Jailen Ruth Had To Change Positions to Do It, But He Feels As If He's Equipped to Help Vanderbilt Football.

Ruth has moved to STAR, which appears to have unlocked his skillset.

Ruth is moving to STAR in hopes of increased playing time. | Vanderbilt Athletics

Nashville–Seeing Jailen Ruth drop back in coverage like he does nearly every day as Vanderbilt’s STAR nowadays would’ve been foreign to anyone that had seen him playing Razor and focusing nearly solely on getting after the passer throughout the first two fall camps of his career. 

After all, pass rushing was Ruth’s bread and butter as well as what he came to college to do. The Florida native recorded 49 sacks throughout his high school career and broke out for a 19-sack season as a senior. If the high school numbers didn’t make the case that Ruth should still have some role as a pass rusher, his two sacks in Saturday's scrimmage certainly did. 

But, it believes he can do more than just that as a result of his wiry frame and athleticism. He does too.

 “I’m kind of glad that it did pan out because I do like this position,” Ruth said on Saturday. “I feel like it’s been going pretty good. It can always be a bit better, there’s always going to be room for improvement, but I feel like I’ve made a fast transition to the position.” 

Ruth is still battling for playing time each day as Vanderbilt junior Randon Fontnette has the starting role all but locked up there, but he’s making a case to the Vanderbilt staff that at some point he could be an impact player for them as a result of what he’s done throughout the early fall. 

Perhaps it’s taken some adjusting mentally, but Ruth’s transition to STAR has been nearly seamless from the outside looking in. He’s seemingly always around the ball. He took advantage of the reps that Fontenette’s Saturday maintenance day allowed him to take. Perhaps most importantly, he runs around and covers like a STAR does rather than how an edge rusher does. 

Vanderbilt didn’t know exactly what position the Florida native would stick at once he got on campus, but knew that they wanted to take an opportunity to add a player with his explosiveness and frame. The Commodores’ staff liked Ruth’s pass-rush ability, but ultimately decided he’d be better elsewhere as he struggled to put on the weight necessary to be an every-down player. 

Ruth says that he always knew that moving to STAR could be a possibility and didn’t take the request to change positions personally. Instead, he took it as an opportunity to make more of an impact than he did as primarily a special teamer in 2024. Now he’s doing it at the spot that always seemed like a potential far-off destination. 

Perhaps part of what’s allowed Ruth to jump into his new position somewhat seamlessly is how it unlocks the part of his skillset that was already strong. 

“With me changing positions from razor, it helps me a whole lot on the perimeter with block destruction,” Ruth said, “Being able to get off blocks and make a whole lot of plays on the perimeter.” 

Ruth says the transition wasn’t all that difficult because of his frame already lending itself to a potential role at STAR. Nowadays, Ruth stands at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, which is an inch taller and five pounds heavier than Fontenette. 

Perhaps it’s unreasonable to expect Ruth to produce like Fontenette has, but as a result of his position change it’s reasonable to expect something from him each time he steps on Vanderbilt’s practice field. 

“I felt like it was a way that I would be able to see the field faster,” Ruth said of his position change. “I’m gonna do whatever for this team.”