Red Wolves Saturdays
Red Wolves Saturdays is a leadership-focused series hosted by Head Coach Butch Jones, offering a deep dive into the "Architecture of Excellence" required to build a modern football powerhouse. Moving beyond standard post-game analysis, Coach Jones pulls back the curtain on the professional-grade standards, NIL infrastructure, and elite systems that develop NFL-level talent at Arkansas State. This is the definitive executive-level look at how intentional leadership and community investment engineer a competitive advantage for the Red Wolves.
Red Wolves Saturdays
Small Town to NFL: The Corey Rucker Story
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He’s one of the best to ever wear No. 7 at Arkansas State, but Corey Rucker’s real impact goes deeper than receiving yards. We sit down together and walk through how a small-town kid from Mississippi became a foundational piece of Red Wolves football and a true part of the Jonesboro community. From the way people embraced him in town to the way he chose to pour back into kids through camps and local support, Corey explains why “home” can be a performance edge in college football.
We also get honest about the transfer era. Corey talks about leaving for South Carolina, realizing the fit was off even after a big touchdown, dealing with injury and surgery, and what it took to return and feel like himself again. From there, we dig into the moments that changed the trajectory of the program: the rise of Jalen Raynor, special teams sparks, and how a two-minute offense mindset became a weekly standard that shaped close-game confidence.
The memories keep rolling from bowl wins to record-breaking seasons, including the Xbox Bowl MVP trophy that looks like a blown-up “achievement unlocked.” Corey shares what he’s like off the field, too, from photography and creative media to bowling, long drives, and the playlists that keep him steady while the NFL Draft approaches. If you care about Arkansas State football, Sun Belt growth, building culture, and what it really takes to prepare for Pro Day and the next level, this one delivers.
Subscribe for more, share this with a Red Wolves fan, and leave a review with the biggest lesson you’re taking from Corey’s journey.
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0:00 Small Town Roots and Late Offers 1:22 Earning Jonesboro’s Love by Giving Back 3:09 Leaving for the SEC and the Journey Back 6:30 The Defining Moment: Jalen Rayner’s Arrival 8:31 Bowl Breakthroughs and Record-Setting Seasons 10:10 Resiliency: From 1-4 to Bowl Champions 12:24 Xbox Bowl MVP and the "Achievement" Trophy 14:17 Off the Field: Photography, Bowling, and Road Trips 20:13 The Draft Process and Training Travels 21:45 The Pitch: Why Recruits Should Choose Arkansas State 26:18 Pro Day Mindset: Running the 4.38 29:04 The NFL Pitch: Value Beyond the Ball 32:00 Leaving a Legacy in Jonesboro
Welcome And Why Corey Matters
SPEAKER_01Another great episode of Red Wilk Saturdays, and no other than Corey Rucker, one of the best wide receivers to ever play at Arkansas State University, but not just one of the best in terms of Arkansas State, one of the best in all of college football, and one of the best definitely in the Sunbelt Conference. If there's probably one player that would ever define what we want an Arkansas State football player and the path to getting there, it would be Cory Rucker. Everyone kind of knows who he is, number seven. I don't think I've ever been around a player, Corey, who has really kind of been the foundational piece of a program, but really embedded themselves in a community like you have in Jonesboro. And uh this has kind of been your home, but just kind of take us through kind of your story. We're just sitting chopping it up in the staff room uh in my office like we do every single day. By the way, I haven't had anybody bring me breakfast since you last brought me breakfast. But we'll just take it where it goes and kind of take everyone through who really don't know the Corey Rucker story out there, kind of take us through that journey.
Small Town Roots And Late Offer
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, I'm from a really small town, Bentoni, Mississippi, Yaza County. I'm the youngest of three. So I think that's kind of where I get my competitive nature from, you know, um just trying to fight with my siblings for stuff, and they're older and stronger, so they kind of get first dibs on some stuff. But um, I'd say my older cousin was what got me into football. Um, honestly just looked up to him, wanted to be like him. So when he started playing football, that's when I did. But honestly, I thought I was gonna be a hooper. Like I really wanted to play basketball, and it just wasn't for me, couldn't dribble, couldn't shoot, but I stayed on the team. You could play defense, though. Oh, yeah, I could play defense, I could out jump everybody. So I just kind of stayed on the team to stay in shape. But I think it was probably around my seventh grade year was kind of when I realized I had a decent shot to be good at football. I say as I got older, I started to gain more confidence and just started to run with it. Wasn't highly recruited. I was committed to South Alabama and the coach got fired after, I guess, what was a terrible season. So I kind of reopened my recruitment and Arkansas State came on the table late. I came on a visit and I just said, what the heck, and just took a chance and ran with it. You know, honestly, that's what led me to being here now.
