By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Oct. 02, 2009)
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Justin Fuller has had an impressive start to his Bridgewater State College football career in the opening four games. How impressive?
The junior running back from Berkley leads the country - including Div. 1, Div. 1-AA, Div. 2 and Div. 3 players - in rushing yards per game with 182.2.
He is averaging 4.2 yards per game more than Joique Bell of Div. 2 Wayne State, who ranks second in the nation overall with 178 yards.
After spending the past two seasons at Springfield College, Fuller transferred to BSC and has filled the void left by the graduation of Bruce Burley, the school's third-leading rusher all time.
Fuller already has 729 yards on 96 carries and is averaging 7.6 yards per attempt. With six games remaining, he is on pace to break the BSC single-season record of 1,400 yards, set by Brenden Kavey in 2005.
"I went through the archives (on Springfield's football Web site) and knew he was probably pretty good,'' said BSC coach Chuck Denune, whose team travels to Fitchburg State College on Saturday afternoon. "I didn't know he was this good.
"We weren't really sure what we were getting when he transferred in. He's 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, but he runs a lot like someone who is 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds. He's a lot more athletic than you think of someone who is that tall.
"He is fast enough that he can run away from people and he is big enough that he can break tackles.''
Fuller began his BSC career by gaining 183 yards and scoring three touchdowns against Mount Ida. He rushed for 184 yards and scored a TD against UMass-Dartmouth and had 127 yards and two TDs in a loss to Salve Regina.
Last Saturday, Fuller tied a BSC record with five rushing TDs and gained 235 yards on 33 carries against Maine Maritime Academy. Fuller was named one of the New England Football Conference's offensive players of the week.
The record of five rushing TDs was set in 1990 by Steve Marshall against Westfield State College.
Fuller has 11 TDs on the ground and could threaten the BSC mark of 20 set by Kavey in 2005. He is tied for sixth nationally in Div. 3 with 16.5 points per game.
"One of the biggest things he has going is that he has a pretty good offensive line and (running back) Jeff Creeden in front for him,'' said Denune, praising the work of Dan and Joel Nunes of Taunton, Jeff Smith, Chris Grande and Mike D'Attilio. "But Fuller's the real deal.''
The NEFC has the three top rushers nationally in Div. 3 with Nathan Sherr of Massachusetts Maritime Academy second behind Fuller and David Leach of Framingham State College third.
BSC (1-0 in the NEFC Bogan Division and ranked seventh in the New England Div. 3 poll) plays three of its next four games on the road beginning with the trip to Fitchburg State (2-2, 0-1) this weekend. The Bears are coming off an impressive win over Maine Maritime Academy, which represented the division in the conference title game last year.
"It was probably the best football game we've played as a team for 60 minutes since the 2005 season,'' said Denune. "We've got to keep it going. We've been the bride's maid in our division the last four years and it only takes one game to put you back in that spot.''