No,
Brandon Fusco has not disappeared off the face of the earth. He’s been pre-occupied.
We had hoped and have attempted on several occasions in the past month to get a blog (or two) from the former Rock football standout. But it’s been a month since he last penned an entry.
During that time, he’s been working out at the IMG Performance Institute in Bradenton, Fla., a place with which I am very familiar from my 15 years as a sports writer in that city. He’s also prepared for and participated in the Senior Bowl, the first Rock player to ever earn an invitation to that elite event. I had the pleasure of spending the week prior to that Jan. 29 game in Mobile “on assignment” in Mobile, Ala., to chronicle his day-to-day workouts and thoughts leading up to the actual game through still pictures, video interviews and daily blogs. I invite you to go back and look at those posts either via links on the blogs landing page or on the football web page.
Since returning to Florida from the Senior Bowl, Fusco has been focusing on the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Ind., which begins today and to which he is again the first Rock player ever invited.
We hope, and have been promised by Brandon, he will file a blog with us next week to share his thoughts on both the Senior Bowl and NFL Combine experiences. In the meantime, here’s what some people-in-the-know have written about him:
Brandon was featured in www.draftinsider.net head scout Brent Sobleski’s
Feb. 17 blog under the headline “The Rock in the middle.”
Sobleski noted in his blog that “Jahri Evans, Reggie Wells, John Kuhn, and Akwasi Owusu-Ansah all played their collegiate careers in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Slippery Rock’s Fusco is next in line as the National Football League beckons.
“The achievement of a Division II athlete to make his way to Mobile is extraordinary,” Sobleski added. “Northwestern Missouri State’s Seth Wand was the last to do so in 2003. Wand became a third round selection by the Houston Texans.”
For the record, and in case you were unaware, Evans is a Bloomsburg product now starting on the offensive line for the Philadelphia Eagles; Wells is a Clarion product and All-Pro lineman for the New Orleans Saints; Kuhn, a Shippensburg product and former member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a running back for the recently-crowned Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers and Owusu-Ansah is an Indiana (Pa.) playing in the defensive secondary and returning kicks for “America’s team,” the Dallas Cowboys.
Back to Sobleski’s blog. His final analysis of Fusco’s performance at the Senior Bowl:
“Scouts were impressed with Fusco both on and off the field as they got a closer look at the Slippery Rock product. Coming from the Div. II level, the center admitted to being surprised by the quickness of his competition early in the week. He adjusted, continued to work very hard, and got better each practice. All good signs. His athleticism and ability to step off the snap also made him the best pure center prospect during the week (although the pivot class in Mobile was generally considered weak).”
Last Monday (Feb. 21), Peter Schrager of msn.foxsportsnet.com posted online a list of “Five small-school guys you’ll know by next week.” Fusco was included on that list. Here’s what Schrager wrote:
"A 6-5, 305-pounder, Fusco won the Gene Upshaw Award as the top lineman in Division II in 2010. In a draft a little light on premier interior linemen, Fusco can make a bit of a name (and some money) with a stellar combine week. Jared Veldheer, an unknown out of tiny Hillsdale College in Michigan, did just that before being drafted on the second day by the Oakland Raiders last year.”
I’m sure we will hear and read more about Fusco in the coming weeks leading up to the NFL Draft, which is scheduled for April 28-30 (if the feared lockout doesn’t occur). We will do our best to keep you abreast things.
Shifting gears and changing sports, we want to send a shout-out to SRU’s men’s and women’s ice hockey club teams.
• The women finished second in the Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference Division II championship last weekend at the Hagertown (Md.) Ice and Sports Center. SRU entered the tournament unbeaten (10-0) and ranked No. 1, but were upset in the finals by Navy, 3-2. The final goal was scored with only 6.5 seconds left to play.
Amy Bauman (Reading/Exeter H.S.) scored a goal assisted on a goal by
Meredith Gruseck (Mason, Ohio/Mason H.S.) to account for the SRU points.
Emily Green (Franklin, Mass./Mount St. Charles Academy) recorded eight saves as SRU’s goalie. It must be noted that SRU hammered Indiana (Pa.) by an 8-3 score in a semifinal game. Gotta love when that happens!!
• The men won the College Hockey Mid-America championship for the second consecutive year and will make their inaugural appearance in the American College Hockey Association Division I national tournament March 5-9 at the University of Delaware’s Fred Rust Arena. In the interim, SRU, which finished CHMA competition with an 11-3 record (17-11- overall), will be the top seed in this weekend’s league tournament at the Wheeling (W. Va.) Civic Center.
Wade Waldschmidt (Wexford/North Allegheny H.S.) leads the team in scoring with 21 goals and 35 assists.
Shawn Ketterer (Lansdale) is the goalie and owns a 16-9 record and 3.48 goals against average.
Closing thought: Congratulations to close friend and SRU Class of 1982 cohort
Kathy "Pebbles" Lisman Wood on the retirement of her Rock jersey Saturday. It is an honor for which she is truly deserving.
Until next time …
GO ROCK!!
Bob McComas
Sports Information Director