Earning Jonesboro Love By Giving Back
SPEAKER_01What kind of led you to an affinity for Jonesboro in this community?
SPEAKER_00I'd probably say just uh the way they embraced me. You know, I like to kind of float under the radar and just go undetected. But, you know, just having like just small talk with certain people, you know, just sitting in a restaurant and just start to see how much they actually value and appreciate you. And I'd say one thing I wanted to do was kind of pour back into the community the things that I didn't have because I'm from a really small town. So we didn't get football players coming to our school, you know, on random days. So I try to make sure I give kids that because that's not something that I had.
SPEAKER_01Well, you've done a great job with that. And I do want to extend an invite to our youth camp for you to be a guest coach because everybody in the community obviously would come out to be coached by you.
Leaving For The SEC Then Returning
SPEAKER_01But when you really look at your journey as a Red Wolf, you know, you're here a couple years, coaching change. We come in, you play, you have a great year, you decide, hey, I'm gonna take my talents. It's kind of the new way of the world, so to speak. You're gonna go to an SEC program, and then you venture your way back to Arkansas State in Jonesboro. And if you really think about it, that's when our program really started to change. The culture, the mindset. So kind of take us through that journey, uh, journey of you know, going outside of Arkansas State, why you came back, and then, you know, how does it feel to be a part of something? You know, we always talk about, you know, once you're here, have you enhanced our culture? And obviously you've done that, but really you were part of the foundational building of it. And then really, once you leave to be a two-time bowl champion, to have those bull championship rings, all those great memories. We'll talk about that later on in the podcast, but kind of take us through that journey as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So, um, like you say, it's kind of like the new way of the world in college football with the whole transfer portal. So I end up deciding to go to South Carolina, and I think I knew early on that I made a mistake. And but wasn't your first catch a 52-yard touchdown pass? It was, it was. So I will say I scored every time I touched the ball there, but I knew early on that it probably wasn't the place for me and that I wanted to be back in Jones. But like you said, you talked about the community. Uh I didn't have that community there, and I knew that's something I needed. And I remember just texting you and telling, like, coach, like, honestly, I want to come back. And, you know, we had a conversation about it.
SPEAKER_01And that was different though, because that really wasn't the portal era. That was just the transfer era. You know, when you look at when we came in, you talk about as a staff going through the changes of college football. When we came here, there was no transfer portal. Right. And, you know, you still had the transfer rules of sitting out. Then it went to uh if you got your if you earned your degree and with the grad students, and then the ability to transfer, but you have to sit out, then non-sitting out, and so all the things. So really early on, it wasn't the portal era, but the transfer era was just getting into play. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But um obviously I I had an injury there that I ended up having to have surgery, so it um forced me to miss a great deal of the uh season. But end up coming back and you know, just getting back on track. Um I guess I went almost a full year without like really playing football. So most of that journey was just trying to, I guess, get comfortable and feel like myself again. And like you said, like we end up getting things rolling, and like I'd say one thing that was so rewarding to be a part of that foundation, and then to look on the other side and see, you know, the product come from it. We talked about it so much, you know, being um process driven and not, you know, looking at the outcome, you know, just to finally see it come full circumfluition, it was everything you really could ask for.
The Turning Point Game And QB Trust
SPEAKER_01So when you sit back and you think about your career and you think about the season after you came back, um, and that's when we clinched bowl eligibility and not been done in a number of years, is there a defining game or a defining moment three years ago that you look at that really kind of changed the trajectory of our program?
SPEAKER_00I think honestly, it was the the introduction of Jalen Rayner. You know, when he came in and Southern missed. Southern miss. When he played the way he played, you know, we had it was a really close game, and it things went back and forth. But I think we had a big time special team play by Rhee Lender. He blocks a punt, and then Jalen Rayner comes out and have the game that he got that he had. And, you know, he's like, okay, we got our guy, quarterback, things are trending in the right direction. I think that was kind of the defining moment in our program.
