Family, Home, School & Brown Sealed The Deal For Rucker

Moments after Kaimon Rucker committed Wednesday night to play football at North Carolina, he told THI that UNC checked all of his boxes.

This wasn’t just a football thing for Rucker, it was all-encompassing.

Academics: Check. Prospective major: Check. Campus and town feel: Check. Family atmosphere: Check. Football and playing for a legend such as Mack Brown: Check.

For Rucker, a 3-star defensive end from Hart County High School in Hartwell, GA, Carolina simply has it all.

But there are some things among the long list of reasons he likes UNC that really stood out.

For example, Rucker, who is a member of the National Honor Society, wants to study something in the neighborhood of sports and exercise science and sports administration. Carolina excels in those departments, so it’s a terrific fit.

So are Chapel Hill and all things UNC.

“With me growing up in a small town, I like to stay comfortable,” Rucker said. “I’m a person that will travel so many other places but there’s no place like home for me.

“So, if I go to college, I want to feel the same way. I don’t want to feel like I’m missing home and end up having to go back… I want to have that feeling for the next four years of my life and North Carolina fixed tat for me.”

Comfort is important to Rucker and so is family.

“I am a very big family person, so when I go to any place my family is always with me, I’m never by myself,” he said. “It’s always my mom and my dad or if I go on vacation, I’m (usually) seeing family wherever I go. I understand when I go to college football is a big aspect and academically is a big aspect, but also I want to go to a place where brotherhood is a big factor in everything.”

Rucker was at UNC last weekend for Showtime and had a great experience. It ended with him getting an offer, personally extended by Brown himself. But among the things that really struck him was what happened later.

One of the committed prospects for UNC’s class of 2019 texted Rucker after learning about the offer and told him “UNC is the place where you need to be.”

That hit home with the Georgia native.

“So, obviously brotherhood is a big part of it, family is not an issue and coach Mack Brown obviously carries that into all aspects of North Carolina,” he said.

What also stood out to Rucker and his family was after offering following Showtime, Brown introduced Rucker to his wife, Sally, and didn’t say a word about football. It was all about Rucker’s academic achievements and the kind of young man he is.

That was another example of family to Rucker. Brown cares about more than just him as a football player.

“I’d met coach Brown for the very first time that day, and just the fact that I barely knew him and he was introducing me to so many people,” Rucker said. “I even got an opportunity to meet his wife, who is a very lovely lady, and I was so privileged to meet her along with coach Brown. They’re just such amazing people.”

As far as football goes, the staff told Rucker they see him playing a lot at outside linebacker along with some defensive end. Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman is developing a hybrid position at UNC and they see Rucker as an absolute fit. They loves how he gets off the ball. The ball is snapped and he’s moving, and that split second can make a quick and fast player quicker and faster.

Additionally, the staff is intrigued that Rucker is simply a football player. He’s 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, which might be a tad undersized for a defensive end in the ACC to some, but that doesn’t matter to Brown or Bateman.

“They were talking about how they wanted to offer me, one of the first things that coach Brown told me is that my height and my size did not matter,” Rucker said. “That just hit me hard, like in the heart.

“Because, with my recruitment, and I’m not saying anything about any of these colleges, but I was often overlooked because of my height, and the colleges that offered me, I’m thank God they pulled the trigger and (offered) me… But for (UNC) to be a Power 5 ACC school to tell me that, it was huge honor.”

Rucker, who does the shot put, discuss and the 4 x 1, says he will enroll next summer.