How Corey Rucker’s journey took him from Mississippi to South Carolina
Incoming South Carolina receiver Corey Rucker needs a new ice cream shop.
It’s not that he’s trying to fight off the hellish midsummer Columbia heat, though that will come. He’s not even really hankering for sweets. It’s simply part of a routine that dates back to his time at Arkansas State and a tradition borne out of a relationship between quarterback and receiver he hopes will translate to USC.
“I was always a big fan of throwing at night,” former Arkansas State quarterback Layne Hatcher told The State. “That’s when I liked to throw and (Rucker) was always willing to come, and sometimes I just had to buy him some ice cream afterwards.”
“I didn’t understand what those late nights in the indoor (facility) running routes and throwing meant (then),” Rucker added. “It comes to those situations where we’ve repped this so much and he’s throwing the ball so much, we have so much connection and such a relationship, that it just happens. He just throws the ball and I know how it’s gonna come.”
That the ex-Arkansas State star landed in the Southeastern Conference is a long time coming. It wasn’t that long ago that he and his coaches couldn’t convince in-state schools to take a swing on him out of high school and he seemed destined for junior college.
Three years later, Rucker profiles as an immediate impact piece this year and a receiver the Gamecocks can build around heading into 2022 and beyond.
“You always want to receiver that can go get the ball, high-point it,” former Yazoo County High School offensive coordinator Brad Smothermon told The State. “Some guys got it. Some guys don’t. I’m not saying (Rucker) didn’t work on it. He will work. He wants to be good. He wants to be the best guy.”
Under-recruited out of Mississippi
There’s always been some level of elite consistency in Rucker’s game. His route running, his fluid motion in and out of breaks, the way he receives the ball — it’s artwork in motion.
But there’s only so much stock college coaches put into those kinds of movements when they come from a kid out of a town of less than 350 people at a high school that competes in the one of the smallest classifications of Mississippi high school football.
“I just think it’s the location where we are,” Yazoo County head Coach Robert Dobbs said of why he thinks Rucker didn’t receive more interest. “Schools don’t really recruit the (Mississippi) Delta like they should. The Delta schools have a mass amount of talent, but those kids, for whatever reason, they just don’t get recruited well here in the Delta.”
Rucker wasn’t a runt or lacking in speed by any stretch. His high school quarterbacks also included Memphis standout and current Philadelphia Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell and Tennessee Volunteers receiver Jimmy Holiday.
But coaches were reticent to believe what they saw on film.
Rucker’s high school coaches will tell you his talent was obvious early. A basketball player by trade, he had the athleticism to high-point footballs and beat defensive backs off the line in a way only those with Division I capabilities can.
During a third-round playoff game in 2017, Rucker lined up as the No. 3 receiver in the formation. Smothermon slipped Rucker back across the field and had Gainwell roll toward the opposite side before flipping the ball back the other way to the then-sophomore pass catcher.
Rucker, who recorded eight catches for 56 yards in the contest, snatched the pass and picked up a crucial first down to keep the Panthers’ march toward a 3A state title game appearance alive.
“To me, that’s when we started noticing he was getting better,” Smothermon said. “Because not only could he run by you on the screen, but he’s going to get the first down now.”
Rucker wanted to play at Ole Miss as a kid, hoping to don the Rebels’ powder blue and red while walking through The Grove on Saturdays in the fall.
But like so many other Power Five schools that kicked the tires on the Bentonia, Mississippi native, their discussions and interest never amounted to an actual scholarship offer.
Rucker had interest from the usual Sun Belt schools that scour the Magnolia State for untapped high school talent. Louisiana-Monroe — where his brother played — offered. So, too, did a handful of FCS programs in Central Arkansas, Austin Peay and Jackson State.
He eventually committed to South Alabama, but concerns that head coach Steve Campbell would be fired (he eventually was) made Rucker back off his pledge. He’d decided to go the junior college route, committing to play at Mississippi football power Copiah-Lincoln Community College when Blake Anderson’s Arkansas State staff extended him an offer the weekend before signing day.
“I just took a chance on it,” Rucker said.
