CHAPEL HILL – If anything, Kaimon Rucker knows who he is and what he wants.

Using the Covid year returning to North Carolina for a fifth season is all about Rucker knowing exactly who he is as a player and one hundred percent about how he wants to use his skills moving forward.

Like most players, the end-game is making it in the NFL. Unlike most players, it’s a reality dangling in front of the Hartwell, GA, native and 2023 second-team All-ACC selection.

“The main things I want to get out of this year is just how to become a better leader,” Rucker said. “To be honest, there’s not really anything physically that I feel I need to work on personally.

“Of course, there’s some stuff I need to fine tune with my pass rush, and I can always learn so much more; different nuances, different ways I can get past an offender. And of course, learning coverages, I can never get enough of that.”

And this relates directly to his football life after UNC.

“In the NFL, they know how you play,” he said. “That’s the whole reason why you’re there; they know that you can play. They know that you can operate in pressure. They know that you can produce on any given basis.

"But what is also important in the league, in what I’ve learned especially, talking with a lot of alumni that have come through here and a lot of people that I’ve connected with in the NFL, is they’re worried more about what you do off the field and your leadership skills. And I feel like that’s something I can always improve."

So, along with winning more than nine games, which the Tar Heels did two seasons ago, it’s about adding more layers to his NFL persona. And while that may come across as too self-centric to some, understanding how this connects to the team is important.

Even if Rucker wasn’t interested in playing after college, the mandate from within the Kenan Football Center would still be the same: do everything you can to help win games. And, that is exactly what Rucker is doing.

In truth, it’s a continuum of past performances, with some refining and added responsibility when nobody is watching.

The 6-foot-2, 265-pound rush end/outside linebacker is coming off a season in which he registered 61 tackles, had 15 TFLs, 8.5 sacks, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, had 41 hurries, 36 STOPs (plays that result in failures by opposing offenses), batted two passes, and earned a PFF grade of 79.5.

UNC Coach Mack Brown and first-year defensive coordinator Geoff Collins will take those numbers again from Rucker, stuff them in their back pockets and run. Such stats will also keep Rucker firmly on everyone’s radar for the next level.

Walter Football currently ranks Rucker the ninth best defensive end in the 2025 draft class. NFLDraftBuzz.com grades him as an edge rusher and projects Rucker for the fourth round.

In building his draft stock, Rucker has worn number 25, playing 894 snaps last season and 2,132 in his Carolina career. This fall, he will do so wearing number 7.

“It’s something that I’ve been kind of wanting to do, but as me being an underclassman, I didn’t have that opportunity just yet,” he explained about the number change. “But when the opportunity showed itself, I wanted to change my number.”

Why the change?

“The reason why is because I had this my junior year of high school and I wanted to keep it up,” Rucker explained. “But we had a tradition where it’s the coaches choose a very significant person on the team to wear number one at the time. And my coaches chose me to wear it my senior year, so I wore number one. If that wasn’t the case, I would have kept it (seven).”

Whether a “25” or a “7” is on his jersey, he’s still Kaimon Rucker. A bulldog on the field, the weight room, and the film room.

“He stands out,” Collins said. “He was one of the first guys I talked to when I took the job. Just how focused he is, how much he studies. He’s in there with (defensive line) Coach Ted (Monachino)… Just how much he pours into it wanting to be great, and it’s going to pay off.”

Paying off means posting better numbers this fall, helping the Tar Heels win more games, and improving his stock for the NFL. Those are the reasons Rucker came back, and he’s in the process of making it happen.