Malachi Ruffin's Path From Walk-On to Potential Starter is an 'Unbelievable Story'

Do you like underdog stories? Well, this one is for you.

West Virginia has a long and storied history with walk-ons in its football program. In fact, some of the best to ever put on the Old Gold and Blue walked onto the team. Some get their opportunities earlier than others and have multiple years to build a memorable career and even put themselves on the NFL radar.

That's not the case for all walk-ons though. Some never see the field and transfer to a Group of Five school or perhaps down to the FCS or Division II levels for a better shot at seeing the field. And in all honesty, can you really blame them?

Then you have some who are dedicated to the program so much that regardless of playing time, there's almost nothing that will trigger them to transfer out. And that's the story of redshirt senior cornerback, Malachi Ruffin.

Ruffin was a three-sport athlete at Nash Central High School in Nashville, North Carolina - a small little town home to roughly 5,500 people, located 45 minutes east of the state capital, Raleigh.

In his senior year Ruffin totaled 59 tackles, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery which allowed him to land on the All-Conference Second Team. Unfortunately, not a single offer came his way. He and his high school coaches made several calls and oftentimes wouldn't get a response. Heck, even then previous regime at WVU didn't answer the phone.

Some people got in his ear a little bit and said, "You're going D-III," and "You can't play D-I football." He didn't care. He told them, "okay" and used that as motivation to not only prove those folks wrong, but to prove himself right.

So instead of settling for a D-III school or taking the JUCO route, Ruffin decided to bet on himself and attempt to walk-on at West Virginia.

On August 20th, 2018, Ruffin completed his first day of class as a student and went over to the football facility along with about 40 or so others to fight for a walk-on spot. The staff had no idea who he was, but they did after the workout. He impressed with his speed in the 40-yard dash among other drills and there, they offered him a spot.

Why West Virginia, though?

As we oftentimes hear with recruits, he always watched Tavon Austin growing up. But he wasn't the only one. He liked watching guys like Karl Joseph, Rasul Douglas, and Kyzir White as well. He did his research on the program and the university and fell in love with the traditions and the passionate fan base, making his decision an easy one.

"He's an unbelievable story," said co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach ShaDon Brown. "He was a walk-on player, obviously. Was on the scout team for two years. Didn't play a lot at all. I came in '21 and he did an unbelievable job. And I basically explained to him his only opportunity was special teams because he is fast. He's a 4.4 guy."

Ruffin fought every single day to get noticed at practice, in the weight room, film sessions, and eventually in games on that special teams unit. Two years and one day ago (August 16, 2021) Ruffin experienced something he will never forget -- his mother Tylina, and his father, Brian, informing him that his hard work had paid off and that he had been placed on scholarship.

"I was shocked at first because I wasn't expecting it," Ruffin said. "My mom and my family basically telling me that, it was a special thing. It's something I'll always carry with me. Sometimes I'll even go back and watch it myself because it's such a special moment for me."

"He earned his scholarship because of special teams," ShaDon Brown stated. "And then last year being a utility player, he was thrown into a ballgame against Baylor and had not had a rep at corner for probably three weeks. We had two injuries and had a targeting [call] and we were down to our fourth or fifth guy and we were thin as nickel soup as far as who we had. I went over to Malachi and said, 'Hey, you gotta go man' and he didn't bat an eye. He was kind of blinking like, 'At safety?' I was like, 'No bro, you gotta go at corner.' And he goes out there and makes a couple plays in that Baylor game and saves a touchdown on a big post ball and that kind of ignited him."

Fast forward to this year's fall camp and the former walk-on that had received no interest out of high school is competing for a starting spot on the WVU defense and ShaDon Brown's confidence in him is sky high.

"Now coming back as a sixth-year player, he's really confident. He knows his job. He plays really hard. He can play multiple positions even without practice. He can play on all four special teams. He's probably one of those guys you don't write a lot of articles about and you're probably not going to get a lot of clicks with his name, but as a coach, you're always looking for him. Because you know if there's a hole, he can fill it. He's kind of like that commercial Flex Seal. He can fix stuff."

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