Tag: Henry Ruggs

Former 1st-round pick Henry Ruggs III accepts plea deal

Henry Ruggs III faces 3-10 years in prison after the plea deal.

According to multiple reports, wide receiver Henry Ruggs III has accepted a plea deal for his involvement in a drunk-driving incident that resulted in the deal of a 23-year-old woman. The accident happened in November 2021.

By accepting the plea deal, Ruggs will be sentenced to something between 3 and 10 years in prison for a variety of charges.

Ruggs was the No. 12 overall pick of the Las Vegas Raiders after a stellar career at Alabama. In two seasons, Ruggs played 20 games for the Raiders with 19 of those being starts. Ruggs had 50 catches for 921 yards. Ruggs was released by the Raiders after the 2021 accident.

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Former Raider Henry Ruggs expected to plead guilty in fatal DUI case

Henry Ruggs is expected to plead guilty in a fatal DUI crash

Former first-round pick of the Las Vegas Raiders Henry Ruggs is looking at an extended stint in prison.

Ruggs waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Tuesday and will plead guilty to one count of DUI resulting in death and one count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in a 2021 case in which he’s accused of driving 156 mph under the influence and crashing into a car killing 23-year-old Tina Tintor and her dog.

Prosecutors said Ruggs’ blood alcohol level was 0.16 which is twice the legal limit in Nevada.

The Raiders released Ruggs in the aftermath of the accident.

According to a plea agreement presented in a Las Vegas justice court, Ruggs will serve 3 to 10 years in the Nevada state prison. The case now moves to the 8th Judicial District Court for a May 10 hearing, when he is expected to formally plead guilty.

“This is the first step toward a fair resolution to this matter and we look forward to closure for all the parties involved,” David Z. Chesnoff and Richard A. Schonfeld, attorneys for Ruggs, said in a statement released after Tuesday’s proceedings.

The 2017 Alabama recruiting class was loaded with first-round draft picks

The Crimson Tide’s 2017 recruiting class was LOADED!

When discussing the greatest recruiting classes in college football history, it’s impossible to leave the 2017 Alabama Crimson Tide out of the discussion.

The 2017 class consisted of 17 future NFL draft picks, eight of whom have been selected in the first round. It also consisted of a Heisman Trophy winner and a couple of finalists as well. The Tide had two quarterbacks selected on the first day of the NFL draft just a year apart from one another.

Though their professional careers are still young, let’s see where they landed and the legacies they left at Alabama.

CFB analyst explains in detail why Alabama has the best LB room in the nation

Alabama Football has the two best linebackers in the country

Alabama Football has produced a plethora of superstars under [autotag]Coach Saban[/autotag] in the past decade. From a receiver room that featured [autotag]Jerry Jeudy[/autotag] [autotag]Henry Ruggs[/autotag] [autotag]DeVonta Smith[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaylen Waddle[/autotag] to a running back room that had [autotag]Derrick Henry[/autotag] [autotag]Alvin Kamara[/autotag] [autotag]T.J. Yeldon[/autotag] and [autotag]Kenyan Drake[/autotag], it is safe to say that Saban is used to working with loaded position groups.

However, the 2022 Tide linebackers may be the best unit that Tuscaloosa, and college football for that matter, has ever seen.

247 Sports’ CFB analyst, Josh Pate, discussed the position group today as he said, “I think Alabama has the two best linebacker’s in college football in [autotag]Will Anderson[/autotag] and [autotag]Dallas Turner[/autotag].” The duo amazingly accounted for 20 sacks in 2021 as both were true underclassmen.

Behind the two superstars, is former five-star [autotag]Chris Braswell[/autotag] who would be a premier pass rusher at any other school, says Pate. The Tide also return their leading tackler from the 2021 campaign in [autotag]Henry To’oTo’o[/autotag] and he is joined by veteran [autotag]Jaylen Moody[/autotag]. Having these four on the field at the same time will be a headache for every single opponent this year.

