RIO DE JANEIRO – Central Ohio native Nate Ebner has a Super Bowl ring.
Now, he’s hoping for an Olympic medal.
The New England Patriots safety, who graduated from Hilliard Davidson High School, helped the American rugby team in a 26-0 blowout of Brazil Tuesday.
Back home, coach Bill Belichick stopped practice so his players could watch their Pats teammate compete a world away.
Ebner isn’t worried about getting back into football condition with the start of the season just weeks away. He says you don’t run in football like you do in rugby.
Ebner adds he’ll have to put on some weight when he gets back to the states.
According to his Wikipedia entry, Ebner was born in Dublin, and lived in Cincinnati until sixth grade, and then attended Hilliard Davidson, but did not play football there.
READ MORE about Nate Ebner’s story in The Columbus Dispatch
When he was 17 years old, Ebner became the youngest player ever to play on the United States national rugby sevens team.
He walked on at Ohio State and was named a team captain during his senior year in 2011, according to The Columbus Dispatch, and was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the NFL draft.