Jan. 11, 2007

COLUMBIA, Mo. - University of Missouri junior tight end Martin Rucker (St. Joseph, Mo.) has withdrawn his name from consideration from the 2007 NFL Draft, and will return for his senior season at Mizzou, as announced today by Rucker. He had previously entered his name into consideration for the draft, but decided to play his last year for the Tigers after receiving feedback from league personnel.

Rucker had a standout season as a junior in 2006, catching a career-high 53 passes for 511 yards and five touchdowns for the 8-5 Tigers. Rucker earned 1st-Team All-Big 12 honors by league coaches for his play, and he will likely enter the 2007 season as one of the top pre-season candidates for the John Mackey Tight End Award, given annually to the nation's top tight end.

"I'm glad that I looked into this, it was a good experience to go through, and the feedback I got was really positive," said Rucker. "I'm very excited about the chance to eventually play in the NFL, but I believe that playing one more year at Mizzou will be the best for me. We have some business to take care of next year, and I want to be a part of what I believe can be a special season," he said.

Rucker's decision to stay now means that MU will return nine players on offense who started the 2006 Brut Sun Bowl that saw the Tigers rack up 561 yards of total offense in a 39-38 loss to 24th-ranked Oregon State. In all, Mizzou will return 97.9% of its school-record 5,533 total offense yardage output in 2007 (5,414-of-5,533).

Already the MU record-holder for career catches and receiving yardage by a tight end, Rucker will enter his senior season with 119 catches for 1,341 yards and 10 touchdowns. His reception total ranks 5th on the MU career receiving chart for all positions, while his yardage total currently ranks 10th overall.

The Tiger Football team will begin off-season workouts next week with the resumption of classes at Mizzou, in preparation for the 2007 spring season, which is tentatively scheduled to begin with the first of 15 practices on March 13th. The annual Black & Gold Spring Game is set for Saturday, April 21st at 2 p.m. at Faurot Field.