In the waiting, are highly rated recruits such as [autotag]Deontae Lawson[/autotag] [autotag]Kendrick Blackshire[/autotag] and others. However, the real prized possession is IMG Academy’s [autotag]Jihaad Campbell[/autotag] who will likely fill Anderson’s role in 2023.

From starters to what’s coming down the pipeline, we will look back in a few years and certainly discuss the surreal amount of talent in this position group.

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Turner reflects on the best players he played against during his Clemson career

Former Clemson safety Nolan Turner was a guest this week on The Players Club Podcast, hosted by former Tiger running back Darien Rencher. Turned was asked to name some of the best players, in his opinion, that he played against during his Clemson …

Former Clemson safety Nolan Turner was a guest this week on The Players Club Podcast, hosted by former Tiger running back Darien Rencher.

Turned was asked to name some of the best players, in his opinion, that he played against during his Clemson career (2016-21).

The 2020 All-American and two-year team captain singled out a few different groups of players, including quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson from the LSU team that beat Clemson in the 2019 national title game; wide receivers Jerry Jeudy, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith and Henry Ruggs from the Alabama team that Clemson beat in the 2018 national title game; and quarterback Justin Fields and wide receivers Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave from the Ohio State teams that Clemson played in 2019 and 2020.

“The first three that come to mind – well, some of them are a group, you know; I might put them in groups – number one was Ja’Marr, Justin and Joe, them three as a unit. I’ll use that as one,” Turner said. “And then you run it back to 2018, and they (Alabama) got Jeudy, Waddle, DeVonta and Ruggs. That’s the other group. You see speed and you see talented guys, and then you turn on this tape and it’s a little bit different. Guys stand out a little bit more, look a little bit faster, and you know you’re in for it. So, those two are definitely the biggest that stand out. But some of those Ohio State teams that we played … Justin Fields, a heck of a quarterback, heck of a football player, and especially those receivers they had, too, with Garrett Wilson, Olave. Man, they’re some ballers.”

You can watch Rencher’s full interview with Turner on the latest episode of The Players Club Podcast below:

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Raiders young wide receivers ‘forced to grow’ amid adversity, put up career years

Losing their number one receiver and then top target forced Raiders receivers to grow up fast.

Of all the difficulties the Raiders faced this season, the Henry Ruggs III DUI crash was by far the worst. The crash resulted in the death of a woman and her dog and landed Ruggs in jail on charges that could put him away for a very long time. 

First and foremost, that took its toll on the Raiders team emotionally. It dwarfed the Jon Gruden resignation in that regard. And from an on-field standpoint, the Raiders actually seemed to play better following Gruden’s exit. But the loss of Ruggs was much harder to overcome.

It was clear quickly that the Raiders’ offense was not the same without their number one receiver. And they summarily lost three in a row.

They would pull out of their tailspin with a win a big overtime win in Dallas. But the win would come at a cost – Darren Waller.

The Pro Bowl tight end left with knee and back injuries and would not return for five weeks. 

In the midst of the loss of their deep threat in Ruggs and their best receiver in Waller, several other Raiders receivers stepped up. The new outside starters were Zay Jones and Bryan Edwards, while slot receiver Hunter Renfrow saw his targets go way up.

“It was a really good test for us as a unit,” said Edwards. “We had to pick up the slack of the guys that we were missing and I feel like it was a constant rotation with all the adversity we were facing. But I feel like we did the best with what we had and I feel like everybody in the room was forced to grow, especially me and especially Hunter and you just see the kind of results that came from it. It was one heck of a year to sum it up.”

Renfrow in particular landed in the Raiders record books. His 103 catches finished third in Raiders franchise history and second among wide receivers, just one behind Tim Brown’s record (104). He also surpassed 1000 yards (1038) and added nine touchdowns. Renfrow credits his quarterback for his and his fellow receivers’ performances.

