Saints Draft Insider: Cesar Ruiz, a Big Guy with a Big Heart
By Dr. C | SI
Cesar Edward Ruiz lost his father and namesake at 8. Cesar, Sr. died at 26 after a car hit him while helping another driver change a flat tire along a South New Jersey highway. “This whole entire experience is dedicated to that whole situation, that tragedy,” Ruiz said at the NFL scouting combine.
“I still do it, every night, every day, I think about it. If my dad was here to see what I’m doing, 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 will always be.”
Ruiz will fit the culture in the City of New Orleans and the team. “That’s what I pride myself on is just doing things for people and being a good person,” Ruiz said. “And the fact — the way it happened, he was doing something good, being a good person, you really wouldn’t want it any other way if something were to happen like that.” His father died being a good Samaritan and that has shaped the mentality of one of the draft’s top linemen and now an NFL New Orleans Saints Offensive Lineman.
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