SPEAKER_01I'll never forget that locker room celebration, and it was actually our defensive players that hoisted Jalen on their shoulders. And when I watched that occur, I'm like, ooh, he has the team. Because they always say that, you know, the team will pick who the starting quarterback is. And then you look at really, you know, that season. And so then you have that season. Uh, bowl game didn't go the way we wanted to, came up short, but then we go into the following season. Was there a game that you can pick that kind of defined that season?
SPEAKER_00I'd say the probably the South Alabama game, you know, we end up winning that game by two. And I think it's I think we probably had like, what was it, six or seven games that would uh determine like in the final minute? But I say like that game kind of set the pace for what that year was going to be, especially in our run through conference, you know, and we kind of found our edge and it was our two-minute offense. And we knew like once we got on there and two minutes we had a shot, we had all the confidence, and we knew like, okay, we about to go win it. And it kind of became a standard in practice.
SPEAKER_01Oh, 1000%. Every Thursday we do two-minute drive, and you know, if we didn't score, we were upset. And uh, but it became kind of a a mentality, you know. You go back to the first game of the year, UCA, and having to go 90 yards in less than a minute, right? And uh you make the great diving catch in the end zone there. Everything's everything happens for a reason. Right. And then, you know, you go through that season, okay. So then let's fast forward to you talked about uh the Southern Mist
Bowl Breakthroughs And Record-Setting Seasons
SPEAKER_01game. Now they all kind of go together, but let's talk about the following year when we were able to go to Mobile for a bowl game in the Ventures Bowl and play a really, really talented bowling green team. I think they were probably the most talented group of six program that we had played, and we have a tremendous bowl victory. Um, kind of take us through the memories that you have from that season.
SPEAKER_00I that season was great to me in a lot of ways because that's the first time since I was here that we had a winning record in a year. Um, obviously, like just some personal stuff. I broke the school receiving record. So that was big for me that year. And then to go into that bowl game and just kind of have that's the first time I hit a thousand yards in a season. So big touchdown catch. Oh, yeah. Two of them. It was the that first touchdown was the longest offensive play we had that year. So that season did a lot of good for me, you know, on a personal level, achieving some stuff, but it was also the first championship I've ever won in my life. So, I mean, I can't say enough about that season and what it meant to me.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so let's fast forward now to your senior year. When you think about last year, uh Xbox Bowl champions, being in Frisco, um, starting the season one and four only program in all of college football that started one and four, not only go to a bowl game, but win a bowl game. I think that speaks obviously of the culture, the expectations, uh, the standard, whatever you want to term it or deem it, it's pretty special. And I know when you get this bowl championship ring, that ring will mean everything to you because of their perseverance, the resolve, the resiliency this season. But when you look back at last season, what memories come to your mind?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, I would say it sucked, but the bus ride home after Monroe, you know, we talked about how much was on the line with that game. Was it 15 years straight? Yeah. We we beat Monroe. So to drop that game to them. And I remember we kind of sitting on the bus and we were like, we're on a four-game losing streak. So we're talking to each other, just trying to figure out where do we go from here? What does the future look like for us? And, you know, me, Jalen, and Chauncey, we kind of sat there and Jalen was like, you know, now we we put our head down, we go back to work, and we go on a run. And I think everybody had a mentality coming to that practice because I think we were able to accept some of the losses we had because we were supposed to lose to Iowa State or Arkansas, but I think we were disappointed with Kennesaw, and then you double that down with ULM, and it's like, all right, what do we have to do differently? And Jalen has tremendous leadership skills, and I think he did a good job at bringing everybody together. And we had an offensive meeting and we talked about what are we going to do differently, who's going to bring what to the table, and we started to hold each other accountable more. And you see it flip instantly when we bring Texas State here. We beat them by one point in the last minutes of the game, and I think that kind of ignited us to go on the run that we went on.
SPEAKER_01Pretty special season. And uh it has to be defined by special people. And then talk about kind of going to Frisco, Texas, and your experience at the Xbox Bowl and kind of your memories from that.
