Frederick Henry "Juice" Scruggs (born January 19, 2000) is an American professional

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for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

of the

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(NFL). He played

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for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

and was selected by the Texans in the second round of the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL draft was the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2023 NFL season, 2023 season. The NFL draft, draft was held outside of Kansas City Union Station, Union Station i ...

Early life

Scruggs was born on January 19, 2000, in

Ashtabula, Ohio Ashtabula ( ) is the most populous city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It lies at the mouth of the Ashtabula River, on Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland. At the 2020 census, the city had 17,975 people. Like many other cities in the ...

. He attended

Cathedral Preparatory School Cathedral Preparatory School (often referred to simply as Prep) is a private, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory high school for girls and boys in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It was established in 1921 by Archbishop John Mark Gannon a ...

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

, and was a four-time

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winner in

, playing lineman on both sides of the ball. He helped them compile a 49–3 record in his four years with the team, including consecutive 14–0 seasons. He was named first-team all-state as a defensive lineman in 2016 and as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 2017 was named first-team all-state on the offensive line and was given the Pennsylvania Football New Class 4-A Lineman of the Year award. A consensus four-star recruit, Scruggs was ranked as the fifth-best

nationally. He committed to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

over offers from various other schools, including

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

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and

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

College career

Scruggs saw limited action in his first year at Penn State, only appearing on three snaps during their game against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. He was named the joint-winner of the team's Scout Team Offensive Player of the Year award. In early 2019, he was involved in a car accident that caused him serious injuries, including a concussion and fractured vertebrae. Scruggs had to wear a back brace for eight months and missed the entire season due to his injuries. He eventually recovered and made his return to the field against Maryland in November 2020, close to two years after the crash. Scruggs appeared in a total of seven games on the year, none of which he started. Scruggs posted his first start in the 2021 season, starting all 13 games and earning honorable mention all-conference from the

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's coaches and media, third-team honors from

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(PFF), and being named the winner of Penn State's Dick Maginnis Memorial Award for best offensive lineman. The following year, he was voted team captain and started all 12 games, being named third-team All-Big Ten by the league's coaches. Scruggs declared for the

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

after the season, forgoing an extra year of eligibility given to him due to the

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Professional career

Scruggs was selected by the

in the second round (62nd overall) of the

. He was placed on injured reserve on August 31, 2023. He was activated on November 25. As a rookie, he appeared in seven games and started six in the 2023 season.

References

External links

Houston Texans bioPenn State Nittany Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scruggs, Juice 2000 births Living people American football centers American football defensive linemen Sportspeople from Ashtabula, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Players of American football from Erie, Pennsylvania Penn State Nittany Lions football players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen