Extra Points: The Butcher

By Lee Pace

Kaimon Rucker had 30 scholarship offers from Group of Five colleges in the spring of 2019, his junior year in high school. The edge rusher from Hartwell, Ga. coveted an offer from one of the elite Power Five conferences, certainly at the top of his wish list was one from Georgia, just 40 miles to the southwest, or from Clemson, just over 50 miles to the northeast.

But standing at six feet, one inch tall, Rucker didn't fit the DE/OLB template that casts most candidates in the 6-4 to 6-6 range. Think Tar Heel greats like Greg Ellis at 6-5, Julius Peppers at 6-7 or Robert Quinn at 6-4.

"Society has a love affair with size and height, and Kaimon didn't fit the mold," says his father, Kendall Rucker. "But that didn't faze him. He did his research. He said, 'Where are the big dogs going? I'll go there and beat them.'"

Kaimon noted a number of four- and five-star offensive linemen were set to attend the Nike Football Skills Camp in Charlotte in May 2019, so he signed up, played well and drew some attention from coaches dressed in Carolina blue. Rucker was invited to the Carolina Football Camp that June.

"He immediately stood out in the pass-rush, pass-pro drills," Mack Brown says. "He whipped everybody. He was costing people scholarships left and right. No one could block him. I walked over and asked our coaches, 'Who is that?' They said, 'Well, he's a little undersized.' I said, 'I don't care.' The guy's whipping everybody. I walked over and met his parents, and they were wonderful. I found out he was a National Honor Society student.

"I told our guys, 'Offer him. Offer him today."

That was five years ago. Rucker jumped at the opportunity offered by Brown and the Tar Heels (Louisville was his only other offer from an ACC or SEC team) and has enjoyed an exemplary career, with the dollop on the top coming this fall when he plays an extra year borne of NCAA eligibility rulings during Covid.

Over four seasons, he's played in 50 games (starting 28 of them), made 84 solo tackles, 30.5 tackles-for-loss, 16 sacks and four forced fumbles. He was second-team All-ACC in 2023.

"And here he is, going to play in the NFL one day," Brown says. "He just keeps getting better and better. He's smart, tough and driven. He studies football and technique. He loves the fact Ted Monachino is now coaching him because he wants to be a pro player and Ted's got 15 years in the NFL."

Rucker got his first start in his second game as a freshman in 2020, the Tar Heels' road game at Boston College. Kendall and his wife Kristie didn't make the trip because of ticket and travel restrictions during that odd pandemic-afflicted season, but Kendall's ears perked up when Kaimon made a tackle and one of the TV announcers quoted Tar Heel defensive line coach Tim Cross as saying Rucker "is a bowling ball of butcher knives."

"It's like a gong went off in my mind," Kendall says.

And thus "The Butcher" was born. Kendall knew that some form of Name, Image and Likeness policy was in the works that would allow college athletes to monetize their college athletic experience (it was indeed approved by the NCAA effective July 1, 2021). The Rucker family was ready with a "Ruck The Butcher" website and merchandise adorned with his silhouette, signature and jersey No. 25.

"The name fits him perfectly," Kendall says. "He's created a reputation and a style of play without having that size everyone talks about. Kaimon's faith is very important to him, and as a child his favorite story from the Bible was David and Goliath. Kaimon is like David—he's the chosen one, he's overcome challenges and overcome giants."

"Flying under the radar was frustrating at first," Kaimon admits. "Maybe I didn't pass the eye test, but why could people not look at all these other tangibles? But you have to work with what the Lord gives you. I couldn't control that I couldn't grow to be 6-4 or 6-5. I stopped getting mad that people said I was too short for my position.

"That's definitely a big part of my story. I wanted to prove what I was actually capable of."

Rucker has switched jersey numbers for his final year from 25 to 7. As a young high school player on the offensive line, he picked No. 75 because his father had worn that number during his own playing days. As an edge rusher, he cannot be 75, but the single-digit 7 is borrowed from that.

"I loved the number 7 all my life, and this is also a way to dedicate my play and my season to my dad," he says. "Without him, I wouldn't be playing this sport."

Rucker is enthused and rejuvenated with the arrival of first-year defensive coordinator Geoff Collins and is eagerly awaiting his chance to show his talents in pass-rushing situations.

"I think Coach Collins is giving us the kick-start we need," Rucker says. "He brings a lot of juice, a lot of energy. He got our attention from day one. We're going to be aggressive. Pressuring the quarterback is a big part of that. I talk about my position in terms of 'speed and space.' I'm on my own little island and like to have fun with it."

It's been a busy five months since the end of the 2023 season. Rucker has graduated with a degree in psychology and will soon embark on a Master's program. He'd had surgery to repair his right-hand middle finger after hurting it in the Clemson game last season. And he and running back Omarion Hampton both decided to come back to Carolina after being wooed by other schools with substantial NIL packages.

The Heels4Life NIL collective offered a competitive deal, and Rucker used some of his money recently to purchase backpacks and assorted grooming and toiletry items for fifth graders at his hometown school, Hartwell Elementary School.

"At that age, you're entering puberty and seeing a lot of changes to your body," Rucker says. "I wanted to talk about hygiene and puberty, how to use deodorant, lotion, cologne, hygienic products. I enjoyed talking to the kids and giving them some advice. Hopefully, they learned something to help during an important part of their growth."

Football players tend to toil in a cloak of anonymity given that fans watch from a hundred yards away and their bodies are covered with helmets, face masks and shoulder pads. But Rucker's features were laid bare along with fellow athletes from Kansas, Villanova and Duke when they were invited to sing the national anthem at the 2022 Final Four in New Orleans.

Rucker grew up in the church and began singing in the choir as a boy and has been gifted along with intelligence and athletic ability with a quality singing voice. Just moments before the Tar Heels' epic win over Duke in the semifinals, Rucker stood at center court in his navy Carolina letter jacket with a Ruck The Butcher T-shirt underneath and joined in an a cappella rendition of The Star Spangled Banner.

"The first time that I sung in public was a sixth-grade talent show," he says. "I was a nervous wreck. I felt the same way at the Final Four. That was a stressful moment. It was definitely more stressful than any game that I've played. But it was a fun moment, a great moment, an unforgettable moment."

One week later, he sung the anthem solo before the Tar Heels' spring football game, standing alone in the middle of Kenan Stadium and hitting the "rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" crescendo without a crack. There was a bit more echo and reverberation through the stadium sound system than Rucker had anticipated, but he drew deep from the diaphragm and hit all the notes perfectly.

Just another triumph for Ruck The Butcher in Kenan Stadium.

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (Carolina '79) has been writing about Tar Heel football under the "Extra Points" banner since 1990 and reporting from the sidelines on radio broadcasts since 2004. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him @LeePaceTweet.

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