Reuben James Houston (born October 30, 1982) better known by his stage name Rico Richie is an American rapper and former

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

for the

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

Yellow Jackets football team from 2002 to 2005.

Football career

Houston had 158 career tackles, 16 pass breakups, 12 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He is also a former all-ACC triple jumper for Georgia Tech's track team. Houston graduated on December 17, 2005, with a degree in

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

. He was signed as a free agent on a tryout contract by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

on May 8, 2006, but was released on August 6, 2006.

Legal Troubles

On June 22, 2005, he was arrested for allegedly conspiring to distribute 94 pounds of

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

worth $60,000. Houston was subsequently suspended from the Tech football team, but was reinstated following a judge's controversial order that Houston must be allowed to play football at Tech. Houston was sentenced on April 4, 2006, to nine months

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

as part of a

plea deal A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include ...

. In December 2006, Houston was arrested in Florida for possession of over 20 grams of marijuana. He began a year-and-one-month prison sentence in June 2007 and was released in May 2008. In March 2010, Houston surrendered to the

Cobb County Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, and is a core county of the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north-central portion of the state. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. It is the state's third most populous cou ...

jail on outstanding warrants for terroristic threats, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Hip-Hop Career

Houston is currently pursuing a career in rap music. He goes by the stage name of "Rico Richie" and received popularity with his single "Poppin" (prod.

808 Mafia 808 Mafia is an American record production and songwriting group founded by record producers TM88, Lex Luger, and Southside. Its other members include Fuse 100, Tarentino, Purps, Swede, Nonstop Da Hitman, and MP808, among others. The group's ...

) released in 2015. Houston is currently distributed by La Familia Entertainment.

References

Living people Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's track and field athletes American football cornerbacks 1982 births 21st-century American sportsmen {{defensiveback-1980s-stub