Martin T. Rucker II (born May 4, 1985) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

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in the

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(NFL) for the

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Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

, and

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. He was chosen by the

in the fourth round of the

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. He played

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at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

Early years

Rucker attended Benton High School in

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

. He finished his high prep career with 56 catches for 646 yards, 5 touchdowns, 118 tackles and 2 sacks. As a senior in track, he won the conference and district titles, while placing fourth in the state in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

. He also won the conference championship in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. He competed in

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, where he received All-district and All-conference honors as a senior.

College career

Rucker accepted a football scholarship from the

, where he played for head coach

Gary Pinkel Gary Robin Pinkel (born April 27, 1952) is a former American college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 1991 to 2000 and the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, compiling career record o ...

from 2004 to 2007. As a

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freshman, he missed most of the spring period with a shoulder injury, but was still promoted to starter ahead of senior Victor Sesay. He started 11 games, collecting 19 receptions for 263 yards and 4 touchdowns. He received second-team Freshman All-American and All-freshman Big 12 honors by

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. As a sophomore, he started all 12 games ahead of

Chase Coffman Chase Allen Coffman (born November 10, 1986) is a former American football tight end. He played college football for the University of Missouri, earned consensus All-American honors, and was recognized as the best college tight end in the count ...

, making 47 receptions (tied for the team lead) for 567 yards (led the team) and a 12.1-yard average (led the team). As a junior, he started all 13 contests ahead of Coffman, registering 53 receptions (second on the team) for 511 yards (third on the team) and 5 touchdowns. As a senior, he started all 12 contests ahead of Coffman, registering 84 receptions (school record) for 834 yards (second on the team) and 8 touchdowns. He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American

, having been named to the first-teams of the

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and the

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. Rucker finished his collegiate career with over 200 receptions, 2,175 yards, and 18

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s. He finished his college career with 203 receptions for 2,175 yards and 18 touchdowns. His 203 receptions set a school record and were the most ever by a Big 12 Conference tight end and eighth All-around in the Big 12 Conference. His 2,175 yards ranked second in school history and made him the third Tiger to reach 2,000 career receiving yards. He also set a school record with 50 consecutive starts.

Professional career

Cleveland Browns

Rucker was selected by the

in the fourth round (111th overall) of the

. On July 22, he signed a contract with the team. As a rookie, he appeared in 5 games, making 2 receptions for 17 yards, both catches resulting in first downs. He was waived on September 22, 2009.

Philadelphia Eagles

On September 24, 2009, he was signed to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. On December 15, he was promoted to the active roster. On August 9, 2010, he was waived after being limited with a hamstring injury.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On August 10, 2010, he was claimed off waivers by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

. He was released the next day on August 11, after failing a physical.

Dallas Cowboys

On August 19, 2010, Rucker signed with the

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. On September 4, he was cut and signed to the

a day later on September 5. He was promoted to the active roster on December 1, while Scott Chandler was cut to make room for him. He returned one kickoff for 16 yards in a game against the

. On September 13, 2011, he was waived and re-signed to the

Jacksonville Jaguars

On October 18, 2011, Rucker was signed by the

off the

practice squad, to provide depth after

Zach Miller Zach Miller may refer to: *Zach Miller (tight end, born 1984), NFL tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Chicago Bears *Zach Miller (tight end, born 1985) Zachary Joseph Miller (born December 11, 1985) is a former ...

was placed on the

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Kansas City Chiefs

On May 16, 2012, he signed with the

. On June 13, he was placed on injured reserve with a torn ACL he suffered in training camp. He wasn't re-signed after the season.

Retirement

On August 6, 2014, Rucker announced his retirement.

Career statistics

Politics

In February 2016, Rucker announced his candidacy as a Democrat for the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

in the state's 14th house district. Despite exceeding the number of votes estimated needed to win, with many unexpected voters turning out for the election resulted in a loss for Rucker by 904 votes. Two years later he ran for the state senate in District 34, covering Platte and Buchanan Counties, losing to Tony Luetkemeyer by a margin of 3,628 votes.

Personal life

Rucker is the younger brother of former NFL

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

Mike Rucker Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

and the son of politician Martin T. Rucker. He currently lives in his birthplace, Saint Joseph, Missouri, and he is the school board president. He’s spent time working on his political dream and aspiring to the same career as his father.

References

External links

*
Philadelphia Eagles bioCleveland Browns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rucker, Martin 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from St. Joseph, Missouri Players of American football from Missouri African-American players of American football All-American college football players American football tight ends Missouri Tigers football players Cleveland Browns players Philadelphia Eagles players Dallas Cowboys players Jacksonville Jaguars players Kansas City Chiefs players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people