Rae Carruth was born on January 20, 1974. After his mother and step-father divorced when Carruth was fourteen, Rae and his only sibling, sister Samel, were raised by their mother alone in the suburbs of Sacramento, California. Carruth participated in a variety of athletics from an early age, earning letters in football, basketball, and track from Valley High School in Sacramento; he was named an All-American running back his senior year. Carruth also worked hard academically and raised his GPA from 2.01 his sophomore year to 3.13 his senior year. The University of Colorado recruited Carruth as a wide-receiver and admitted him in 1992. Carruth's success continued in college where he pursued a double-major in English and education, and he was named both a football and an academic All-American during his four years at Colorado.

Carruth was drafted twenty-seventh in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers, who started...