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CHAPEL HILL – The legend of John Henry and North Carolina football?

Through the eyes of junior linebacker Power Echols, absolutely!

According to the official National Parks Service website, NPS.gov:

The Legend of John Henry was born at Big Bend Mountain near Talcott, West Virginia. The Legend of John Henry is just that, a “legend,” and through the legend, John Henry became a symbol. He symbolized the many African Americans whose sweat and hard work built and maintained the rails across West Virginia. He was a symbol for the black workers who gave their lives in these dangerous occupations. The legend, as told through ballads and work songs, has kept the story of John Henry and the black railroad workers alive.

So how exactly does this translate to UNC football? Credit Echols, who when speaking about senior jack Kaimon Rucker dropped the reference, which is clearly a term of endearment.

“My nickname for him is John Henry,” Echols said. “He’s going to get mad at me for this, but that dude is just a wrecking ball. He’ll just stop any 300-pound man with one arm. He’s doing a great job for us, being a leader for us, vocal, and just being who he is.”

Also known as “Steel-driving Man,” John Henry might be associated with a lot of football teams around the country, especially when creative players discuss bruising teammates. But it really is an apt description of Rucker. He has a different fiber than many players, a different gear, a different level, and has created for himself a very high ceiling for his impressive game.

“When you look at the way you want defensive guys to play the game, he’s exactly what you want,” UNC defensive coordinator and jacks coach Gene Chizik said. “He never ever comes out here without a purpose, and he’s got a chip on his shoulder. He’s a violent guy, he plays hard. If I don’t let him in practice and say, ‘take this rep off,’ he gets mad at me. I love it!”

Rucker has played several positions for the Tar Heels since getting his first reps in front of no fans in the 2020 opener of the Covid year. He played 24 snaps in a win over Syracuse that day, the most by any of UNC’s ballyhooed freshman class. And he wasn’t exactly a commit who engendered much hoopla.

Just a 3-star player from Hartwell, GA, Rucker had only two other Power 5 offers aside from UNC: Kansas and Louisville. He obviously chose the Tar Heels. Half of UNC’s 26 members of its highly touted class of 2020 are no longer in the program. Two have retired because of injuries and one left early for the NFL. Ten others transferred.

In fact, Rucker, or “Ruck” as Chizik calls him, was rated higher than only four players in the class. But here he is, one of Carolina’s leaders, and a pure football player who elevates the Heels in whatever task he’s assigned.

That is why nobody around the program had any questions whether or not Rucker could transition full-time into a jack. He was a power end, but was pressed into moving to jack last fall after Noah Taylor suffered a season-ending injury. It was a crash-course for Rucker then, but has been a series of labs, lectures, and plenty of studying this offseason. There has been much to learn.

“I already made it late last season, so the transition wasn’t hard at all,” Rucker said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, we’re going to put you at jack,’ it was already expected. We lost Noah Taylor, we lost Chris Collins, we’ve got some guys (and) are a little short in the room… They were like, ‘We need you to play some jack.’ It was never a hesitation. I was down for it from the jump.”

That is how Rucker is. Put him wherever and he will play. Spend extra time covering receivers and reading quarterbacks on his own time? That is how Rucker rolls.

“Learning coverages, how to tackle better, how to cover in the open field, just little things of that nature,” Rucker said, when asked about his points of emphasis over the past several months. “And how to polish up on my pass rush, how to be a better run defender. Those are the little things that I wanted to do progressing into this year, and I feel like I’m on the right track.”

Rucker is on the right track because he only knows one speed, one mindset, and a singular intent.

Steel-driving man, right? Sure seems that way.