“I can’t say enough good things about Derek [Carr],” said Renfrow. “How it didn’t matter who was out there. And really he’s done that his whole career. He’s a special player, and no matter who’s out there, he’s going to find them the ball and get us opportunities. And so as a receiver group, we just got more and more confident as the year went along.”

Edwards tripled his rookie totals in all areas. He went from 11 catches for 193 yards and one touchdown as a rookie to 34 catches for 571 yards and three touchdowns this season. None stood out for Edwards more than the win over the Browns.

“Playing in Cleveland and getting that touchdown I felt like that was kind of for me seeing all my hard work coming to fruition and like that moment where you kind of see the light and you’re like ‘man, I’m coming along’,” said Edwards who had the Raiders’ only touchdown in the team’s 16-14 win.

That game started the team’s late-season four-game win streak. And no receiver stepped up more than Zay Jones in those four games, putting up 25 catches for 254 yards. He finished fourth on the team in receptions (47) and yards (546). He then went on to catch five more passes for 62 yards and a touchdown in the playoff loss to the Bengals.

Just making it to the playoffs at all was a huge accomplishment. The way they stepped up and the way Derek Carr adjusted to keep the team afloat without their best receivers was admirable.

“I think it just shows the resilience of this team and the guys, the foundation it’s built on,” Edwards continued. “Throughout the season things just kept coming up and when it went down we kept responding and when it went up we kept responding. And we just tried to do the best we could to win games and we made a playoff run and we did some things that haven’t done here in a long time. So we have a lot to be proud of.”

Edwards and Renfrow will certainly be all the better for having fought through this so early in their careers. It won’t keep the Raiders from the need to bring in a deep threat to replace Ruggs, but that’s to be expected.

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Henry Ruggs charged with 4 felonies

Former Raiders top pick Henry Ruggs has been charged with 4 felonies

Former Las Vegas Raiders No. 1 draft pick Henry Ruggs was formally charged with four felonies and a misdemeanor in a Las Vegas court on Wednesday.

Ruggs, who is out of jail on $150,000 bail, was not in the courtroom. Ruggs has been ordered to abstain from alcohol and not to drive while his case is adjudicated. He has been placed in an electronic-monitoring program upon his release.

The charges are a result of the fatal accident that saw Ruggs’ Chevrolet Corvette drive into the car being driven by 23-year-old Tina Tintor. Tintor and her dog lost their lives in the accident, which happened early in the morning of Nov. 2.

Ruggs was driving 156 mph, according to law enforcement authorities, and at .161, twice over the legal limit for blood-alcohol level while driving.

If convicted of all charges, Ruggs is looking at anywhere from 2-50 years in prison, per Clark County DA Steve Wolfson.

The charges:

  • Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled or prohibited substance resulting in death.
  • Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled or prohibited substance resulting in death or substantial bodily harm.
  • Reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm.
  • Reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm.
  • Possession of a gun under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Wolfson said probation is not an option if Ruggs is convicted.

“The bare minimum would be two years in prison up to as much as somewhere in the 50 range,” Wolfson said. “These are non-probational offenses, so the felony DUI charges, if Mr. Ruggs is convicted, he can’t get probation. He must get a prison sentence.”

Defense attorney David Chesnoff made a statement:

“Lawyers are constrained by what they can say about the facts of a case by court rule and state bar rules. The police aren’t. The police, an arm of the district attorney, has released what they say are facts. I have been doing this for 40 years, and I can tell each and every one of you that I have had multiple experiences where the facts that were presented at the outset of the case turned out not to be the facts, so that’s why I keep saying: Please don’t pre-judge. Let us do our work in the courtroom. The state, the prosecutor will do theirs, and that’s when the facts will be determined. And I really appreciate everybody understanding that and not prejudging this. I appreciate it, and I’m not going to answer any questions because, as I say, I’m not allowed to discuss the facts.”

