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Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:11 PM CDT
Rucker still trying to catch on with Steelers
By BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
PITTSBURGH -- On one play Micah Rucker questioned the call of the official, who ruled he bobbled the football on the sideline.
On another, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ free agent rookie was just kicking himself because he could not make that spectacular catch fans saw him make the past couple of years for Eastern Illinois.
“The last play of the game it was a Hail Mary and I jumped over people and couldn’t bring it down,” Rucker said of last weekend’s preseason game against Buffalo played at Toronto. “That’s usually a pass I bring down.”
Now he is hoping for another chance or chances in Saturday’s game at Minnesota to convince the Steelers he can be an NFL wide receiver.
“They may keep anywhere from six to seven (receivers),” Rucker said. “I believe I’m in that six or seven. They may look at me as a developmental (squad) guy. That’s all right with me as long as I can keep working and learning.”
The 6-foot-6 receiver is trying to keep his pro career from ending or even being interrupted in the state Minnesota, the place his college career began before he transferred from the Big Ten Conference university to Eastern as a junior.
He has already lasted longer than some.
“Every time you see a guy get cut you have to work a little harder thinking it may be me,” Rucker said. “My whole thing is the couple of plays I wasn’t able to make. You just have to keep the faith and God will work everything out.”
Playing on punt return and kickoff special teams might also help his bid to stick with the Steelers for the regular season.
“It’s all a learning process,” Rucker said. “I haven’t played a lot of special teams but it’s just learning whom to block. The more you can do, the better chance you have. That’s why I’ve learned every receiver position.”
Practices as well as late-game chances in the preseason might determine the free agent’s fate.
“I feel like everything is going pretty well,” he said. “I’ve kind of had an up-and-down camp. I started out real well the first eight days and then had a downslide and made some mental breakdowns.”
The mental part of the camp has been the challenge for Rucker, who caught 49 passes for 996 yards and 13 touchdowns his junior season at Eastern when earning NCAA Division I-AA All-American honors and then adding 55 receptions for 777 yards and nine TDs as a senior while repeating as an Ohio Valley Conference first-team selection.
“Camp is long,” Rucker said of the NFL. “I didn’t have a problem with anything physically but mentally it’s tough. You have everything every day being evaluated: How you deal with two-a-days. And coaches yelling at you, how you deal with that. The first eight days I did pretty well and then I had some breakdowns.”
Now he is hoping to join Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Tony Romo as a former Eastern Illinois player in the NFL.
Rucker is not forgetting the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision school that was a stepping stone toward his pro opportunity.
“Let those guys know I’ll be watching them this year,” he said.
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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