Frederick Henry "Juice" Scruggs (born January 19, 2000) is an American football center for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

of the National Football League (NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

and was selected by the Texans in the second round of the

2023 NFL Draft The 2023 NFL Draft will be the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 27–29, ...

Early years

Scruggs was born on January 19, 2000, in Ashtabula, Ohio. He attended

Cathedral Preparatory School Cathedral Preparatory School (often referred to simply as Prep) is a private, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory high school for boys in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It was established in 1921 by Archbishop John Mark Gannon and is located ...

in Erie, Pennsylvania, and was a four-time varsity letter winner in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, playing lineman on both sides of the ball. He helped them compile a 49–3 record in his four years with the team, including consecutive 14–0 seasons. He was named first-team all-state as a defensive lineman in 2016 and as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 2017 was named first-team all-state on the offensive line and was given the Pennsylvania Football New Class 4-A Lineman of the Year award. A consensus four-star recruit, Scruggs was ranked as the fifth-best center nationally. He committed to

over offers from various other schools, including

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, Ohio State and Michigan.

College career

Scruggs saw limited action in his first year at Penn State, only appearing on three snaps during their game against Maryland. He was named the joint-winner of the team's Scout Team Offensive Player of the Year award. In early 2019, he was involved in a car accident that caused him serious injuries, including a concussion and fractured vertebrae. Scruggs had to wear a back brace for eight months and missed the entire season due to his injuries. He eventually recovered and made his return to the field against Maryland in November 2020, close to two years after the crash. Scruggs appeared in a total of seven games on the year, none of which he started. Scruggs posted his first start in the 2021 season, starting all 13 games and earning honorable mention all-conference from the Big Ten's coaches and media, third-team honors from Pro Football Focus (PFF), and being named the winner of Penn State's Dick Maginnis Memorial Award for best offensive lineman. The following year, he was voted team captain and started all 12 games, being named third-team All-Big Ten by the league's coaches. Scruggs declared for the NFL Draft after the season, forgoing an extra year of eligibility given to him due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional career

Scruggs was selected by the

in the second round (62nd overall) of the

. He was placed on injured reserve on August 31, 2023. He was activated on November 25.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scruggs, Juice 2000 births Living people American football centers American football defensive linemen Sportspeople from Ashtabula, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Erie, Pennsylvania Penn State Nittany Lions football players Houston Texans players