Xbox Bowl MVP And Trophy Story
SPEAKER_00I think probably the biggest thing was me and you sat in a meeting before our first practice, and you told me that I better go have a good practice. And I think honestly, that conversation set some things in motion where I think I probably had the best practice of my career that day. And, you know, everything felt fluid. I caught the ball, looked it to the tuck, and I think I translated all those things over into the game. And, you know, we came out early, and I we didn't know what we were going to get from them, but they didn't roll coverage, which was beautiful for me. I loved it. And that first pass that I caught, um, the touchdown pass on the stutter, put me over 4,000 career receiving yards and also gave me the touchdown record to myself. So that's probably one of the greatest plays in the history of my career that I'll take with me forever and then to double down and win it and also win offensive MVP. I mean, that's probably one of my best games I'll probably put up there.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm reminiscing and I'm remembering you holding up the MVP trophy, which was different. Yes, sir. Um, only MVP trophy of its kind in the country. So where is that trophy and what did it mean for you to go out being a game, a bowl game MVP?
SPEAKER_00Uh that trofe. So my mom has this um explain to everyone what it is. Okay, so if you grew up playing Xbox 360 and you like do something big in a game, you get the achievement unlocked. So basically they blew that up into a trophy and they gave it to they gave one to the offensive MVP and then one to the defensive MVP. Yeah, so my mom has that sitting in a um a case that she has that's full of like all my accomplishment, the rings that I've I've gotten here, and um just like different trophies and stuff I got. My my diplomas are in there, so she got a really nice chef going on.
Photography Bowling And The Joy Of Drives
SPEAKER_01To loving to drive. I don't think I've ever met anybody who just loves to get in the car and explore. Kind of take us through, you know, what's Corey Rucker off the field? What are you about when it comes to your hobbies and interests?
SPEAKER_00I so the biggest one that everybody knows is the photography. And that's something that I got into when I transferred to Carolina. You know, it was a time where I guess I kind of felt lost within myself, didn't really know, you know, who I was in this new season of life. So, you know, I just kind of went and bought a camera. Like you said, I like to drive. So I would drive around the city and I would be like, okay, Carolina is actually pretty pretty, like it's beautiful. So I went and bought a camera and I would take pictures and I posted them on Twitter one day, and people started to be like, you're really good at this. But I didn't know what I was doing. I'm just taking pictures. So that's when I started to take it serious. And I got in with their um creative media department, and they started to teach me some things, and that pushed me into like taking sports photos. So I started showing up to the different sports organizations, taking pictures for them. So I kind of took it and ran with it. Now it's something that I absolutely love. And like once I'm done with ball, that's kind of the path I want to go down. It's with photography. And then another thing, too, is the bowling. Yeah, I forgot that. Yeah, we had the receiver Impressive. How many bowling balls do you have? I have four. How many pairs of shoes? I only got one pair of shoes, but it got the interchangeable slides. So technically, I probably got like five pairs of shoes when you change the slides on it. So, what's an what's a good bowling score for you? For me, a good score would probably be like 230, but my best score that I have is 264. So anybody that can score like right around 180 to 200, you're above average. And it's like once you get, I'd say above 150, it's hard to keep climbing, you know, getting those pins. So, bro, it's it's something that I kind of like me and you talked about it one day. You know, you get to go out there, you can go by yourself, and you get to see your progress. And I think that was like so rewarding about bowling and why I love to do it so much, because I could see myself get better game by game or frame by frame. And, you know, I always say shout out to T Hunt because that's who taught me how to bowl. You know, we bring the recruits to the social and bowl. And I was terrible at it, and I didn't like that I was the worst one. So T Hunt taught me how to bowl, and it's something that I kind of focused on to perfected my craft with. So I love bowling forever. So when's the last time you bowled? I would say I actually went bowling about two months ago during my um my NFL pro day trainer. I went bowling one day just to kind of get my mind off of things in the last. Oh yeah, I still got it. It took it took me about two or three frames to get get back uh right, but oh yeah, I still got it.
SPEAKER_01All right. So when you're driving, are you listening to music? Do you ever just randomly stop at, you know, maybe country stores or uh diners or anything like what goes through your mind when you're driving?
SPEAKER_00I think a lot of it depends on my destination or where I'm going. If I got a long drive, you know, I probably won't listen to music at all. You know, just kind of look out the window and see, especially if I'm driving through a new area, there's no music, it's just me trying to see what's around. Like you said, like if I see a story that looks interesting or intriguing, I'm gonna stop. You know, um, like different restaurants, I'm like, that's unique. I never say nothing like that before. I'll stop, you know, go to like different antique shops. But a lot of times, like if it's just a like a late night drive, find me a good playlist, you know, just ride around and kind of enjoy. Okay, what's on that playlist? I mean, I love country music. You know, Cody Johnson's probably my number one. I love listening to some Kojo, him, Morgan Walling, and recently Ella Langley's been a big one.
