ExtremeRavens Posted July 29 Posted July 29 The first thing to know about Ravens rookie defensive back Reuben Lowery — other than his ascendance to training camp darling for three interceptions during the spring and another one last week — is that coach John Harbaugh knows his name. Most times, a number will suffice. “Reuben is all ball,” Harbaugh said of the undrafted free agent out of Tennessee-Chattanooga. “He’s all ball every day. All he thinks about, all he talks about, eats it, sleeps it. He comes out here and flies around. He’s a very smart player. He is doing a nice job.” Perhaps the most revealing thing to know about the Powder Springs, Georgia, native, however, is that he majored in mechanical engineering, graduated with Latin honors and a 4.0 GPA, and was a member of the “Rocket Mocs,” a student group that earned NASA recognition as one of the best in the country for five years running. For good measure, Lowery, the youngest of three with two older sisters, was also a prominent member of the school’s Fellowship for Christian Athletes Group and nominated as a junior in 2023 for the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team, an annual award given to players who “demonstrate exceptional community service and volunteerism.” “He’s like the perfect human,” Tennessee-Chattanooga defensive coordinator Mike Yeager told The Baltimore Sun. “He’s the nicest person alive. He’s the hardest worker. He’s the smartest kid.” It has apparently been that way for a while. “He’s the kid you want to date your daughter, marry your daughter,” Lowery’s former high school coach, Phillip Ironside, told The Sun. “He checks all the boxes. “He’s not gonna be in trouble, you’re not gonna read about him doing something stupid, he’s gonna know his playbook. He’s prepared.” For five years, he also prepared to be an engineer — his father Reuben II, a former pastor, is an engineer and IT professional, his mother Tisha a math teacher. Given his small size (5-foot-9, 204 pounds) it was, like an aerospace or energy project, a plan rooted in logic. But it will have to wait — Lowery has a history of playing bigger than he is. In 46 career games at Tennessee-Chattanooga, he had 166 tackles, including 19 for loss and two sacks, 15 passes defended with three interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns. As a senior, he was second on the team in both tackles (62) and tackles for loss (7.5), had six pass breakups and two interceptions and was a first-team All-Southern Conference selection. At Hillgrove High School — where he was teammates with Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Myles Murphy, Los Angeles Rams safety Jaylen “Tank” McCollough and Tennessee Titans tight end Chig Okonkwo — he was at or near the top of the team’s weight room rankings for squats and power clean. He also played all over the field at cornerback and safety for Phillips’ 4-2-5 scheme. Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr speaks with media after a training camp practice. Orr is one of the Ravens coaches impressed by rookie defensive back Reuben Lowery. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) “He was a coach’s dream in the secondary,” said Phillips, adding that Lowery is cerebral, intelligent, quick to process information and always got the defense in the right call. Still, playing in the NFL always seemed more like fantasy than possibility for much of Lowery’s childhood given a diminutive stature. “It was, ‘What’s your reality?’” his father said. “He always said his goals were to make sure to go to school, no student loans and a good career.” But when Lowery was able to hold his own against varsity players at a strong high school as a freshman, that reality began to shift. Then at Tennessee-Chattanooga’s camp for high school players, he caught head coach Rusty Wright’s attention, was offered a scholarship and quickly proved a worthy investment off the field and on it. After appearing in all five games as a freshman during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the next season he helped spearhead a defense that gave up its fewest passing yards (153.5) per game in seven years. And as a third-year sophomore, he returned his first career interception 45 yards for a touchdown. By his junior season, he was named team captain and started at slot safety and outside corner. “He was the best blitzer we had, one of the best man coverage guys we had, one of the best zone coverage guys we had, one of the smartest guys in terms of fits, had great hands getting off blocks,” Yeager said. “He’s a technician. Whatever the coaches told him to do technically, he worked at it every single day so it’s a natural reflex.” All the while, he maintained a spot on the dean’s list and honor roll. “We’d have a team meeting and Reuben would be sitting in there with a laptop doing homework,” Tennessee-Chattanooga coach Rusty Wright told The Sun. “As soon as we started meeting, it went off and it was time to go play football. “He’s very compartmentalized. He knows how to handle his business.” Making the Ravens’ roster, however, could be Lowery’s most challenging math problem yet. Baltimore already has a deep and talented secondary, led by safeties Kyle Hamilton, first-round rookie Malaki Starks, and second-year safeties Sanoussi Kane and Beau Brade, along with cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins, Jaire Alexander, Chidobe Awuzie, Jalyn Armour-Davis and T.J. Tampa, among others. But the Ravens also like versatility and keeping a lot defensive backs, for their prevalence of nickel and dime looks and to account for injuries. Already, they lost safety Ar’Darius Washington for what is expected to be at least most of the season with a torn Achilles suffered during offseason workouts. On Monday, Armour-Davis also suffered an undisclosed injury that required an MRI, while Alexander was out because of swelling in his knee. Barring any significant long-term injuries, there don’t figure to be a lot of open jobs, but that could of course change. And at the least Lowery has an excellent shot at the practice squad. “This is one of the most competitive rosters that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said. “But, Reuben has made plays since he’s been here. We’re upfront with our guys in the meeting rooms. We tell them, ‘Hey, block out distractions. Don’t count numbers, don’t worry about who’s in the room. All you do is show up, work hard, make plays and be consistent. That will lead to productivity. Now you put yourself in a great situation to do great things,’ and so far, Reuben has done that, so he’s playing all over the secondary for us.” That bodes well. “He’s been really impressive,” Orr said. That much, at least, has never been in doubt. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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