Henry Ruggs facing additional felony charges, looking at 46 years in prison

Henry Ruggs is facing another set of serious charges

Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs will face another set of serious charges in the fatal accident he was involved in early Tuesday.

Prosecutors will charge Ruggs with additional felony counts of DUI and reckless driving due to the injuries suffered by his passenger, girlfriend Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington.

Additionally, a misdemeanor charge for possession of a firearm while under the influence. A loaded gun was found in Ruggs’ car at the scene of the accident that saw a 23-year-old woman and her dog lose their lives when the Corvette the former Raiders WR was driving slammed into their car.

Ruggs, 22, initially faced being charged with felony driving under the influence resulting in death and reckless driving after prosecutors said he was driving 156 mph and had a blood-alcohol level of .161, more than twice the legal limit in the state of Nevada.

Ruggs faces a total of five charges and faces the possibility of 46 years in prison if convicted on all.

According to prosecutor Eric Bauman, Ruggs struck the rear of a Toyota RAV-4, which caught on fire. It left a 23-year-old woman, Tina Tintor, and her dog dead.

Ruggs posted $150,000 bail and is under house arrest while being monitored electronically.

The Raiders released the 2020 first-round pick earlier this week after the crash.

Prosecutors say Henry Ruggs was driving 156 mph before fatal crash

Henry Ruggs was driving 156 mph at the time of the fatal accident, Las Vegas prosecutors say

Prosecutors said in a Las Vegas courtroom Wednesday former Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs was driving 156 miles per hour before the fatal car accident he was involved in Tuesday morning.

The prosecutors said the Chevrolet Corvette Ruggs was driving was going 127 miles per hour when the airbags deployed.

“I cannot recall a speed that high in my career on the bench,” said Judge, who ordered a $150,000 bail for Ruggs and the highest level of electronic monitoring if he is released. Prosecutors had requested a $1 million bail.

Probation is not an option in Nevada for a conviction on a charge of DUI causing death, which carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in state prison. The possible sentence for reckless driving is one to six years in prison, with probation available.

Per Yahoo.com:

According to veteran defense attorneys with experience in DUI cases asked by Yahoo Sports to look at the case, that defense investigation is about the 22-year-old Ruggs’ only hope. If the facts of the case are what the LVPD say they are – and circumstances suggest they are – then there is almost no way he avoids serving time. As such, his NFL career is potentially over just as it was getting started.

“He is in serious trouble,” said Chris Scott, a former prosecutor and now defense attorney for the Christopher Scott Law Offices in Kansas City, Missouri. Scott has prosecuted and defended scores of DUI cases. “That does not mean he is guilty. He has the presumption of innocence, but based on what is out there, he is in serious trouble and faces a lot of exposure.”

“Based on what we know right now, the situation is not good,” said Craig Mordock of Mordock Legal in New Orleans, where he has defended nearly 1,000 DUI cases including numerous that involved “negligent homicide” charges.

Per reports:

Prosecutor Eric Bauman said computer records for the air bags showed the Corvette decelerated from 156 mph to 127 mph before it struck the Toyota. Bonaventure rejected Bauman’s request for $1 million bail and set bail, at Chesnoff’s request, at $150,000 with strict conditions, including home confinement, electronic monitoring, no alcohol, no driving and the surrender of Ruggs’ passport.

Bauman said Ruggs’ blood-alcohol level was 0.161%. Police said previously in a statement that Ruggs “showed signs of impairment.” Bauman also said a loaded firearm was found on the floor of the car.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson is considering filing a weapons charge and second DUI charge against Ruggs based on the serious arm injuries that his passenger Kiara Je’nai Kilgo-Washington, 22, of Las Vegas.

“This is a very tragic and sad day in this community,” Wolfson told reporters after the hearing. “A woman lost her life. Another person perhaps lost his career, perhaps (is) going to prison. This was a very, very ugly day, yesterday morning.”

Ruggs was released by the Raiders late on Tuesday.