SPEAKER_01Okay. What's the longest road trip you've ever taken?
SPEAKER_00Longest road trip. Probably um my drive between here and South Carolina is right around nine and a half hours.
SPEAKER_01How long do you usually go without taking a stop?
SPEAKER_00Um depends on like how bad I really want to get somewhere. Really, just once that tank dropped down to E. So I'd say probably right around four and a half, five hours.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you're gonna take a long road trip. If you could pick one individual, anyone, to take a ride with you, who would it be?
SPEAKER_00I'd tell you who it's not gonna be, first of all, is Chauncey Cobb. Because anytime we ride somewhere together, he goes to sleep. So I ain't taking Chuck with me. But if I could pick one person, honestly, I'd probably take D Lette because he got a really he got a really good personality and he always makes me laugh. And I think we could just sit there, we got really good rapport, and we could just sit in there and have some good talks and some good laughs. And I know we also listen to some of the same kind of soul music, so we can sit in there and vibe on some music too. Okay. How about anyone in the world? Anyone in the world. That's a good one. Past or present? Matter of fact, I'm taking a deal. I just want her to sing to me. And I love her accent. So yeah, I I have to take a deal.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And you probably make some detours so you can keep the make the drive as long as it can.
SPEAKER_00As long as it can. Oh yeah. Might actually drive by five under the speed limit. Oh yeah. Are you a speeder? Depends on how bad I want to get somewhere. I think I I set my cruise control usually about five above whatever the speed limit is. I'm then okay. You're okay. But if it's some if it's a decent amount of um like heavy flowing traffic, my foot can get heavy. I can get up there with the best. Understand. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, now let's switch. What have you been doing the last month or two and what's next for you?
SPEAKER_00So the last month just kind of been a mix of, you know, working out, staying in shape, and then two, you know, a lot of that traveling, like we were just talking about. Um, I know it's kind of like the last time I would be, I guess, quote unquote, a kid, and you know, kind of have like this freedom. So I'm trying to soak it up a little bit and just see some things while I can, still young. And then on top of that, just balancing that with, you know, staying in shape and working out. So I've been splitting time between here at home and everywhere else in the country, just kind of relax, have fun, you know, just kind of ease my mind before um the draft starts tomorrow. Well, you've been all over.
SPEAKER_01You've been to Arizona, you've been to Nashville recently.
SPEAKER_00Anywhere else you've been? Um, I've been up to Omaha. I was down in Pensacola not too long ago. So Florida. Naturally, that brings me through Alabama, stop through there, um, Bavon Rouge, Louisiana. So, yeah, a little bit everywhere.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Favorite destination place Hilton Head, South Carolina. Okay. Next trip planned. You're kind of a spur of the moment.
SPEAKER_00I I am very spontaneous, so I could just I could wake up tomorrow and decide I want to go somewhere and go there, but I say the next planned trip. Probably whoever drafts me.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's coming soon. Yes, it is. All right, so we're gonna again continue to switch gears.
Why Recruits Should Choose Arkansas State
SPEAKER_01I'm a recruit.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01I I'm asking you as a now a former player, which is hard to believe, why are Arkansas State. Why should I come to Arkansas State? What's Arkansas State all about?
SPEAKER_00I think just first and foremost, aside of football, do you want to be around great people? You know, I think the building is a place where, you know, you can spend so much time there and be around either the top floor, bottom floor, training room, equipment room. You can be around good people, good vibes, you know, kind of uplift your spirit. And then two, do you want your development to just be football or do you want development on and off the field? And I think that's probably one of the things I appreciate the most about, you know, the time I had in your program was how much we talked about just us as people and not just football players. I think it's one of the first times in my career where I felt like I was more than a football player. You know, I come in your office and we talk for hours and it would never be about football.
