Ramon Foster
 | |||||
| Pittsburgh Steelers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||||
| Born: | January 7, 1986 Henning, Tennessee | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| College: | Tennessee | ||||
| Undrafted: | 2009 | ||||
| Career history | |||||
| |||||
| Roster status: | Active | ||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||
| |||||
| Career NFL statistics as of Week 1, 2015 | |||||
| |||||
Ramon Foster (born January 7, 1986) nicknamed, "The Big Ragu", is an American football offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He is the brother of St. Louis Rams offensive lineman, Renardo Foster. He played college football at Tennessee where he played in a career total of 44 games and also earned All-SEC honors as a freshman a junior. Foster was named to the ESPN Mark May´s 2007 "MayDay Team" after playing with a broken thumb throughout most of his junior season.[1] Foster was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent on April 27, 2009[2] after he went undrafted in the 2009 NFL Draft. Foster earned the top backup guard position on the line, with his first NFL start against the Baltimore Ravens on November 29, 2009, starting in place of the injured Chris Kemoeatu, having replaced him mid-game during the team's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs the week before.[3] Foster made his second start on December 20, 2009 in a game against the Green Bay Packers, also due to an injury to Kemoeatu.
Early career
Foster started for all four year both on offense and defense at Ripley High School in Ripley, Tennessee and also handled some place-kicking and kickoff duties. He was also a three-year starter on the school's basketball team. He also competed in track and field achieved a career-best shot put of 45-11.[4]
Professional career
Pittsburgh Steelers
Coming out of Tennessee in 2009, Foster attended the NFL combine and participated at Tennessee's annual Pro Day. Although being graded as a late-round draft pick, Foster ultimately went undrafted.
Following the 2009 NFL Draft, Foster was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers. [5] Coming into the 2009 NFL season, Foster was initially competing to be a back-up guard against the Steeler's third round draft choice that year, Kraig Urbik. Following an injury to starting veteran guard Darnell Stapleton during training camp, Foster gained the oppurtunity to become the back-up guard. As a rookie, Foster did not play in the first 2 games of the 2009 NFL season. He received his first playing time during a Week 3 contest at the Cincinnati Bengals. After sharing time with veteran Chris Kemoeatu, he received his first career start in a Week 12 loss, to the division-rival, Baltimore Ravens. Foster returned to the starting position for the last 3 games of the regular season, as the Steelers ended with a 9-7 record and missed the playoffs.
As a rookie in 2009, Foster had 4 starts and played in 14 games.
Although he finished 2009 as a starter, he did not begin the following season as the starting guard. He received his first playing time in 2010, in a Week 3 38-13 victory at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Foster didn't receive his first start that year until Week 10 against the New England Patriots. He then remained the starting guard for last 7 games of the 2010 season. He finished his second season with 8 starts in 12 games played. [6]