Pitt Gorilla
08-27-2006, 02:03 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/colleges/university_of_missouri/15345926.htm
Breaking with tradition
Rucker and Coffman spurned their family legacies for tandem success as Tigers.
By MIKE DeARMOND
The Kansas City Star
JIM BARCUS | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Mizzou tight ends Chase Coffman (left) and Martin Rucker each had 47-catch seasons a year ago, leading the Tigers to a 7-5 record.
COLUMBIA | In the minds of many Nebraska football fans, Martin Rucker was a cinch to be a Cornhusker. And Kansas State fans were even more certain that Chase Coffman would be a Wildcat.
Rucker’s brother Mike, after all, had been a Nebraska star defensive end. And Coffman’s father, Paul, had been a standout tight end at K-State. Both had gone on to nice NFL careers. And so it would go — a couple of fraternity legacies choosing the familial path.
Except that first Rucker, then Coffman, decided to take up the cause of Missouri — not Nebraska or Kansas State — football.
Coffman remembers how everyone expected him to go directly from Ray-Pec High in suburban Kansas City to K-State.
“Yeah,” he said, “you’d see something in the newspaper. But you just have to put that behind you. What would be best for you? Not let anybody else make that decision, because you’re going to be the one living that for the next four or five years.”
That, ultimately, is the simple tale of how Rucker and Coffman — T. Ruck a junior now and Coffman a sophomore — wound up as arguably the best tight-end tandem in the Big 12 Conference and perhaps the nation.
For Missouri.
Each one-time freshman All-Americans, each coming off 47-catch seasons a year ago, Rucker and Coffman have drawn national attention.
Coffman, the country kid from Peculiar, and Rucker, the urban star from St. Joseph, are members of the Mackey Award preseason watch list.
Only 30 players have made the roster from which the nation’s best tight end will be selected. Only two other schools — BYU and Arizona State — have two players listed. Only two other Big 12 schools have even one player: Nebraska senior Matt Herian and Texas A&M sophomore Martellus Bennett.
The media covering the Big 12 have selected Rucker as the league’s preseason pick to win all-conference honors. But Coffman is rated slightly higher by College Football News; the No. 4 tight end in the nation to Rucker’s No. 6 rating.
But how exactly did Missouri really wind up with both of these stars?
MU coach Gary Pinkel points to assistant Andy Hill.
“Andy Hill recruited them, and he’s done an excellent job in Kansas City (and western Missouri),” Pinkel said.
In Rucker’s case, Hill pointed out that Missouri was planning to throw to its tight ends, wide receivers, running backs and anybody else who could catch a football.
It didn’t exactly start out that way, with Brad Smith’s running ability representing the first (and sometimes second and third) option when Rucker debuted as a redshirt freshman in 2004.
Rucker finished that season with only 19 receptions for 263 yards, although he had four touchdowns.
Still, Rucker believed in the recruiting promise that had been made to him.
“They said if I came there, they’d give me the ball,” Rucker said. “And they promised me they’d always have a quarterback to give me the ball.”
Smith proved more adept at that in his senior year. And now Rucker’s voice rings with the certainty of someone confident in the choice he made.
“They came through with their end,” Rucker explained. “Now I’m trying to come through with mine.”
Nebraska, of course, is now passing the ball all over the place. It is the offense of choice under coach Bill Callahan. But when Rucker was getting recruiting visits from the staff of former Nebraska coach Frank Solich, that was far from the case.
“I didn’t go there because they were running the option,” Rucker said. “When I came out of high school, I definitely was not big enough to be a blocking tight end for a strictly option.”
Mike Rucker tried to sway his younger brother, at least at first.
“In the end, he said that was the right decision for me, to go to Missouri,” Rucker said. “He had to throw in his ‘Go to Nebraska’ just because he went to Nebraska. But he told me in the end it was the right decision.”
Martin Rucker Sr., the namesake of the kid that Tiger teammates call T, had a basement shrine to Mike Rucker’s exploits at Nebraska long before his younger son decided to go to Mizzou.
Game by game, it seems, more black and gold is added to balance out the red and white as the family has moved into a new house.
“We’re building up,” Papa Rucker said. “We’re looking forward to recognizing him just like we recognized the other one.”
There is no favorite son in the Rucker household, merely two.
And perhaps even three, as the Ruckers have welcomed Coffman to the family and can’t wait until they see T. Ruck and Chase on the field at the same time often this coming season.
“I’m not going to try to tell anybody how to coach,” Martin Rucker Sr. said. “But I think it’s a no-brainer.”
Coffman’s signing with Missouri didn’t have so much to do with the type of offense that Kansas State might or might not run. In fact, Coffman contended he thought he might fit in just fine at Kansas State, if not in Manhattan, Kan.
