At some point a few months ago - Ronnie Prude doesn't remember exactly when - he discovered that he was no longer at LSU and that he was no longer the Big Man on Campus.
That realization stung. A lot.
Prude, who was signed by the Ravens as an undrafted free agent out of LSU, found himself fifth on the depth chart behind cornerbacks Chris McAlister, Samari Rolle, Corey Ivy and Evan Oglesby. It was an unfamiliar position.
"Coming up in college, I always wanted to be the guy that people could count on to go out and make plays," Prude said. "When I came in, I had a chip on my shoulder to show people that I could be a great ballplayer and was going to be a great ballplayer."
Although his career is just beginning, Prude has emerged as a productive and valuable addition to a Ravens defense that is third in the NFL in yards allowed.
Prude, 24, is tied for third on the team in interceptions with two and had the best showing of his career when he returned an interception for a touchdown and broke up three more passes in the Ravens' 35-22 defeat of the New Orleans Saints last Sunday.
Prude, who lined up primarily at nickel back in place of the injured Ivy (kidney tear), appears to have secured his grip as the team's best young cornerback.
"The guy's just really ready," McAlister said. "It's something we expected, but at the same time, you don't expect it from a guy who hasn't been up, who hasn't really been thrown into the mix. But to see him go out there and play the way he did just lets you know that if something happens in our secondary, we have the guys that are capable of coming in and filling those shoes."
Prude's progress is somewhat of a surprise considering that he went undrafted in April and wasn't invited to either the scouting combine or college all-star games, which tends to raise red flags among the NFL's talent evaluators.
But Eric DeCosta, the Ravens' director of college scouting, said that the staff was impressed by the 5-foot-11, 178-pound cornerback's feistiness and was not dissuaded by Prude's blown coverage of a Hail Mary pass that cost the Tigers the Capital One Bowl title against Iowa on Jan. 1, 2005.
"That was only one play, but I think that one play, in some people's eyes, defined Ronnie Prude. That wasn't the case for us," DeCosta said. "A lot of guys are like pretty girls. They're tall, they look good, they run fast, but they don't make plays. ... He's a finisher. He makes plays. He's just got a knack for getting his hands on the ball. We've seen that."
