Ruggs brings world-class speed to Raiders’ receiving corps
They went viral on the internet last winter. The highlights of Robert E. Lee guard Henry Ruggs III dribbling down the lane, elevating like Houston Rockets point guard Russell Westbrook and dunking on anybody and everybody in his way.
Now imagine that type of enchanting athleticism on the football field.
Imagine Ruggs in a Raiders uniform.
The 5-foot-11, 188-pound wide receiver from Alabama became the first draft pick in Las Vegas history Thursday, going No. 12 overall in the NFL’s virtual draft. The speedy Ruggs played three years for the Crimson Tide, totaling 98 receptions, 1,716 yards and 24 touchdowns — including 746 yards and seven touchdowns during his junior season of 2019.
But those numbers don’t compare to the number he posted at the NFL scouting combine in February.
That number, 4.27 — as in a 4.27 second 40-yard dash — helped him become the first wide receiver selected Thursday. That number helped him become part of a wide receiving corps that includes veteran wideout Tyrell Williams and second-year slot receiver Hunter Renfrow.
“I’m a playmaker. I don’t just pride myself on just speed,” Ruggs told the Los Angeles Times. “I want to be a guy who can do everything on the field. I get downfield to block for my teammates, just as they do the same for me. I play without the ball, and with the ball in my hands I can make a play.”
Ruggs was a multisport athlete at Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery, Alabama, excelling first at basketball and then at football. He played basketball with his late friend, Rod Scott, who was killed during a car accident in March of Ruggs’ junior year. It was Scott who convinced Ruggs to pursue football instead of basketball, according to Ruggs’ mother, Nataki.
“It was always Rod,” she told NFL.com
Rod was right.
Ruggs blossomed into a football star at Robert E. Lee, garnering offers from the who’s who of college football — including Alabama, Auburn, Florida State and Michigan. He settled on Alabama and signed in February of 2017 as the No. 23 wide receiver and No. 166 overall prospect in his class, per ESPN.
Not bad for a basketball player.
Ruggs played sparingly as a freshman in 2017, totaling 12 catches for 229 yards and six touchdowns on Alabama’s national championship squad. But he emerged during his sophomore season of 2018 as one of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s most trusted targets and finished with 46 catches for 741 yards and 11 touchdowns.
He returned for his junior year as one of the top deep threats in college football and left the combine some several months later as the best deep threat in the draft.
“This guy’s got tremendous vertical speed. He’s very explosive. He’s got great hands. He’s really a tough guy,” Alabama coach Nick Saban told ESPN. “He was a great special teams player. I mean, he’s the first guy we put in the game to be a gunner on punt. He makes a lot of great plays, ran vertical routes down the field. This guy’s going to be an outstanding pro player.”
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.