Cementing Their Legacy
One finished his college football career at the beginning of a decade. The other concluded his toward the end.
Slippery Rock University graduates Brandon Fusco and Marcus Martin mirror each other in a lot of ways otherwise.
Both were Gene Upshaw Award winners as the best lineman in Division II football. Both played in prestigious college all-star games. Both earned degrees in safety management at The Rock.
Now both are on the 2010-19 NCAA Division II All-Decade team, as selected by the staff of D2Football.com. Only Northwest Missouri has more representatives than SRU on that 50-player team, which includes 35 who have been on NFL active rosters, 16 as draft selections.
And both have interest in returning to The Rock to give back.
“Making that (all-decade) team allows your legacy to live on,” Martin said.
A defensive end who graduated from SRU in 2018, Martin was a three-time PSAC Defensive Player of the Year who became college football's all-time sack leader with 56. He attended West Mifflin High School.
Fusco, a Seneca Valley graduate, graduated from SRU in 2011 and was a four-year center for The Rock. He was a two-time All-American, was drafted in the sixth round by the Minnesota Vikings in 2011 and has enjoyed a nine-year career in the NFL as an offensive guard.
“Super character, academic kids and great football players. I'm proud of them both,” retired SRU coach George Mihalik said.
Fusco said he loves The Rock and plans to get into coaching at the college football level when his playing career is over.
He still hopes to play one more year. Fusco has not played since suffering a leg injury midway through the 2018 season with Atlanta. The Falcons released him the following off-season.
“I'm healthy now and my agent is looking around,” Fusco said. “I'd love to play one more year. I don't want to go out on an injury, but if this is it for me, I'm proud of what I've done.
“I'm not going to wait too long (for a team to sign him). I paused my life last year waiting and I won't pause it that long again. Eventually, I have to close the door on Brandon Fusco the player and move on with Brandon Fusco the person and Brandon Fusco the coach.”
And he wants to start his coaching career at The Rock.
“That would be awesome,” he said. “That school turned my life around. I want to give back and I'd like nothing better than to become a member of that staff.”
Current SRU head coach Shawn Lutz and Mihalik recalled the recruitment of Fusco in 2006.
“Brandon didn't have a lot of offers,” Lutz said. “Youngstown State was interested, but didn't offer. He weighed around 225 pounds in high school.”
“Coming out of high school, he'd be viewed as more of a tight end today,” Mihalik said. “But we were interested in athletic linemen with good feet. We figured they could grow into the position and Brandon certainly did that.”
When Fusco arrived at SRU, he followed the lead of then-Rock lineman Michael Butterworth, who hit the weight room hard and parlayed his skill-set into a year on the practice squad with the Atlanta Falcons.“I wanted to follow his path,” Fusco said of Butterworth. “I wanted to work as hard as him, be like him, get the same opportunity as him.”Martin was also being recruited by Indiana and California in the PSAC West. West Mifflin teammate Derrick Fulmore, a defensive back, also came to The Rock and running back Shamar Greene was already there.“It helped to have those guys,” Lutz said of Martin deciding to come to SRU. “Marcus was so competitive, so physical. He maximized his ability.”Relatively small by defensive end standards, the 6-foot-2, 255-pound Martin wound up catching a touchdown pass as a fullback in a college all-star game. He spent a season on the Los Angeles Rams practice squad as a defensive end and had a sack in an NFL preseason game.“I played well that game, then got fewer reps the following week,” Martin said. “Some things are out of your control. I did everything right, played well when I was in pro camp. Looking back, I wouldn't change a thing.“You never know what's going to happen at the pro level. A guy could be picked in the first round and wash out. A non-drafted guy might play for 10 years. It's so unpredictable. You don't know how long football will last. You have to have education to fall back on.”After a tryout with Edmonton of the CFL didn't work out, Martin spurned another tryout offer in Canada and gave up football.He works as a field safety specialist for a natural gas company in Canonsburg.“It was really hard to give it up. I love football,” Martin said. “But no matter how hard I worked, what kind of success I had ... It wasn't in my control.“I'm indebted to SRU. I want to go back there, talk to the kids about the importance of getting their degree, completing their education. I know some guys who didn't do that. Football ends and they're lost. I feel like I have an important message to give.”Fusco and Martin gave a lot to Rock football. Their berths on the Division II all-decade team reflect that.“They overcame a lot of odds,” Lutz said. “When we talk to our players about what hard work can produce, their names come up often.”
