Tag Archives: san antonio talons

Arena

Ruffins, Moqut

tntafl14 ruffinsCard: TNT AFL Talons 2014
Acquired: In Person, 5/3/2014 Talons vs. Barnstormers.

An imposing player on the field clocking in at an impressive 6’5″, 320, Moqut Ruffins is a versatile athlete, who played defensive line during his time at Louisiana Tech. He recorded 79 tackles and 3 sacks for the Bulldogs before joining the AFL in 2010 with Bossier-Shreveport. There he’d make the jump to offense and started playing offensive line and tight end. Along the way he’s also played for the New Orleans Voodoo (2011) and the Pittsburgh Power (2012), before joining the San Antonio Talons. Moqut recorded a career high 17 receptions for 181 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2013, and then again in 2014 with 19 catches for 151 yards and another 5 scores. The Talons in particular enjoyed utilizing Moqut on tight end screens where he was a devastating option for the San Antonio offense.

Arena

Bassuener, Matt

tnttal14 baussuenerCard: TNT AFL Talons 2014
Acquired: IP, 7/2014  San Antonio Talons v. Jacksonville Sharks

Matt is a very well-traveled quarterback. He’s seen action on 4 different continents, including stops with the Seinajoki Crocodiles, Fluminense Imperadores, Gold Coast Stingrays, Upsalla 86ers. A mobile and savvy veteran of gridiron and the Arena leagues, Matt was back on his second stint with the Talons in 2014.  During his tours in the Arena leagues, Bassuener (pronounced: Baw-zing-r) had also played for the Louisville Fire, Amarillo Dusters, and Fairbanks Grizzlies. He got his first crack at the AF1 league in 2011 with the Tulsa Talons throwing for 1,803 yards and 27 touchdowns. A dangerous and crafty scrambler, Matt had 12 TDs rushing that year as well. He’d earn a tryout with the Barnstormers in 2011 before landing with the Gladiators in 2012.

Arriving roughly halfway through the 2014 season, Matt spent most of the time fighting Shane Boyd for the starting job. Allowed to finally lead the team during the final few contests, Bassuener, led the Talons to wins over the LA Kiss and New Orleans Voodoo in the consecutive final two contests. Matt also helped power San Antonio’s highly ranked rushing attack, finishing 4th in the league in rushing with 228 yards on 48 attempts and a TD.  After settling in Matt ended up with 23 TDs to 8 INT while throwing for 1,207 yards on 107 completions.

100MEDIA$IMAG0840Coming to games every week and giving cards to the team’s COO paid off, as he upgraded myself and my wife up to field seats before the game. With a few minutes to decide, I chose to sit at the 30, then moved down just a bit to the 25. A few minutes later a young woman came and sat beside us. After striking up a conversation, we found out the young woman turned out to be Matt’s girlfriend. Occasionally she’d lean over the front and scream at him in Portuguese, cheering him on or yelling at the Sharks’ players. A few minutes later I caught an errant pass from Matt in the stands. It’d be a nice memento to keep of our adventures with the Talons and the Arena league.  After the game I gave Matt his card. He was almost as excited as his girlfriend to get his own football card, and put it up on his Twitter account. He lives in Austin, and continues to train and play as an ambassador to the sport of football.

Of note, Matt was a stunt double for J.D. McCoy from the TV show Friday Night Lights. Over his college time at Georgetown, Bassuener threw for 3,233 yards and 23 touchdowns, while also gaining over 400 yards rushing on a healthy 5 YPC average.

Arena

Stephens, DJ

tntafl14 stephensCard: TNT AFL 2014
Acquired: In Person, 5/3/2014 Talons vs. Barnstormers.

I was really happy with how this card design turned out. I used a posterization effect to go along with the expanded cut out. It looks great for this card and balances out the busyness of the background. DJ was one of the many players that I contacted through Twitter with their card design before attending the Talons game about a month later. Some fans were so excited about them that they asked me how they could get a copy of the card and were stunned I had done them myself. It’s a real high compliment to have fans of your work, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

Through the 2014 season, DJ played his entire career for the Talons. He joined the franchise in 2012 and has seen an increasing presence on the team at receiver. Graduating from Arkansas-Monticello Stephens had 689 yards and 9 touchdowns on 68 receptions in 2011.  A dangerous kick returner, Stephens had 4 scores in 30 kicks in 2013, to go along with 55 catches for 738 yards and 13 TDs.

2014 was DJ’s coming of age in the AFL. He set team records with 11 receptions in the team’s opener against the LA KISS. The team liked the combo of DJ and PJ so much they went ahead and traded Jomo back to Jacksonville. Stephens earned the J. Lewis Small Player of the Week award from the league after setting franchise records with 229 yards in the Talons loss to the Iowa Barnstormers and led the league in all-purpose yardage (1,007) after week 5. Stephens season came to a frustrating end as injury held him out of the final 5 contests.