Amazing stories in NFL Draft: Tragedy pushed Michigan’s Cesar Ruiz to football, NFL

Michigan center Cesar Ruiz’s father never got to see his son play a single snap of football at any level, but there is no question the man is the driving force behind the top interior lineman in the 2020 NFL Draft.

“If my dad was here to see what I'm doing right now, he would be mind-blown. So I'm still playing for my dad, I still play through my dad, my dad still lives through me. And that's how it's always going to be,” Ruiz declared during February’s NFL Scouting Combine.

The elder Ruiz, also named Cesar, was killed in a tragic accident on Dec. 4, 2007. The father of the then-8-year-old younger Cesar pulled over to help a stranded motorist change a tire on a New Jersey highway when he was struck and killed by another vehicle.

The younger Ruiz makes it clear he’s in the position he is now at least in part because of his father’s death.

As the boy mourned his loss and began to act out emotionally in his tough home city of Camden, N.J., his mother knew she needed to find a way to redirect her son on a more positive path, both mentally and physically.

Enter football.

“Football came into my life when I was 10 years old. I really played because my mom really wanted me to get out of the house,” Ruiz said. “It was kind of a therapeutic thing for me, one of her things, because I was still mourning the death of my father. And she saw it. Basically what she did was try to find something that would help me out.”

It didn’t take long for Ruiz to show his stuff. That led to an opportunity out of Camden to play at the IMG Academy in Florida. It turned into a scholarship to Michigan where he became the centerpiece of the line and a guy teammates are drawn to.

Now it’s led to an opportunity to play in the NFL as a likely first- or second-round pick in this week’s Draft. Teams like the Patriots in need of interior offensive line talent are well aware that Ruiz is a game-ready option with all the skills for the next level.

And one thing Ruiz knows for sure, is that his late-father is proud of where he’s taken his life since that tragic December day.

“This whole entire experience is dedicated to that whole situation, that tragedy. I still do it, every night, every day, I think about it,” Ruiz said, not sure what his father would say to him at this point if he had the chance. “He would probably be somewhere smiling at me the same way I'm smiling at him just telling me how proud he is of me. I know my mom is proud of me. So I'm proud of myself. I know my father would be extremely proud of me.”

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