Article By Greg Jaklewicz
Photos Courtesy of WylieSports.com
Spotlight on Blaze Ruffin
Wylie Bulldogs head coach Clay Martin knows the value of junior receiver Blaze Ruffin.
“It’s going to be a point of emphasis to get Blaze some touches,” Martin said this week, leading up to the state of District 2-5A play.
Martin, Ruffin and the Bulldogs posted a 2-2 record in non-district play. The defending district champs are on the road for the second straight week, this time going north to Wichita Falls to take on Legacy High School.
The Leopards are 1-3.
With a shortage of returning starters from a 9-2 team in 2024, Martin and his staff had to turn to a good junior class. Ruffin is one of those juniors.
“Blaze was going to be a weapon on the outside from the jump and has really come into his own,” Martin said.
Ruffin has 13 catches for 290 yards to lead the team. He has three touchdown catches.
A Connection in the Making
After hauling in one pass when junior quarterback Jadin Karleskint went just 5-for-7 in the opening game against Brownwood, Ruffin has picked up the pace.
He caught two TD passes against Coronado, and added another last week on one of the most exciting Wylie plays of the night against Stephenville. Karleskint had to scramble for his life, going from the left side of the field to the right, where he launched a strike to Ruffin.
The Karleskint-to-Ruffin connection became more important by necessity.
First, go-to inside receiver Dylan Regala, another junior, was out with an injury.
Secondly, Wylie’s running back was stymied against Lubbock Monterey and Stephenville.
Martin has been pleased to see the two on the same page.
“I think Jadin and Blaze have had some good chemistry,” he said. “and that is going to continue.”
Building a Relationship
While some player connections go back years, this one does not. Karleskint arrived at Wylie as a freshman, so the athletes have built their trust on just over two seasons of football.
Their first athletic meeting came, ironically, at a basketball camp, Ruffin said.
“We’re real close now. It’s always good to have that relationship with your quarterback,” Ruffin said.
Of course, the 7-on-7 summer program and off-season workouts today speed the thrower-catcher relationship. Timing is crucial, and Karleskint and Ruffin have honed that.
Ruffin grew up around football.
His father, current WHS basketball coach Gregg Ruffin, coached football for 23 years under longtime coach Hugh Sandifer.
“Blaze went to a lot of football games when he was growing up. He has always been around the game and couldn’;t wait to get his turn at being a Bulldogs football player,” dad said. “Seeing him wear the purple and gold is very special to me because my whole working career (29 years) has been about the Wylie Bulldogs.”
Martin said it’s an advantage to have a coach’s son on the team.
“That always helps,” he said.
As does having good speed and standing close to 6-foot-3.
It also helps that Blaze Ruffin has a great name for football.
As a receiver, blazing downfield after a catch or with a kickoff is good.
And as a Bulldog, well, Ruff!
Making Plays
Blaze Ruffin was eager for the start of district play.
“It should be good. There are three phases - pre-district, district and the playoffs,” he said. “We’re in phase two right now. We feel good about the games that we’ve played, and we’re hoping to continue that into district.”
Ruffin said the learning process will continue for the Bulldogs. With Regala expected back against the Leopards, Wylie will have more to work with on offense.
“We still have some learning points, from the offensive line to us receivers. We’ll continue to grow that chemistry and be better as the weeks go on.”
Regala, who has a productive sophomore year for Wylie, scored twice in the Brownwood game. Without him on the field, Wyatt Kidman filled in with nine catches.
Still, Karleskint needed a go-to guy, and he found that in Ruffin.
“With Dylan being out, he had to have somebody to go to,” Ruffin said. “So me and him getting on the connection that we had was really great. Now that we have Dylan, that really opens up the playbook to have bigger plays for us.
Most often, a team is successful running the football and/or with the short passing game can cash in with a big play.
Ruffin was thrilled, of course, to get his first touchdown grab against Coronado. And then got another one that night.
But his catch against Stephenville was a keeper.
“What we’re taught as receivers is to match the quarterback. Wherever he goes, we try to go the same way and get depth, like I did,” he said. “I was just hanging around until I saw him break to the Stephenville sideline and I started to take off. He was able to air it out.
“I just try to follow him wherever he goes and try to make something happen.”
Wylie’s other touchdown against Stephenville was the opposite of that.
Karleskint seemed to be going right, but saw Jaedin Naemi wide open across the field and got the ball to him.
Ruffin said opportunities come up in a game.
Against the Yellow Jackets, Ruffin noted that a cornerback was “bailing” and a play was called to take advantage of that.
“And sure enough, it worked,” he said.
Ruffin caught his longest pass of the season, a 59-yard gain that flipped the field.
“It’s always fun to get those. It gets the energy back,” he said.
Even as Karleskint has increased the number of throws he has made in recent games, both by design and necessity, Ruffin said the Bulldogs still will rely on their running game. With four-year players Julius Laine in the backfield, Karleskint’s ability to run, and the emergence of backups Cooper Jones and Rodrigo Jones, Wylie should be able to power the ball behind its offensive line.
“We’re still going to get down and dirty and hand it off to Julius. But whenever they bring the backers in to stop the run, that will give us more space to air it out.,” Ruffin said.
Every part of the game needs to be involved, he said.
“It makes it come together as a whole,” Ruffin said.
Wylie is scoring 30.5 points a game. That number is inflated because the Bulldogs piled up 70 points against Coronado.
Playing for Keeps Now
Ruffin said his team needs “to handle business like it did last year” to be successful in district play. The Bulldogs went 6-0 last fall to win their second championship in three years.
Texas Football Magazine projects Lubbock-Cooper (3-1) as the team to beat. Wichita Falls Memorial is 4-0 and Palo Duro has shown its defensive ability in a 3-1 start. Next week’s crosstown game against Abilene Cooper will be key.
“If we continue to fight as a team and play as a team, we should be right there in the mix,” Ruffin said. “We need, not so much to take it slow, but to think ‘We need to win the game this week’ and then ‘We need to win the game this week.’ You can’t lose games in this district.
“Everything matters because of how tight the race is going to be.”
Coach Ruffin is pleased that his son understands the team concept.
“More important to him is the success that his teams have. He is truly a kid who thinks about his team’s success over his own.”