the same team, so I just tell what I think he's doing wrong, help him along, so I can go out and be like his second wing."

Not only do the brothers play for the same team, they've grown up playing the same position. Although Rafael is having a stellar season, averaging 94 yards a game and running in six touchdowns on the season as the starting back for the 'Birds, he will still argue that his younger brother has developed into a better overall athlete.

"We always played the same position, but I wasn't as good an athlete as he's become. He's actually more of a better athlete; he can play defense, he can play more positions. I did play more positions, but I did more to just concentrate on running back once I got to high school. He emerged as a great athlete, and I encourage him to do what he wants. He can have more options as a football player than I did," Rafael said.

Now that the two have reached Division I football together, they both have their eyes set on the next logical step: professional football.

"My goal is to work hard and to just be successful in life, as well, and at the same time, make sure [Cortes] does the right things so he can give himself a chance to play even if I don't make it, or even if I do make it, I want us to both have an opportunity like these other guys that we've grown up with and see make it to the NFL," Rafael said.

"I've always wanted to make it to the NFL since I was a little kid; that's always been the ultimate goal. It's like walking up stairs; you've got to take it step by step, and at the end of the day, the NFL is at the top. I'm almost to the top right now, so I'm just waiting to get there," Cortes said.

The Rice brothers will hit the road this weekend, as the team travels to play in their second to last game of the season at North Dakota State in Fargo, ND.

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