On a team full of new faces, Julian Hammond III is the longest-tenured Buffalo.

The senior from Cherry Creek has logged 88 games with the Colorado men’s basketball team heading into his senior season. Next in line is recruiting classmate Javon Ruffin.

Thanks to a problematic knee, Ruffin hasn’t played nearly as much as Hammond. Yet although Ruffin is going into his fourth season in the CU program, in many ways he is coming off his first true offseason with the Buffs.

Ruffin’s knee has prevented him from reaching his ceiling at CU. However, on a Buffs team sorely in need of a player to step up and produce in the backcourt, Ruffin, fully healthy for the first time since he arrived in Boulder, has an opportunity to fill that void in the rotation while erasing three years of frustration.

For the first time at CU, Ruffin was able to focus during the offseason on individual improvement instead of just trying to get healthy.

“I’ve never really had an offseason because I’ve had a lot of injuries since I’ve been here that have kept me out,” Ruffin said. “So my biggest focus in the offseason was just getting my body ready to last an entire season. A lot of stuff in the weight room with (strength coach) Steve (Englehart). Just being able to be healthy and actually work on the court. But the biggest thing was getting in that weight room, getting strong and getting through the season healthy.”

Ruffin hasn’t really enjoyed a truly healthy spell since joining the Buffs.

He first injured his knee prior to arriving at CU, dislocating his right kneecap in 2022. After enduring surgery, Ruffin had a second surgery during his freshman preseason that was considered minor, but nonetheless forced him into a redshirt season.

Ruffin began the 2022-23 season as a solid contributor off the bench, scoring a career-high 14 points in an early-season upset of Texas A&M. Ruffin averaged 6.0 points with a .358 3-point percentage, but his knee pain persisted. Ruffin missed four midseason games before returning for the next five, going 5-for-11 on 3-pointers during CU’s two-game trip through Arizona.

Those would be Ruffin’s final games of the season, however. Following the ‘22-23 campaign, Ruffin endured another round of knee surgery and initially was ruled out for all of 2023-24. Ruffin returned ahead of schedule, though, making his season debut in the Buffs’ Pac-12 opener against Washington.

Ruffin reached double-figure points just once, scoring 11 points in his third game back at Arizona, but he never truly got on track, averaging 9.9 minutes while appearing in 18 of CU’s final 26 games.

Yet after finally enjoying a fully functional offseason, Ruffin is hoping to put it all together. After Hammond, the Buffs are lacking experience in the backcourt. Getting a full season out of Ruffin certainly would help bridge that gap.

“To be honest now, I don’t see (the knee) as anything to worry about,” Ruffin said. “I still obviously do stuff for it to stay ahead of it. But I don’t even think about it when I’m out on the court. I feel pretty even on both sides. I’m doing all the stuff I used to do.

“It’s such a relief to be able to come to practice and not be thinking about it, not be worried about it. Trying to hold up. Now I can really come in and focus on getting better, focus on trying to lead the team.”