Out of Bounds
Rucker's most important performance
Matt Daniels/Staff Reporter
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Sports
Micah Rucker isn't like most college football players.
The 6-foot-6, 221-pound senior is one of the top wide receivers - not only in the Ohio Valley Conference, but also in the Football Championship Subdivision.
He is set to graduate in December with a degree in communication studies. After that, he is set on hiring an agent to begin his possible journey to the NFL.
Rucker has the hands, the size and the play-making ability to hear his name called in April's draft.
Those skills set him apart from most college football players.
But Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni is right when he says Rucker's legacy at Eastern is already set - and he's not just referring to the impressive statistics Rucker's accomplished on the field.
Rucker has shown he has priorities outside football by starting Respect for Youth. RFY is a student organization created this fall to warn students about the consequences of irresponsible drinking, among other issues.
It's been less than a year since Rucker received the news that a drunken driver killed his girlfriend of nearly two-and-a-half years, Rebecca Fissehastion Yacob.
But you wouldn't know it by talking to him about it. He smiles at the memory of her.
He reflects on their time together. He tells stories of how they first met with enthusiasm in his voice and a slight smile breaking across his face.
He even smiles when thinking about the biggest pet peeve he had with Yacob.
"She used to bite her fingernails all the time," he said. "Whenever she was nervous, she'd bite her fingernails. Every time she'd do it, I'd grab and slap her hand and tell her not to do it. And it would kind of work here and there, but when she got nervous, she'd always bite them. I used to hate that."
To hear him speak about his loss and the adversity he's faced in the past year, he's not a football player anymore.
The 6-foot-6, 221-pound senior is one of the top wide receivers - not only in the Ohio Valley Conference, but also in the Football Championship Subdivision.
He is set to graduate in December with a degree in communication studies. After that, he is set on hiring an agent to begin his possible journey to the NFL.
Rucker has the hands, the size and the play-making ability to hear his name called in April's draft.
Those skills set him apart from most college football players.
But Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni is right when he says Rucker's legacy at Eastern is already set - and he's not just referring to the impressive statistics Rucker's accomplished on the field.
Rucker has shown he has priorities outside football by starting Respect for Youth. RFY is a student organization created this fall to warn students about the consequences of irresponsible drinking, among other issues.
It's been less than a year since Rucker received the news that a drunken driver killed his girlfriend of nearly two-and-a-half years, Rebecca Fissehastion Yacob.
But you wouldn't know it by talking to him about it. He smiles at the memory of her.
He reflects on their time together. He tells stories of how they first met with enthusiasm in his voice and a slight smile breaking across his face.
He even smiles when thinking about the biggest pet peeve he had with Yacob.
"She used to bite her fingernails all the time," he said. "Whenever she was nervous, she'd bite her fingernails. Every time she'd do it, I'd grab and slap her hand and tell her not to do it. And it would kind of work here and there, but when she got nervous, she'd always bite them. I used to hate that."
To hear him speak about his loss and the adversity he's faced in the past year, he's not a football player anymore.
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