“It was just the overall atmosphere down here,” Coffman said of Columbia. “I liked the town better.”
But the fact that Chase Daniel, a pass-first quarterback out of Southlake Carroll in Texas, was coming on board at MU did enter into Chase Coffman’s decision to become a Tiger.
“They had put a new offense in that would help me,” he said. “I’m like a wide receiver in this offense. That’s what I was in high school, and I liked that a lot better.”
Pinkel saw Coffman’s signing as a way to load the pipeline at tight end. Even Coffman said he didn’t expect to play as a true freshman.
“I was just planning on working hard and hoping I could make the travel roster,” Coffman said. “After we started practicing and everything, I got it into my head that maybe I could help out and make some things happen.”
Pinkel made the decision not to redshirt Coffman early in August of 2005.
“Going through two-a-days, the guy keeps showing up, making plays,” Pinkel said. “You keep saying, ‘This guy’s pretty good. This guy’s pretty good!’
“I called Chase in and I said, ‘You know, T. Ruck is here.’
“But I said, ‘We can do things with two tight ends,’ and I would suggest as a tight end at this level, he played as well as you could expect a first-year player to play.”
That helped offset the carping, particularly in Kansas City, that Coffman would regret choosing Missouri over Kansas State, where his father had played.
Paul Coffman particularly heard from former K-State star quarterback Lynn Dickey, if not personally then on the radio, where Dickey was a frequent and vocal guest on sports talk shows.
“He’s shut up,” Paul Coffman said, laughing.
Carson Coffman, Chase’s younger brother and a quarterback, signed with Kansas State and is on the roster as a true freshman heading into the coming season. Originally scheduled to be a greyshirt the first semester, Carson isn’t expected to play this season for the Wildcats.
Chase, of course, is expected to be a shining star at Mizzou again.
Coffman was held without a reception in only one game of Missouri’s 7-5 season. That came against Nebraska. Coincidentally, Rucker caught only one pass for 6 yards against the Cornhuskers. Missouri won anyway, 41-24.
Both Rucker and Coffman stood out against Kansas State. Rucker caught eight passes for 102 yards and a touchdown. Coffman caught six passes for 88 yards and a TD. Missouri lost anyway, 36-28.
Memories of that game still bring a look of disgust to Rucker’s face.
“We were winning the Kansas State game by a lot,” Rucker said. “And we just gave that up. I hate that. I hate that feeling. It’s time to do it right and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Such outcomes have produced taunts by a few Nebraska or Kansas State fans.
“My cousins,” Coffman said. “They’ve been to a couple of games and have heard some things and told me. But those people don’t really say it to my face that much.”
Rucker had a different experience as a freshman when Missouri played at Nebraska.
“Not really their coaches or anything,” Rucker said. “But the sideline, you hear some things. ‘You should have been a Husker, Rucker.’ Or, ‘Bet you wish you were a Husker now.’ ”
One of the best combined games for the tight-end tandem last season was the most recent, the 38-31 victory over South Carolina in the Independence Bowl.
Coffman caught eight passes for 99 yards and a touchdown, lifting high into the air for a stretch catch. Rucker caught five passes for 83 yards and at one point — with Missouri down 21-0 — screamed at teammates that he wasn’t giving up and that if they needed to follow someone to victory, they could follow him.
Said running back Tony Temple: “In the middle of this he said, ‘I’m going to play hard. I’m going to ride. You guys want to come with me?! Come with me!’ ”
Coffman isn’t yet the vocal leader that Rucker is.
“I try to lead by example, by working hard and making plays,” Coffman said.
If all goes well, Rucker might be a high selection in next year’s NFL draft, a subject he parries with a wink and a smile.
“I’ve still got two years left in college,” Rucker said. “We’ll see.”
Coffman doesn’t scoff at the possibility of Rucker passing up his final season of collegiate eligibility. However, Coffman said he hopes that doesn’t happen.
“I think he’ll have a chance, but I’d like him to stay,” Coffman said. “It would help the team out. It would also help me out a lot, too.”
You can’t draw Coffman or Rucker into any sort of discussion of which one is the better tight end. One plays Alphonse to the other’s Gaston. After you, my friend. No, you first, mon ami.
After Missouri’s 2006 spring football scrimmage finale, Rucker said of Coffman: “Hopefully, I’ll be like him one day when I grow up.”
Before the start of 2006 fall drills, Coffman returned the compliment.
“Martin Rucker,” Coffman said. “He’s bigger and stronger and faster. He’s played longer than I have. Hopefully, I’ll be as good as him someday.”
