Two former Alabama high school standouts cut on Tuesday as NFL teams reduced their preseason rosters to the regular-season limit returned to the league on Friday by signing with practice squads.

Waived by the New Orleans Saints, linebacker Monty Rice from James Clemens High School in Madison joined the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad.

Released by the Pittsburgh Steelers, running back La’Mical Perine from Theodore High School joined the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad.

During the preseason, Perine led the Steelers’ running backs in rushing yards with 46 and one touchdown on 16 carries.

Rice had 10 tackles, one tackle for loss and one forced fumble in three preseason games with the Saints this month.

Each NFL team could begin assembling a 16-player practice squad (17 if the team has an International Pathway player) on Wednesday afternoon. Practice-squad members work just as active-roster players do during the week, but they are not eligible to play in the games – with one exception. Each NFL team can elevate two practice-squad players to active status for each game.

Perine spent most of the 2023 season on the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad. He had 77 yards on 22 rushing attempts and 33 yards on three receptions while on the field for 59 offensive snaps and 55 special-teams plays in three regular-season games.

Perine also was on the field for 37 special-teams plays in three playoff games as the Chiefs reached Super Bowl LVIII, but he did not play in Kansas City’s 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL championship game for the 2023 season.

Perine signed with the Steelers on May 23 after the Chiefs released him on May 17.

Rice had made 26 tackles while appearing for 86 defensive snaps and 184 special-teams plays in 12 games for Tennessee in 2023 when the Titans waived him. The Saints claimed Rice on Dec. 6, but he never got into a game with New Orleans.

Alabama’s Class 7A Back of the Year at Theodore in 2015, Perine joined the New York Jets from Florida in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Perine ran for 263 yards and two touchdowns on 72 carries and caught 11 passes for 63 yards in 14 games with the Jets during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Perine did not play in a regular-season game during the 2022 season, when he spent time on the practice squads of the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins and Chiefs.

A second-team All-State selection in 2015 and a first-teamer in 2016 for James Clemens, Rice entered the NFL as a third-round draft choice from Georgia in 2021,

Rice played in 10 games, with four starts, before an Achilles tendon injury caused him to miss the final five games of his rookie season and delayed his start to the 2022 campaign as he spent the first four games on reserve/physically unable to perform.

In 2022, Rice started six games and made 66 tackles while playing 366 defensive snaps in 13 games. In the final five games, Rice had 47 tackles and 268 defensive snaps.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.