{"id":368127,"date":"2026-07-10T11:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/368127\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T11:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:12:10","slug":"houston-texans-rookie-keylan-rutledges-unlikely-journey-to-the-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/368127\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Texans rookie Keylan Rutledge’s unlikely journey to the NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keylan Rutledge<\/a> still keeps the photos of the car wreck in his phone, ready to show anyone who asks to see it.<\/p>\n

There, in the pictures, is his burgundy 2007 Nissan Frontier pickup truck \u2014 mangled, flipped over on the side of the road, its muddy wheels in the air. The picture was taken in December 2023.<\/p>\n

Rutledge, then a highly sought-after transfer from Middle Tennessee State, had just wrapped up a recruiting visit to Georgia Tech in Atlanta before making the two-hour trip up Interstate 85 to Clemson, S.C.<\/p>\n

The roads were slippery from the rain when a car ahead of him swerved into his lane. As Rutledge tried to avoid the collision, he swerved and struck another vehicle.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

His truck hydroplaned, flipped several times and landed in a ditch off the side of the interstate several yards away. Rutledge was fortunate to be alive.<\/p>\n

He smashed open the front driver\u2019s-side window and army-crawled his 6-foot-3, 315-pound frame from beneath the truck.<\/p>\n

After emerging, he looked down at his foot and saw his slides were missing\u00a0\u2014 still lodged into the pedal. His foot hurt, and the sock on his left foot was soaked in blood.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 2\u00bd years since the accident. Rutledge is now a rookie offensive lineman for the Houston Texans<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 selected No. 26 overall in the first round of the NFL draft with a chance to become an anchor on the offensive line<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

And he can\u2019t help but think about what could have been and how he almost didn\u2019t make it here.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The aftermath of the wreckage from the December 2023 car crash Texans rookie\u00a0Keylan Rutledge was involved in.<\/p>\n

Courtesy Keylan Rutledge<\/p>\n

Facing adversity<\/p>\n

Rutledge didn\u2019t grow up in the best circumstances. His parents divorced when he was 6, and his father didn\u2019t stick around, leaving his mother to take care of the family by herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t a great dude,\u201d Rutledge said. \u201cKind of always in and out of trouble. I just don\u2019t respect him. He was never there, so why be there now?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Miranda Rutledge tried her best to provide for her family. She worked several odd jobs, but rarely did they pay enough to keep a consistent roof over their heads.\u00a0Keylan\u00a0recalls times when he\u2019d return home from school and find the family\u2019s belongings outside because they had been evicted.<\/p>\n

They\u00a0\u2014 Keylan, his mom and his sister \u2014bounced from house to house, sometimes sleeping in their car. Other times, they\u2019d stay with his grandmother, Juanita, whom\u00a0Keylan affectionately calls his \u201cNana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutledge\u00a0never stayed in the same home longer than two years and estimates he attended five or six different middle schools in rural northeast Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was kind of the life I lived,\u201d he said after a recent practice on a hot and humid Tuesday morning in Houston. \u201cYou didn\u2019t have no silver spoon. Nothing was given to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Texans<\/p>\n

Texans rookie offensive lineman Keylan Rutledge, taking a selfie with a young fan. has experienced adversity on his road to the NFL, from his family struggling to make ends meet as a youngster to a car accident that almost ended his football career.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Texans first-round draft pick Keylan Rutledge rides down a waterslide after a fundraiser activity with the Boys and Girls Club at Great Wolf Lodge in Webster on Thursday, June 18, 2026.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Texans first-round draft pick Keylan Rutledge, left, along with head coach DeMeco Ryans looks at jersey during press conference about the in Houston Friday, April 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Texans first round draft pick Keylan Rutledge prepares to throw a ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Detroit Tigers and the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on June 15, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Houston Astros\/Getty Images\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Texans guard Keylan Rutledge (66) works with coaches during a rookie mini camp at Houston Methodist Training Center in Houston, Friday, May 8, 2026.<\/p>\n

Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n

He used to sell the Little Debbie snacks his mother bought with her EBT card to make extra money at school. That\u2019s how he met his now-wife Lauren.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

They had weightlifting class together at Franklin County High School in Carnesville, Ga. He was a sophomore. She was a junior and a standout on the school\u2019s softball team.<\/p>\n

One day, Keylan approached Lauren at the bleachers and asked if she wanted to buy a honey bun.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo for a dollar, one for 50 cents,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n

Keylan didn\u2019t know it, but Lauren loved honey buns. She bought two with four quarters. They exchanged numbers, began\u00a0texting, and a couple of months later, he took her out with the money he saved up selling honey buns.<\/p>\n

Lauren was always there for Keylan when he needed her most, whether that meant giving him a ride somewhere or helping him navigate the challenges in his own life\u00a0\u2014 growing up without much, an absent father-figure and anger.<\/p>\n