And both will forever be Tigers, not Cornhuskers or Wildcats.
Breaking with tradition
Rucker and Coffman spurned their family legacies for tandem success as Tigers.
By MIKE DeARMOND
The Kansas City Star
JIM BARCUS | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Mizzou tight ends Chase Coffman (left) and Martin Rucker each had 47-catch seasons a year ago, leading the Tigers to a 7-5 record.
COLUMBIA | In the minds of many Nebraska football fans, Martin Rucker was a cinch to be a Cornhusker. And Kansas State fans were even more certain that Chase Coffman would be a Wildcat.
Rucker’s brother Mike, after all, had been a Nebraska star defensive end. And Coffman’s father, Paul, had been a standout tight end at K-State. Both had gone on to nice NFL careers. And so it would go — a couple of fraternity legacies choosing the familial path.
Except that first Rucker, then Coffman, decided to take up the cause of Missouri — not Nebraska or Kansas State — football.
Coffman remembers how everyone expected him to go directly from Ray-Pec High in suburban Kansas City to K-State.
“Yeah,” he said, “you’d see something in the newspaper. But you just have to put that behind you. What would be best for you? Not let anybody else make that decision, because you’re going to be the one living that for the next four or five years.”
That, ultimately, is the simple tale of how Rucker and Coffman — T. Ruck a junior now and Coffman a sophomore — wound up as arguably the best tight-end tandem in the Big 12 Conference and perhaps the nation.
For Missouri.
Each one-time freshman All-Americans, each coming off 47-catch seasons a year ago, Rucker and Coffman have drawn national attention.
Coffman, the country kid from Peculiar, and Rucker, the urban star from St. Joseph, are members of the Mackey Award preseason watch list.
Only 30 players have made the roster from which the nation’s best tight end will be selected. Only two other schools — BYU and Arizona State — have two players listed. Only two other Big 12 schools have even one player: Nebraska senior Matt Herian and Texas A&M sophomore Martellus Bennett.
The media covering the Big 12 have selected Rucker as the league’s preseason pick to win all-conference honors. But Coffman is rated slightly higher by College Football News; the No. 4 tight end in the nation to Rucker’s No. 6 rating.
But how exactly did Missouri really wind up with both of these stars?
MU coach Gary Pinkel points to assistant Andy Hill.
“Andy Hill recruited them, and he’s done an excellent job in Kansas City (and western Missouri),” Pinkel said.
In Rucker’s case, Hill pointed out that Missouri was planning to throw to its tight ends, wide receivers, running backs and anybody else who could catch a football.
It didn’t exactly start out that way, with Brad Smith’s running ability representing the first (and sometimes second and third) option when Rucker debuted as a redshirt freshman in 2004.
Rucker finished that season with only 19 receptions for 263 yards, although he had four touchdowns.
Still, Rucker believed in the recruiting promise that had been made to him.
“They said if I came there, they’d give me the ball,” Rucker said. “And they promised me they’d always have a quarterback to give me the ball.”
Smith proved more adept at that in his senior year. And now Rucker’s voice rings with the certainty of someone confident in the choice he made.
“They came through with their end,” Rucker explained. “Now I’m trying to come through with mine.”
Nebraska, of course, is now passing the ball all over the place. It is the offense of choice under coach Bill Callahan. But when Rucker was getting recruiting visits from the staff of former Nebraska coach Frank Solich, that was far from the case.
“I didn’t go there because they were running the option,” Rucker said. “When I came out of high school, I definitely was not big enough to be a blocking tight end for a strictly option.”
Mike Rucker tried to sway his younger brother, at least at first.
“In the end, he said that was the right decision for me, to go to Missouri,” Rucker said. “He had to throw in his ‘Go to Nebraska’ just because he went to Nebraska. But he told me in the end it was the right decision.”
Martin Rucker Sr., the namesake of the kid that Tiger teammates call T, had a basement shrine to Mike Rucker’s exploits at Nebraska long before his younger son decided to go to Mizzou.
Game by game, it seems, more black and gold is added to balance out the red and white as the family has moved into a new house.
“We’re building up,” Papa Rucker said. “We’re looking forward to recognizing him just like we recognized the other one.”
There is no favorite son in the Rucker household, merely two.
And perhaps even three, as the Ruckers have welcomed Coffman to the family and can’t wait until they see T. Ruck and Chase on the field at the same time often this coming season.
“I’m not going to try to tell anybody how to coach,” Martin Rucker Sr. said. “But I think it’s a no-brainer.”
Coffman’s signing with Missouri didn’t have so much to do with the type of offense that Kansas State might or might not run. In fact, Coffman contended he thought he might fit in just fine at Kansas State, if not in Manhattan, Kan.
