Culver-Stockton’s Rupcich signs free-agent contract with Tennessee Titans

CANTON, Mo. — Once his deal to sign a free-agent contract with the Tennessee Titans was finalized, Culver-Stockton College offensive tackle Andrew Rupcich readied himself to rejoin his family and friends in the lounge of the Oak Hill Inn.

Never did he expect the kind of reaction he received.

“Everyone was screaming for the first 10 to 20 seconds,” Rupcich said.

It made it difficult to stick to his plan.

“I told myself I wasn’t going to get emotional when I walked out,” Rupcich said. “But I had to fight back tears because I didn’t want to start crying.”

Emotion won in much the same way Rupcich did. His decorated collegiate career, which included being named a three-time NAIA first-team All-American, set the stage for the 6-foot-7, 322-pound tackle to become the first Wildcat to sign a free-agent contract since 2008.

There had been hope Rupcich, who is from Wonder Lake, Ill., and was a prep standout at McHenry High School, would become the first C-SC product to be selected in the NFL draft since 1946. However, it never came to be.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” Rupcich said. “I was looking forward to it. A lot of the teams I talked to in the pre-draft process were thinking I was going to get drafted. They just didn’t know where or by who. It was one of those things where I watched everything and checked around.

“Disappointing? Sure. But it was not the end all. I knew by five minutes after the draft I was going to be signing and that’s what happened.”

The final four rounds of the seven-round NFL draft took place Saturday, and by the time the sixth round rolled around, Rupcich excused himself to a separate room in the Oak Hill Inn to quietly handle the stress of talking to coaches and scouts who were interested.

“I could focus on that and not be stressed out about it,” Rupcich said.

The Titans were one of the teams who stayed in contact.

“Their assistant o-line coach had been texting me throughout the week, kind of putting their foot in the door essentially,” Rupcich said. “It was getting so close to the end of the draft when I got a call from them talking about the potential of it. They ended up calling right after the draft.”

Rupcich first appeared on the Titans’ radar last fall when Matt Miller, one of Tennessee’s college scouts, visited the C-SC campus and met with the offensive tackle. The Titans communicated with him at the NFLPA All-Star game and again at the NFL Combine, where he met with Tennessee’s offensive line coaches.

Pegged by many to likely become a guard in the NFL, Rupcich was told by the Titans he would compete for a roster spot at any of the five offensive line positions and would not be pigeon-holed into being a guard or a left tackle.

It made signing with them a no-brianer.

“The opportunity there positional-wise was my best opportunity,” Rupcich said. “Everything came into order perfectly. The perfect time. The perfect organization. The perfect everything.”

That’s why he was emotional on top of being stoked.

“I’m just super excited and happy for the opportunity,” Rupcich said. “I just want to be able to get in there and show what I’ve been working on pretty much my whole life.”