Green Bay Packers Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs said he stays in touch with former Las Vegas Raiders and Alabama Crimson Tide teammate Henry Ruggs III, and he revealed that Ruggs is still training and holding out hope of an NFL return.
"I still talk to Henry. Henry still calls me. I still help him out. ... We're still connected. I know his whole family. He's from Alabama. He played with me at Bama. His momma and them taught me how to bowl. ... Keeping up with him and hearing him talk, it brings me spirits, because he's always positive," Jacobs said on "The Pivot Podcast."
"He's positive about everything. He's training. They let him train and things like that, so I'm like, 'When you come out, man, I don't know if you will get a chance.' I've been talking to some people for him. They've been saying a couple of teams are willing to give him a chance. I'm like, 'When you get that chance, man, you better not ever, don't look back, and prove to yourself and prove to everybody that one decision don't define you and who you are as a man.'"
Ruggs, the 12th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, was speeding early in the morning of Nov. 2, 2021 with alcohol in his system. Ruggs' Corvette hit a 23-year-old woman, Tina Tintor, who died in the wreck. Ruggs, now 26 years old, pled guilty to one count of driving under the influence resulting in death, a felony, and another count of vehicular manslaughter, a a misdemeanor.
The plea deal resulted in Ruggs going to prison for 36 to 120 months for the first charge and six months for the second charge. He is first eligible for parole on Aug. 5, 2026, per the Nevada Department of Corrections records.
"I instantly get mad," Jacobs said when he found out what happened. "And then when I start finding out more about the story and about how they were supposed to be racing. I'm like, 'Who was he with?' But he was with his family. So I went to his house. I had some words with some people over there, and I'm just like, 'Man, y'all got to understand, like, he the breadwinner of the family. He the one changing all of y'all's lives. Everybody.'
"And then not only that, he's a good kid. He's never been in trouble. I've never seen him do nothing crazy. He was just one of them guys that have a very, very unfortunate situation and something happened, a decision that he made. That's what hurt me the most. Man, he isn't somebody you would look at and be like, 'Bro, you deserved this to happen to you.'"