‘The Butcher’ Kaimon Rucker and His Miraculous Healing

He’s an all-American linebacker, playing in his final season at North Carolina.  Kaimon Rucker is an explosive and fierce competitor who is primed to be a top choice in next year’s NFL draft. His on-field prowess earned him a unique nickname.

Will Dawson: “Freshman year, you play with such physicality you get the nickname, Kaimon ‘The Butcher.’”

ESPN Announcer (narrating game): “Tim cross, the defensive line coach said of Kaimon Rucker, he said, ‘He’s a rolling ball of butcher knives.’ A rolling ball of butcher knives!’”

Kaimon Rucker: “The announcers enjoyed it. We shortened it down to ‘The Butcher, Ruck the Butcher.’ That’s kind how the whole ‘The Butcher’ persona came, off of that one compliment.

By his sophomore season, Kaimon was “rolling” along, making an enormous impact for the Tar Heels and gaining national notoriety. However, in the spring before his junior season, doctors determined Kaimon had a torn meniscus in his left knee and would need surgery. Outwardly his confidence and toughness were unmatched. Inwardly, a bout with anxiety and depression threatened to derail his entire career.

“It was just like just, anxiousness of not being able to display what kind of player I am,” says Rucker. “During the spring at the time where they were going to place me on the field, the way the classes were going, I wasn't lifting as much as I wanted to. That was just like so many different things, a little whole whirlwind of emotions at that time.

So I was feeling, a high levels of anxiety. I was honestly, I was depressed for a little bit at that time as well.”

Kaimon’s tough persona on the field, made asking for help difficult.

“I started to realize that I internalized a lot of things,” he says. “Because of my mindset, because I always wanted to push through things, because I was always determined.

I've done that to an unhealthy amount, to the point where I just was, shaken up soda bottle. At the time, I was just, like, at any given moment. I could, like, explode in terms of just like I could cry. I could get upset for no reason. I was just in that mode where I was like, I couldn't figure out where I was.”

Kaimon grew up in a Christian home, so he knew where to turn when things were tough.

“First of all, I had to be real with myself and understand that I don't need to play football. I play football. Like I'm separate from what my sport is,” says Rucker.  “You know with the realization of that, I had to fall back on my faith, really, fall back to what really gave me peace, what really gave me reconciliation of who I am as a person.

And just like, understanding like, if all things were to fail and all things were to crash down who can I definitely give my love to? And that was Jesus.”

Fundamentals have been key to Kaimon’s success on the field and he realized he needed to brush up on some other necessities.

“I had to really get back to the Word. I had to get back and start praying. And I had to get back to these things, even though these are like small things that even as Christians we often look over, those are things, and stuff like I have to get back to being with because these little things is what caused me to have big jumps in my life, to have big jumps in my in my success in my accolades and things of that nature,” he says.

Will Dawson: “I saw a video of you being baptized on social media. How special was that moment?”

Kaimon Rucker: “That was a very special moment. That was the first time I've ever gotten baptized. I feel like this was kind of like my first jump into really professing my faith because I wanted to. And so that was a moment that I'll never forget. The baptism wasn't just for me. This was for other people to realize, like, it's okay to profess your faith. And being a D1 football player, like there's going to be a whole bunch of things that happening around you, but that doesn't mean that you still can’t profess your faith. That doesn't mean you can't be true to who you are, and it doesn't mean you can't be you. And so, I wanted to just really set that tone for the rest of the team.”

As he begins his final season at North Carolina, Kaimon knows that in just a few short months, if all goes well, he will hear his name called in the NFL draft. Of all the highs and lows he’s experienced, Kaimon has a simple message for others.

“I want to fulfill whatever purpose God has for me,” he says. “Whether that’s in the NFL whether it’s not, whether that’s somewhere else. Sometimes as Christians we have to be real with ourselves. You have to be real with God. God said come as you are. You don’t ever get clean to get into the shower. You have to get into the shower dirty in order to clean yourself. But that’s how you gotta come to God. You gotta put your faith in Him and that’s why the faith means the world to me cause I can go to God whatever way I am.”