SPEAKER_01Or you'd sleep in my office, eat all my candy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, ain't a lot of head coaches you can just come steal their candy and sleep on their couch. So I think um the biggest thing too is just like how available you are. You know, a lot of times like you have to make reservations to meet with your coach, but you got an open door policy. You know, people can come and go as they please to talk to you. I think that's a big thing. And then, too, like you said, you've been around a long time, you've seen a lot, so you know what good football is and how to get a program up and running, how it's supposed to be. So I tell a recruit, you know, you got one of the best people to be around in you. Um, obviously, when you pick your staff, you do a very deep dive on them and you want to make sure they're the right fit for your culture, not only for you as a coach, but for the players. And then I say number three, you're gonna be in a spot, you got a really good community around you. You know, you're not gonna run into a lot of trouble here in Jonesboro. So I think that's one thing I would tell a recruit.
SPEAKER_01If you could pick the perfect start time of game day, what would it be?
SPEAKER_00Man, I would want to be I'd say like a 3, 3:30. Okay. Yeah. You know, morning don't get going too, too quick. And then also there's not a lot of sitting around before the game. Because I hate sitting around. I'll be ready to go as soon as I wake up. Left foot down, right foot down, right foot down, gonna be a great day.
SPEAKER_01Gonna be a great day. You know, I I I go back, you know, we talked about last year. I look about, I think about often, you know, going to app state, and I think about the mentality of having to go on the road, win a game, to go to a bowl game, the challenge that it would be, obviously the elements of mid-20 degrees, and I'll never forget that game day. And we're doing the walkthrough and you know, of all the stories, and and I knew we were gonna win based on our approach of the walkthrough. Everyone's got their shirts off to kind of embrace the cold, um, you know, go there and and the way it ended, and that locker room celebration, that fields celebration, and then that plane ride home as a player and you as a senior, knowing that now you had one more game left in your A-state career, what was kind of going through your mind a little bit?
SPEAKER_00I think you we we hit on it another time we talked, and we talked about, you know, leaving a legacy. And we knew, you know, we were on the ropes, we talked about how up and down that season was, how it started. And, you know, it's just like, how do you want to be remembered? You always said that. And, you know, I think we came together as a team and we was like, this isn't it for us. Like, there's another opportunity on the other side of this game. And we knew that they have a great home field advantage. We like their record at home is something sane. And we knew it would be a challenge, and they weren't just gonna give it to us and we're gonna have to go fight for it. But I think most of all, it was just like our belief in the game plan going into that game. And like you said, we embraced it. We always said make harder to our advantage. And I think their coach said something about, you know, when we came out with no sleeves on, it was intimidating, and that was, you know, just like certain factors like that. But I think it was everything to know that winning that game gave us another opportunity, you know, to finish off the season and make it something special.
SPEAKER_01And to be able to leave your legacy in terms of all the accolades, all the accomplishments that a lot of them will probably be etched in stone here for a long time. But also to be a two-time bowl champion. You know, if you really think about it, what a great memory to end your career on. You know, we talked about the touchdown catch uh in the Xbox Bowl, the MVP award. Um, now let's go to uh Pro Day 43840.
Pro Day Mindset And NFL Pitch
SPEAKER_01Um your preparation leading into that, your mindset going into knowing that this is your opportunity, but you got to run well, you got to perform well. It's like game day for you, but really it's career day for you because how you perform is really gonna, you know, really kind of place where you go uh in the opportunity that you get. So kind of take me through kind of your thought process on that day in your preparation.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So a lot of my preparation early on, I told the guy that I trained with, I was like, I'm gonna run 4-3. And a lot of that stemmed from I knew how fast I was, but that was a big question mark for a lot of teams. They want, they really wanted to know how fast am I truly. So I told them, I was like, the one thing, if I can focus on one thing, it's getting that four three. So I spent a lot of time perfecting my start because I did a couple flying tens and a guy was training. He was like, okay, yeah, you can roll. So nothing, everything you run in your 40 is going to be based on your start. So I spent a lot of time perfecting my start, really going through that. And also PR and speed while I was training, but I knew if I could get a good start, everything else would take care of itself. When you ran, did you feel the start? Um, on the first one, I felt myself mess up my start. And I think, like I talked to you that morning, you said it was a 4-4. It was a 4-4-2. Yep. And we talked that morning, and you said, don't let the moment be bigger than what it is. It's just another run. And I knew I messed up when I did that run, so I came back from my second. A lot of people would like to mess up and run a 4-4-2. Yeah, so I knew I I knew um I knew what I had to do going into my second run to make that happen. And I just trusted my training. We always talk about, you know, and in the heat of battle, you revert to your habits. And it's something I had trained over and over and kept working. So, you know, I got back to it, got on the right track and ran at 4-3 and, you know, kind of prove what I wanted to prove for the biggest question mark the teams have for me. And then obviously just going through routes, you know, it's just routes on there. You know, we do that every day in individuals. So just another opportunity to go out, run a good route, and catch a good ball.
