By Mark Inabinett
al.com
LAS VEGAS — Henry Ruggs III has spent more than four of the nearly six years since his final game at Alabama under electronic confinement at home or imprisoned by the Nevada Department of Corrections.
But the program for the Fall Convocation of the 195th Commencement of the University of Alabama, held on Saturday at Coleman Coliseum, lists Ruggs with a bachelor’s degree in human environmental sciences from the College of Human Environmental Sciences.
For the 2025 summer semester, Ruggs was named to the university’s president’s list for having a 4.0 grade-point average for the term.
A former Montgomery high school star, Ruggs is serving a three-to-10-year term for his role in a traffic crash that took the life of a Las Vegas woman in 2021.
Ruggs is incarcerated at Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City. The former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver was transferred to the medium-custody facility recently from Casa Grande Transitional Housing in Las Vegas, a preparatory facility for prisoner reintegration into society.
Ruggs’ Nevada Department of Corrections record shows his earliest parole-eligibility date as Aug. 5, 2026.
In May 2023, Ruggs pleaded guilty to one count of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled or prohibited substance resulting in death and one count of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter after reaching a plea arrangement with the Clark County (Nevada) District Attorney’s Office.
Originally, Ruggs had been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled or prohibited substance resulting in death, driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled or prohibited substance resulting in death or substantial bodily harm, two counts of reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm and possession of a gun under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
In August 2023, Judge Jennifer Schwartz of the 8th Judicial Court chose to follow the plea agreement and sentenced Ruggs to from 36 to 120 months in prison for the first count and six months in prison for the second count.
The State of Nevada contended Ruggs was at fault in a deadly accident that occurred in Las Vegas at 3:39 a.m. Nov. 2, 2021 . That’s when a Corvette driven by Ruggs struck a Toyota RAV4 driven by Tina Tintor, a 23-year-old Las Vegas resident. Tintor and her dog died in the wreck.
The Las Vegas police department reported tests on Ruggs at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada within two hours of the accident showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.161 percent. The legal limit in Nevada is 0.08 percent.
Law-enforcement authorities said Ruggs’ Corvette was traveling at 156 mph 2.5 seconds before impact and 127 mph at the time of the collision with Tintor’s car.
After his bail was set at $150,000 on Nov. 3, 2021, Ruggs was released into an electronic-monitoring program.
The original date for the preliminary hearing in Ruggs’ case had been Dec. 16, 2021, and it was rescheduled to March 10, May 19 and Sept. 7 in 2022 and Feb. 1 and May 4 in 2023 without ever taking place.
The delays were caused by the wait for a 47-page police report, a defense request for more time to inspect the evidence, a dispute over judges and court assignment and a challenge to the legality of the blood draw that yielded incriminating evidence after Ruggs declined to submit to a field sobriety test.
At Lee High School (now renamed Julian High School ) in Montgomery, Ruggs received All-State recognition in 2015 and 2016. As a senior, he earned the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 7A Back of the Year Award.
A freshman on Alabama’s CFP national-championship team for the 2017 season, Ruggs had 98 receptions for 1,716 yards and 24 touchdowns in three seasons with the Crimson Tide.
After he caught 40 passes for 746 yards and seven touchdowns in 2019 for Alabama and ran the fastest 40-yard dash at 4.27 seconds at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine, Ruggs joined the Raiders as the 12th selection of the 2020 NFL Draft.
At the time of his arrest, Ruggs had 50 receptions for 921 yards and four touchdowns in 20 games for Las Vegas. The Raiders released Ruggs on the same day the wreck occurred.
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