Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor helped his friend Giavanni Ruffin land a tryout with the team earlier this week.
There turned out to be a little more to the story to reports earlier this week that the Seahawks were bringing in former East Carolina running back Giavanni Ruffin for a tryout.
As detailed by The Sporting News, Ruffin is a longtime friend of Seattle safety Kam Chancellor. And as detailed by the Seattle Times earlier this month, Ruffin is part of the group that runs Chancellor’s Form by Force fitness boot camps for women.
Per The Sporting News report, the workouts helped inspire Chancellor to help Ruffin get a tryout with the Seahawks.
“We’ve been working fitness boot camps throughout Washington. Every day we train and one day Kam was like, ‘Man, you can still play,'” Ruffin told Omnisport Thursday night. “I never wanted to ask Kam to see if he could talk to anyone because he’s doing his own thing. I never brought it up. But the next day he came to and said, ‘Hey, I put my name on the line for you. You’re finally going to get your opportunity.'”
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Ruffin worked out for the Seahawks Monday and afterward posted a Tweet thanking the team for the opportunity. He has not signed a contract to be part of the team’s 90-man roster yet but has apparently been invited to the team’s rookie mini-camp, which will be held May 6-8 — the weekend after the NFL draft — and typically includes some veteran players who have little NFL experience.
Ruffin played at East Carolina in 2009-10 where he rushed for 692 yards in two seasons.
As the TSN story details, Ruffin went undrafted in 2011. The story says he was contacted by Jacksonville but not brought in and the following year was similarly contacted by the New York Jets but also not brought in. He has not played football since.
The Seahawks have three running backs on their current roster — Thomas Rawls, Christine Michael and Cameron Marshall —and are sure to add a few next week either in the draft or as undrafted free agents following the draft. It looks like Ruffin will also have a chance to further impress the team and get in the mix, as well, with an assist from Chancellor.