Three years ago, Rutgers was privileged enough to welcome a new member to its football family. On February 6, 2008, Eric LeGrand made it official when he signed his national letter of intent to Rutgers University. His excitement was uncontainable that day as was his anticipation for the future.

"Make sure you get a picture of my Rutgers tie," Eric eagerly said at Colonia High School just as the clock was about to strike 8:30 in the a.m.

A few camera flashes went off and Eric smiled widely joined by his mother Karen, his sister Nicole, and his high school coach Ben LaSala. That smile which has become synonymous with Eric LeGrand shined brightly on what was an otherwise cloudy February morning.

That smile was also contagious.

The joy of Eric's accomplishment could be felt by everyone who was present for his Signing Day ceremony. It was even felt by a Rutgers fan base who had yet to see him play a single college game.

"It makes me feel comfortable that he not only has me rooting for him, but he has a bunch of fans rooting for him," Karen said that morning. "He's such a likeable kid. He wants to please. There's a lot of high expectations and he wants to fulfill those."

Eric couldn't wait to get started on his college football career. As a senior in high school, he traveled down to Rutgers for every single spring practice and tried to absorb as much as he could.

"I benefited a lot from spring practice," Eric said shortly after the RU's spring practice of '08 had concluded. "I basically know the defense and how they base everything. I think it went really well for me."

The thrill of seeing his future teammates practice seemed to rub off on Eric as he prepared to take the field for one last time as a high school player. He was chosen to represent Team New Jersey in the 2008 All-Star Classic football game.

After practicing alongside him for just a few short days, Eric's teammates bestowed another honor upon him.

"They picked me up as the fourth captain," he said in an excited voice following that All-Star game. "I just led like I did at Colonia, just lead the team as a middle linebacker. Two more weeks from today, I'll be here and I'm going to keep chopping."

Eric was also overflowing with excitement as he talked about playing inside Rutgers Stadium for the very first time.

"It was great coming out of the tunnel," Eric exclaimed. "We walked out to the middle of the field and just started talking about the Jersey boys being nasty."

That summer of '08 finally arrived as did the start of Eric's first ever training camp. Yet, even though he studied the linebacker position all spring and summer, he was asked to switch positions for the better of the team.

Eric made no qualms and graciously accepted the move to the defensive line.

"It's fun actually, I like it a lot," Eric said with a smile in the midst of his first ever training camp. "I'll do anything for the team. It came as a surprise at first, but whatever's going to get me on the field, I'll do."

More sacrifices were asked of Eric that year as he even had a temporary stint back at fullback towards the middle of the season.

"I had no idea my first year would encompass this much," Eric said halfway through his freshman campaign. "But I'm going through it, I'm really liking it and I'm learning new things. Who knows if I'll end up back on the defense or I'll stay on the offense?"

That selfless attitude is part of what has enabled Eric to succeed on the college gridiron. Another key ingredient to his success is a tremendous work ethic that was instilled at him at an early age.

"My mom basically implanted that in me when I was a kid when I wanted to go out in the streets and play instead of going to practice at Pop Warner," Eric said in September of '09. "But my mom always made me go to practice. She was always on me with my schoolwork, cleaning up, everything. I was basically on the chop before I even got here."

Eric went on to chop his way to his first ever collegiate start last September at his new home of defensive tackle.

"It was an amazing experience," Eric said after that game. "It was a great experience to start my first game and to get my first sack was a greet feeling. I had to show everybody that the chop is back."

Eric continued to progress as a defensive tackle and flourished as the 2010 season began. This past Wednesday, Eric talked about how excited he was to play against the triple option of Army as well as take the field in the Meadowlands.

He also joked about being a Broncos fan as opposed to being a New York Giants guy even though it was so close to home. Yet, it seemed like only yesterday when the smiling high school kid from Colonia signed on to become a member of the Rutgers football family.

"It is going by really fast," Eric said. "I've been thinking about it lately. It's moving. I have a half-year left and then I have a year left next year, God-given hopefully."

Those comments came only three days before Eric's horrifying injury that has left him in a hospital bed with the inability to move any part of his body below his neck.

But Eric does have the use of the two things that have defined him as both a football player and a person. He has the use of an effervescent smile that can light up a room and the heart of a champion that just won't quit.

That combination will help him immensely on his future road to recovery.

"He has that way about him and he had that smile about him out on the practice field," Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said on a Sunday afternoon conference call. "You know, he could make you laugh just smiling at you. It's a rarity out on the practice field. He's a special guy."