SLIPPERY ROCK — It's not football season, but this was homecoming for Brandon Fusco.

The Seneca Valley High School and Slippery Rock University graduate had his uniform No. 74 retired by The Rock during a ceremony Friday night at the Robert M. Smith Student Center.

Fusco started all 44 games of his SRU career at center and is entering his sixth season as a guard with the Minnesota Vikings. He has been a starter in four of his five pro seasons.

“I can't believe I'm going into my sixth year,” Fusco said. “I'm one of the veterans on the team now. There's only three other linemen — John Sullivan, Phil Loadholt and Joe Berger — still with the team from my rookie year.

“The Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl ... Those are the two games I still want to play in.”

Many of Fusco's coaches at SRU and approximately 20 former teammates were on hand for the dinner commemorating the jersey retirement.

“I don't care how many more years I play in the NFL,” Fusco said. “I'd love to be able to play one more game for The Rock. The most fun you have playing football is those college years, playing with your buddies.

“I'll always be part of the Green and White.”

Fusco's No. 74 joins Jerry Bejbl's No. 31 and Jim McElhaney's No. 82 as the only football numbers ever retired by SRU.

That fact isn't lost on Fusco.

“I know what an honor this is and I can't find the words to describe what it means to me,” he said. “Generations and generations of great players have come through this program ... players who deserve this ... I'm one of three to ever get it. I am so blessed.”

Dr. Cheryl Norton, SRU president, told Fusco that “you put SRU on the map and Slippery Rock University football right up there with the stars.”

Retired Rock coach George Mihalik recalled joining current head coach and then recruiting coordinator Shawn Lutz in making a visit to Fusco's home during his senior year at Seneca Valley.

“When I first saw him, he was tall enough, but so skinny,” Mihalik said. “He might have weighed 225 pounds, tops. I wondered if that body would ever fill out.

“I guess it filled out.”

Fusco is listed at 6-foot-4, 306 pounds on the Vikings' roster.

“He put on a little bit more weight and muscle every off-season he was here,” Mihalik said. “No one will outwork Brandon Fusco. He had a dream and he made it come true.”

Fusco is the highest NFL draft pick (sixth round) and longest tenured NFL player in SRU history.

Butler assistant football coach and Knoch graduate Bill Elliott was a teammate of Fusco's at SRU. Elliott played linebacker at The Rock.

“We were part of the same recruiting class,” Elliott said. “What Brandon's done is incredible. The odds of a player making the NFL and starting there coming out of Division II are real long.

“He just outworked everybody. On one-on-one drills, he was rarely beaten here. Her got invited to play in the Senior Bowl with the best seniors in the country. It's mind-boggling, the way he developed while he was here.”

Marty Kern was The Rock's starting nose-guard who lined up against Fusco every day in practice.

“We banged into each other quite a bit,” Kern said. “At the time, of course, you don't know the guy is going to be in the NFL one day. I did know he was a special player. I mean, he never turned it off.”

Fusco never turned it off in the classroom, either. Before he went to the Senior Bowl, he had a degree in safety management from SRU.

“A lot of my teammates, a lot of guys in the NFL, they never graduated,” Fusco said. “Believe me, I'm very, very proud of that degree.

“Coming to this university gave me a new path in life. I will never, ever forget that.”