Thriving at Arkansas State, landing at South Carolina
Hatcher meandered out to Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro, Arkansas early in the spring of 2020 with plans to rep through a handful of plays and routes the team would install that fall.
A second-year player at the time, Hatcher was joined by a few of veteran receivers when an energetic freshman made his way onto the field to join the group.
“It was (Rucker’s) very first day on campus,” Hatcher said, laughing. “I’m not not sure if he had even passed his physicals yet.”
The COVID-19 pandemic limited what teams could do during the summer of 2020 and, thus, delayed Rucker’s arrival in Jonesboro.
Expecting to spend the bulk of the 2020 season learning to grasp the speed of the college game, he was running with the second-team offense by the second week of fall camp.
“It happened so quick,” Rucker said. “We had our first scrimmage — I had a couple of great catches and scored a touchdown — and next thing you know I’m rotating with the twos behind (Jonathan) Adams. It was just all up from there.”
Arkansas State had its share of dynamic receivers during Anderson’s tenure between 2014 and 2020. Omar Bayless and Kirk Merritt are both entering their third years in the NFL. Jonathan Adams, too, enjoyed a stint in the highest level of professional football.
Rucker looked poised to be next in line to that star-studded lineage.
Had he stayed at Arkansas State, he was on pace to see his name scattered around the school’s record books. After a coaching change from Anderson to former Tennessee coach Butch Jones, Rucker felt he had a chance to parlay his second season at ASU that included 59 receptions for 826 yards and nine touchdowns into the SEC chance he sought out of high school.
Hatcher — who has since transferred to Texas State — did his best to bring his old workout partner to San Marcos. Anderson, too, recruited Rucker at Utah State, where he became the head coach in 2021.
Auburn, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Duke, Virginia Tech, Indiana and Washington State also represented possible Power Five options.
Rucker, though, felt a comfort in Columbia. He connected with receivers coach Justin Stepp. The effervescent positivity of head coach Shane Beamer was a draw. A surprise meeting with women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley also made an impact.
Following visits to Auburn, Utah State and USC, Rucker committed to the Gamecocks on April 2.
“It felt like I had known (Stepp and Beamer) for so long,” he explained. “They just made me super comfortable and that comfort kind of let me know that this has to be the right spot.”
Arriving in Columbia and what’s next for Corey Rucker
Rucker was jovial while describing how he ended up at South Carolina.
In truth, he’s always been that way.
Photos from Rucker’s meeting with Staley and another outside Williams-Brice Stadium ahead of last month’s spring game depict that ear-to-ear smile he flashes incessantly.
Asked to characterize Rucker’s personality, Smothermon recounts a rain-delayed state track meet during his high school days. The delay stalled the meet, leaving Yazoo County and a handful of other squads to kill time. It evolved into a dance session of sorts — Rucker was in the middle of it.
“They’re dancing and doing cartwheels and I was like, ‘Well, what do you do (during a rain delay)?’ ” Smothermon said. “... And then right after the rain delay, they go get second in the 4x100 and they weren’t even supposed to be on the podium.”
South Carolina is expected to boast a revamped offense in 2022. Quarterback Spencer Rattler projects as the linchpin for Marcus Satterfield’s unit following his transfer from Oklahoma.
OU import Austin Stogner, former James Madison receiver Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr., Wake Forest running back Christian Beal-Smith and Rucker should also factor into the equation in building off a 7-6 debut season for Beamer and his staff.
Those closest to Rucker feel he’ll fit right in.
“I think he’s got the talent and skill set to be there, for sure,” said Hatcher, who began his career at Alabama. “I think he can do great things and, at the end of the day, it just comes down to how hard you work. I believe he’ll work hard enough to do that and then it’s all up to him from that point.”
Rucker wrapped up final exams in recent weeks and is expected to report to South Carolina on May 25. In the meantime, he’s taking some time to get his things in order for the move to Columbia.
He’s also hunting down a new go-to ice cream spot in town to replace Andy’s Frozen Custard in Jonesboro.
“I’ve got to find one,” Rucker chuckled. “I’ve got to find one.”
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 9:54 AM.
