by T. Scott Boatright
Boom and zoom all in one package spelled doom for the Walker Wildcats Friday night at L.J. “Hoss” Garrett Stadium.
The player simply nicknamed “Jet” kicked in the afterburners after a sluggish start for Ruston High and sent the No. 1 Bearcats soaring to a 56-17 win over No. 9 Walker.
Jordan Hayes provided both the boom and zoom, dancing across the field and making moves that made me think about going up the Ruston coaching box to see just what kind of PlayStation joystick was being used for Hayes to be able to jump and juke, slash and dash to such great effect.
The number 13 was anything but unlucky for Hayes against Walker as he averaged 13 yards on 13 carries for 173 yards and two touchdowns.
And Hayes capped off his three TD performance with an 80-yard kick return during which he weaved his way across the field and back before finally seeing a hole open up, turbocharging the rest of the way to paydirt.
That’s 253 yards and three scores of all-purpose yards on the night for the RHS junior.
Not too shabby.
The thing is, Hayes is anything but shabby to watch. More like fascinating.
It all begins with speed — speed that kills. Hayes has plenty of it and that speed played a big role in helping the Bearcats pull away in the second half after the Wildcats proved tough to take down and put away for much of the first half.
But while Hayes has an incredible burst that is followed by seemingly ever-accelerating speed, that’s not the only part of his game.
Hayes has something different. Something special.
He has “it” — in fact he has multiple “its.” And those “its” are intangibles — things that can’t be specifically measured.
They can’t be coached and I’m not totally convinced such abilities can be self-taught through endless training.
What makes Hayes special is the way he can burst through a hole, stop on a dime — and I mean coming to a complete stop for at least at millisecond — before totally shifting direction and hopscotching his way through congestion and then hitting that afterburner button and rocketing away.
Maybe some of those intangibles Hayes has comes through his bloodline.
But Hayes’ Bearcat bloodline runs even deeper.
Eric’s and Victor’s uncle James Robinson was the Bearcats’ leading rusher in 1978 with more than 1,000 yards as a running back/linebacker despite playing only nine games that season.
And Hayes’ uncle Johnny Robinson was an All-State defensive end for the Bearcats in 1976 who became an All-Southland Conference performer for Louisiana Tech before becoming a fourth-round draft pick in 1981 by the NFL’s Raiders and playing in 27 games with 16 starts with one safety and a fumble recovery.
Johnny Robinson’s son Jonathan was a defensive lineman who played alongside current RHS defensive coordinator Kyle Williams for the Bearcats in the early 2000s.
The fact that Ruston’s No. 2 running back, Dylone Brooks, is also back at full speed and added 49 yards and two scores of his own, appeared to lighten the load for Hayes, allowing the Jet” to have fresh legs to do his best quick-twitch impression of Barry Sanders.
“Jordan can just make big plays,” Baugh said. “You saw him tonight. He looked really refreshed. Getting Dylonne back helped with that and rotating him in where Jordan kept his legs under him, He made some really plays”
Be it bloodline, be it intangibles or be it that fascinating “boom and zoom” magic Hayes brings into play, the fact is the player known as “Jet” is someone Bearcat Nation loves watching dancing across the field.
And they only want to see the “Jet” fly higher and higher over the next two weeks.