SPEAKER_01So if you were to sell an NFL team on the services of Corey Rucker and what you would bring to, you know, a franchise, right? What would you sell them on? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00See if we're on the same page. Funny you asked me that because I got to tell a receiver coach earlier today what I bring to the table. And I told him first and foremost who he's getting off the field. When I come into the building, you know, I'm always coming to the building, bringing good vibes. I know every single face in the building, also know their names, you know, making them feel seen and heard. Like the people that, you know, kind of float under the radar, don't really get appreciated, you know, making sure they feel seen and heard. And then once we get into our room, my ability to learn as quickly as I can. I know all three spots on the field. And then I think I just got like some freakish ability when it comes, like especially once I get the ball into my hand. And I told him also you're getting a guy that not only wants to make the building better, but the community around him. What do you do well on the field? What's your personal brand? Honestly I think it's how hard I play, my competitive nature, and then just my ability to make people miss once I get the ball in my ass.
SPEAKER_01Don't forget the important value of playing without the ball. Oh, yeah. And that's something that you improve greatly. I think from where you started to where you ended, you valued playing without the football. And, you know, you're a bigger bodied receiver, which is a commodity in the National Football League. So when you look at your size, your twitch, all that, but also your unselfishness of terms of blocking in the run game, I think that's what's also going to serve you uh really well. And then you always get the lecture, obviously, on special teams as well. You know, whatever that organization needs. Um, any bizarre questions through the interview processes that you've been through and the zooms and the FaceTimes that maybe kind of caught you off guard at all?
SPEAKER_00Um, not really. Nobody has really, you know, asked anything crazy. I think probably just the one thing was talking to teams at Pro Day and they were trying to figure out, you know, why I didn't have the special teams reps. And I told them basically just because of the role that I was put into, you know, it it wasn't a lot of room for it. But I think they were just really trying to, I guess, get me to say the wrong thing, trying to catch me slipping. But that was probably like the one bizarre thing was once I told them, you know, playing, because our offense is we go fast and we play a lot of plays. And I told them I'm averaging around 80 snaps a game. You know, it's hard to fit special teams into that. But, you know, obviously I sit in the meetings, I speak the language, know the technique. So I told them, like, obviously, I can I could put, I could be in any position, you know, and get it done.
SPEAKER_01Kind of closing up, you know, we talk about the opportunity to leave a legacy.
Legacy Beyond Football And Farewell
SPEAKER_01You've been able to do that at A-State. If there's a couple things that you would want the Arkansas State family, the community to remember you by, what would it be?
SPEAKER_00Um, nothing that I did on the field. Just the the time I took with the kids at the kids' camp, um, going to the different sports organization games. Like that was one thing I was big on, trying to support our other teams. So I'd say, honestly, just the time I took to really get invested into this community, you know, live like a local. You know, like a lot of the new people, you know, that have come into the program and they say, Oh, I thought you were from Jonesboro. So I'd say, you know, don't remember me for anything I did on the field, but just for the time I took to try to make this community better.
SPEAKER_01Well, remember when your football career is over, I will hire you in some form or fashion. Yes, sir. Um, and I hope that the people of Jonesboro appreciate you so much because again, I've never been part of a player who's poured themselves into a community, a campus community, an entire community like you have. And I know they view you as one of their own. And uh it'll be great to have you at the spring game. It'll really be fun to follow the progression of your career. And I know you're gonna be successful in any program you go, any team you go, but also once football's done, your career and another career is beginning as well. And look forward to being there with you. So hope everyone enjoyed the podcast. Remember, you can find us on at Arkansas State Media Network, and we look forward to many, many, many more of these to come. But hope you enjoy because Corey Rucker, number seven, um, future ring of honor uh inductee, I think, when he becomes age 30. So we got a little time to go with that. Um, but appreciate everyone joining in and look forward to seeing you in the next episode. Will stop.