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He admits that when he met Lauren, he was \u201ca hothead.\u201d A couple of weeks after they began dating, he got into a fight with another boy in their weightlifting class.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lauren kept him grounded, he said, and helped him see there was more to life than what he was doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rutledge couldn\u2019t stand the thought of failing. That\u2019s why he threw himself into sports. He saw athletics as a way out of his circumstances and a path to a better life for himself and his family.<\/p>\n

But with Lauren, he didn\u2019t always have to be so intense. They got married last June in a private ceremony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s definitely the better half of me,\u201d Rutledge says. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Basketball<\/p>\n

Basketball became Keylan Rutledge’s passion in high school and his coach Jason\u00a0Schaver raved about Rutledge’s prowess on the court.<\/p>\n

Courtesy Jason Schaver<\/p>\n

Committing to football<\/p>\n

Paul Sutherland taught weightlifting at Franklin County High School and coached football there in 2019. One day, Jason Schaver, the school\u2019s basketball coach,\u00a0walked into Sutherland\u2019s classroom and motioned for him to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to see this kid coming in here in the ninth grade,\u201d Schaver told him.<\/p>\n

Sutherland was intrigued.<\/p>\n

When he entered the gym, his eyes immediately followed the chubby, red-headed boy, who was just over 6 feet tall. The students were playing a game of pickup basketball, and the chubby kid was as quick, if not quicker than the kids half his size.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Who is that?\u2019 \u201d Sutherland recalled, marveling at his ability to move.<\/p>\n

The other students called him \u201cBig Red,\u201d but his actual name was\u00a0Keylan Rutledge.<\/p>\n

When Sutherland introduced himself, Rutledge\u00a0told the coach he was thinking about coming out for football.<\/p>\n

He never came out, deciding to focus solely on basketball, which had become his passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he had been 6-8 or 6-9, he\u2019d be playing for the Rockets, not the Texans,\u201d Schaver said. \u201cHe was that good at basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

He led the team in scoring, rebounding and assists. And in the 2021 Georgia high school state playoffs,\u00a0\u00a0he went toe-to-toe with current Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. for one half.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was super competitive,\u201d assistant basketball coach Josh Bentley said. \u201cHe was completely different than anything I had ever seen at the high school level.\u201d<\/p>\n

But those coaches also knew his future wasn\u2019t in basketball. He was a 6-3 bruising and undersized power forward.<\/p>\n

Sutherland, who was trying to turn around the football program, didn\u2019t give up on convincing Keylan to play. Sutherland, who was also Keylan\u2019s weightlifting teacher,\u00a0often told him that basketball translated well to football, especially for bigger athletes.<\/p>\n

During Keylan\u2019s sophomore year in 2020, he was watching the NFL draft when he had an epiphany. By then, he was 6-3 and weighed about 280 pounds.<\/p>\n

He remembers seeing offensive lineman Mekhi Becton get drafted and watching highlights of him dunking a basketball.<\/p>\n

Other offensive and defensive linemen being drafted had basketball backgrounds as well.<\/p>\n

So Rutledge\u00a0picked up his phone and called Sutherland.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach, are you watching the draft?\u201d Rutledge\u00a0asked, pointing out all the offensive linemen being selected who had also played basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeylan, I\u2019ve told you for two years the NFL is full of players whose favorite sport is basketball because they\u2019re some of the best athletes in the world,\u201d Sutherland replied. \u201cBut there is no demand for 6-3, 6-4 power forwards at the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach, I\u2019m 110% in. I\u2019m going to play football, and I promise I\u2019m going to give it everything I\u2019ve got,\u201d Rutledge\u00a0later told him.<\/p>\n

Rutledge was a natural and immediately became one of the team\u2019s best players.<\/p>\n

But what all of his coaches point to is that not only was he the most talented player on the team, he was also the toughest and hardest-working player they had ever coached.<\/p>\n

If the coaches asked the team to do 10 reps, Rutledge\u00a0was going to do 11. If another player did 11, he was going to do 12.<\/p>\n

Rutledge wanted to win at everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know how to describe it,\u201d he said, struggling to find the words. \u201cIt\u2019s just who I am.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough for me to be like, ‘Oh, we won the game and I played really good.’ I\u2019m trying to be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

College coaches on recruiting visits often told Sutherland they liked Rutledge\u00a0but didn\u2019t have enough film on him. His first year of varsity football came as a junior.<\/p>\n

Sutherland would tell them they didn\u2019t need more film. He was the real deal.<\/p>\n

Middle Tennessee was the first Division I program to offer Rutledge a scholarship. Other schools, such as Wake Forest, came in late with offers, but Middle Tennessee had been there from the beginning.<\/p>\n

Rutledge repaid that loyalty by committing there.<\/p>\n

\"After<\/p>\n

After not playing varsity football until his junior\u00a0 year of high school, Keylan Rutledge (77) was recruited to play at Middle Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Joe Robbins\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

