SLIPPERY ROCK— At 6-feet-5, 285 pounds, Brandon Fusco is not a small man.

That's a good thing — because he's going to need broad shoulders.

The Seneca Valley graduate is starting at center for the Slippery Rock University football team as a redshirt freshman.

He's surrounded by four veteran returning starters in senior left tackle Mike Butterworth, junior left guard Grant Hrabovsky, senior right guard Bron Clouser and senior right tackle Dave Mulvihill. That quartet has accumulated 11 varsity letters already.

Fusco is also following a line of all-conference centers at SRU — Dave Sabolcik, Brian Minehart, Bill Ricks and Ryan Travis, to name a few.

"Ideally, you don't want a freshman starting at center because it's the toughest position on the offensive line to play,"SRUcoach George Mihalik said. "You'd rather start a freshman at guard or tackle.

"But Brandon is one of our top five offensive linemen. We have to get him on the field and center is the position that's open."

Fusco played some at center in high school, but he primarily has been a tackle. The Rock recruited him as a tackle.

Fusco's move to center is nothing out of the ordinary for Rock football. SRUhas converted players at other line positions to center quite often in the past.

"We've had maybe two centers here since 1990 who played that position in high school,"SRUoffensive line coach Joe Walton said.

Fusco is also stepping into the starting lineup for a team with PSACWest championship and Division IIplayoff aspirations.

"There is a little pressure on me that way,"Fusco admitted. "This team is expecting to do good things this year and I don't want to screw that up.

"The biggest adjustment in playing center is timing. We do a lot of zone blocking here, so I have to snap the ball and quickly make my read on blocking. There's not much time to do that."

Walton recognizes the adjustment a new center has to make to the position.

He said he's impressed with how quickly Fusco's adapted to the change.

"As a tackle, the defensive end is lining up on your edge, a yard and a half away,"Walton said. "At center, the nose guard is directly in front of you, right on top of you. Before you can worry about that, your most important duty is getting off a clean snap. That can be intimidating."

"Strength is so important at that position because you basically have to block one-handed, since you're snapping the ball," Mihalik said. "Brandon's got the strength and body size to handle that."

Fusco has put on 20 pounds of muscle since spring camp. He has grown in size and strength since coming to college, which is how Mihalik likes it.

"We don't look for the 300-pound guys in high school," the coach said. "We look for 250- to 260-pound linemen with room to grow. Brandon has shown he has the work ethic and positive attitude to be a solid four-year starter for us."

Going up against one of the best defensive fronts in the PSACeach day in practice hasn't hurt his development, either.

"Our defensive line is one of the best in the country,"Fusco said. "(Defensive tackle)Clint Forsha has helped me a lot with my footwork and technique. I know I have a lot of work to do. Hopefully, I'll improve with each game."

While Fusco continues to work on that improvement, he recognizes he's in the right place at the right time.

"I'm fortunate to get this opportunity,"he said. "Not many players in a program of this quality get a chance to start for four years. I'm pretty lucky."