“It was just the overall atmosphere down here,” Coffman said of Columbia. “I liked the town better.”
But the fact that Chase Daniel, a pass-first quarterback out of Southlake Carroll in Texas, was coming on board at MU did enter into Chase Coffman’s decision to become a Tiger.
“They had put a new offense in that would help me,” he said. “I’m like a wide receiver in this offense. That’s what I was in high school, and I liked that a lot better.”
Pinkel saw Coffman’s signing as a way to load the pipeline at tight end. Even Coffman said he didn’t expect to play as a true freshman.
“I was just planning on working hard and hoping I could make the travel roster,” Coffman said. “After we started practicing and everything, I got it into my head that maybe I could help out and make some things happen.”
Pinkel made the decision not to redshirt Coffman early in August of 2005.
“Going through two-a-days, the guy keeps showing up, making plays,” Pinkel said. “You keep saying, ‘This guy’s pretty good. This guy’s pretty good!’
“I called Chase in and I said, ‘You know, T. Ruck is here.’
“But I said, ‘We can do things with two tight ends,’ and I would suggest as a tight end at this level, he played as well as you could expect a first-year player to play.”
That helped offset the carping, particularly in Kansas City, that Coffman would regret choosing Missouri over Kansas State, where his father had played.
Paul Coffman particularly heard from former K-State star quarterback Lynn Dickey, if not personally then on the radio, where Dickey was a frequent and vocal guest on sports talk shows.
“He’s shut up,” Paul Coffman said, laughing.
Carson Coffman, Chase’s younger brother and a quarterback, signed with Kansas State and is on the roster as a true freshman heading into the coming season. Originally scheduled to be a greyshirt the first semester, Carson isn’t expected to play this season for the Wildcats.
Chase, of course, is expected to be a shining star at Mizzou again.
Coffman was held without a reception in only one game of Missouri’s 7-5 season. That came against Nebraska. Coincidentally, Rucker caught only one pass for 6 yards against the Cornhuskers. Missouri won anyway, 41-24.
Both Rucker and Coffman stood out against Kansas State. Rucker caught eight passes for 102 yards and a touchdown. Coffman caught six passes for 88 yards and a TD. Missouri lost anyway, 36-28.
Memories of that game still bring a look of disgust to Rucker’s face.
“We were winning the Kansas State game by a lot,” Rucker said. “And we just gave that up. I hate that. I hate that feeling. It’s time to do it right and do what we’re supposed to do.”
Such outcomes have produced taunts by a few Nebraska or Kansas State fans.
“My cousins,” Coffman said. “They’ve been to a couple of games and have heard some things and told me. But those people don’t really say it to my face that much.”
Rucker had a different experience as a freshman when Missouri played at Nebraska.
“Not really their coaches or anything,” Rucker said. “But the sideline, you hear some things. ‘You should have been a Husker, Rucker.’ Or, ‘Bet you wish you were a Husker now.’ ”
One of the best combined games for the tight-end tandem last season was the most recent, the 38-31 victory over South Carolina in the Independence Bowl.
Coffman caught eight passes for 99 yards and a touchdown, lifting high into the air for a stretch catch. Rucker caught five passes for 83 yards and at one point — with Missouri down 21-0 — screamed at teammates that he wasn’t giving up and that if they needed to follow someone to victory, they could follow him.
Said running back Tony Temple: “In the middle of this he said, ‘I’m going to play hard. I’m going to ride. You guys want to come with me?! Come with me!’ ”
Coffman isn’t yet the vocal leader that Rucker is.
“I try to lead by example, by working hard and making plays,” Coffman said.
If all goes well, Rucker might be a high selection in next year’s NFL draft, a subject he parries with a wink and a smile.
“I’ve still got two years left in college,” Rucker said. “We’ll see.”
Coffman doesn’t scoff at the possibility of Rucker passing up his final season of collegiate eligibility. However, Coffman said he hopes that doesn’t happen.
“I think he’ll have a chance, but I’d like him to stay,” Coffman said. “It would help the team out. It would also help me out a lot, too.”
You can’t draw Coffman or Rucker into any sort of discussion of which one is the better tight end. One plays Alphonse to the other’s Gaston. After you, my friend. No, you first, mon ami.
After Missouri’s 2006 spring football scrimmage finale, Rucker said of Coffman: “Hopefully, I’ll be like him one day when I grow up.”
Before the start of 2006 fall drills, Coffman returned the compliment.
“Martin Rucker,” Coffman said. “He’s bigger and stronger and faster. He’s played longer than I have. Hopefully, I’ll be as good as him someday.”
And both will forever be Tigers, not Cornhuskers or Wildcats.