A spreading infection, then ‘hope and pray’<\/p>\n

Rutledge didn\u2019t want to leave Middle Tennessee. He\u2019s as loyal as they come. But head coach Rick Stockstill was fired after a 4-8 season, leaving the program in flux.<\/p>\n

The coaches and mentors he trusted encouraged him to enter the transfer portal, which he eventually did.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why he was on a visit to Georgia Tech with Lauren, his mother and sister in December 2023. It\u2019s why he was on the way to visit\u00a0Clemson next.<\/p>\n

That day, Keylan and Lauren drove separately. Keylan dropped off his mother and sister at home before heading to Lauren\u2019s house, where he planned to spend the night before leaving for Clemson the next day.<\/p>\n

Lauren arrived first. Then she got a notification from Life360, the location-sharing app, that Keylan\u2019s vehicle had stopped in the middle of the interstate.<\/p>\n

Soon after, she received a phone call from an unknown number with an Atlanta area code.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart dropped,\u201d Lauren recalled.<\/p>\n

It was Keylan, calling from a bystander\u2019s phone. He told Lauren he had been in a wreck and was shaken up. He couldn\u2019t explain exactly what had happened, only that his foot hurt.<\/p>\n

Lauren and her parents raced to the scene, about 10 minutes from her house.<\/p>\n

When they arrived, EMS personnel were loading him into an ambulance.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Lauren saw his foot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just kind of broke down because I know how much football means to him,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I knew what was going through his mind\u00a0\u2014 that he can\u2019t play football.\u201d<\/p>\n

He suffered an open fracture to his big toe. The bone was protruding through the skin. Several other toes were dislocated and had to be popped back into place.<\/p>\n

Keylan underwent surgery the next day, but the toe didn\u2019t heal properly.<\/p>\n

Three months later, additional tests revealed an infection in his foot. If it spread and treatment failed, doctors warned they might have to amputate the foot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like,\u00a0\u2018Dude, I\u2019m going to the NFL. The NFL was calling,\u2019 \u201d Rutledge said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re telling me, \u2018Hey, you might not have your foot.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if you don\u2019t have your foot, you can\u2019t play football. That was kind of the thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the next several months, doctors put him on antibiotics and inserted a catheter\u00a0that delivered IV medication into his body twice a day.<\/p>\n

He also underwent a second surgery.<\/p>\n

From there, it was simply \u201chope and pray.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, the infection cleared and Rutledge was no longer in danger of losing his foot. Still, doctors weren\u2019t sure whether he\u2019d be able to play football competitively again.<\/p>\n

Rutledge refused to accept those doubts. He attacked rehab and never missed a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my head, I was like, man, I\u2019ve been through so much in my life\u00a0\u2014 what\u2019s this foot going to do?\u201d he said. \u201cI can overcome anything. That\u2019s kind of how my mindset is. You tell me that, I\u2019m going to show you.\u201d<\/p>\n

By August, when the season began, he was back on the field\u00a0\u2014 this time at Georgia Tech after never making it to Clemson.<\/p>\n

\"After<\/p>\n

After transferring from Middle Tennessee to Georgia Tech, Keylan Rutledge became a decorated offensive lineman for the Yellow Jackets, putting him on the Texans’ radar.<\/p>\n

Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n

Wired differently<\/p>\n

If you want to know how tough and determined Rutledge is, pull up his profile and look at his game log. He played 13 games during the 2024 season, less than a year after the car wreck that nearly cost him his foot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you, most people in the country wouldn\u2019t be able to do that,\u201d Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said. \u201cI mean, he didn\u2019t miss a snap all season, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key said he and his staff tried to take things slowly, but Rutledge wasn\u2019t interested. He used every opportunity\u00a0\u2014 whether a walkthrough or a padded practice \u2014 to improve before the season. It paid off. He was voted a first-team All-American in 2025, his final season at Georgia Tech.<\/p>\n

Key says Rutledge is hands-down the best offensive lineman he\u2019s ever coached. His highlight reels often show him driving defenders 15 yards downfield and planting them into the turf. He always plays through the whistle.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the Texans traded up to select him with the 26th overall pick in April.<\/p>\n

When the Texans drafted him, Rutledge wasn\u2019t in the NFL green room. He wasn\u2019t surrounded by a large crowd.<\/p>\n

Instead, he spent draft night at an Airbnb in northeast Georgia with his immediate family.<\/p>\n

After getting the call from the Texans, he thought about everything he had been through. \u201cIt\u2019s God,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also me being who I am, how I\u2019m wired, how competitive I am and how much I love the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

From growing up in rural northeast Georgia with a single mother, moving from house to house; Being overlooked by recruiters; to playing Division I football; surviving a car accident and nearly losing his foot; To recovering and becoming an All-American; to now becoming a first-round draft pick and reaching the NFL to play for the Texans, it was all part of his journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keylan Rutledge still keeps the photos of the car wreck in his phone, ready to show anyone who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-368127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}