Patriots Player Heading to Rio Olympics

Image Credit: Jeffrey Beall/Wikimedia

Foxborough, MA — A New England Patriot will be among 12 athletes representing Team USA at the Olympics in rugby sevens.

Safety Nate Ebner was named to the team Monday, becoming the only NFL player to qualify for the trip to Rio, per his agent Sean Stellato.

Prior to playing college football, Ebner exclusively played rugby for his first two years at the Ohio State University. At 17, he became the younger representative of the sevens team and was named the MVP of Team USA at the 2007 U19 IRB Junior World Championship and 2008 U20 IRB Junior World Championship in 2008, according to USA Rugby

Ebner joined the Ohio State football team as a walk-on during his junior year. He was drafted by the Patriots in 2012.

In March, Ebner announced that he would focus on his attempt earn a spot on the US Olympic rugby team.

Ebner and Team USA will face Argentina in their first match on Aug. 9. There will be two more group stage matches against Fiji and Brazil before the top two teams in each group and top two third place teams qualify for the medal playoffs.