Virginia Tech football: 8 days til kickoff with a look back at Vincent Fuller

Today is August 23, 2019, which means we are just eight short days away from the Virginia Tech Hokies opening the college football season at Boston College. Yesterday, we profiled No. 9, Vince Hall, a four-year starter at mike linebacker for the Hokies and one of the best of the Beamer/Foster-era. For No. 8, we take a look back at former defensive back, Vincent Fuller.

The first of the four Fuller brothers who play football at Virginia Tech, Vincent Fuller arrived in Blacksburg in 2000. A three-star safety from Woodlawn High outside of Baltimore, Fuller would redshirt in 2000.

As a redshirt freshman in 2001, Fuller would play in 10 games as a backup safety. He also was a key contributor on special teams. For the season, he finished with 12 tackles and broke up two passes. In 2002, Fuller became more involved on the defensive side of the ball. He played in all 14 games and made his first four career starts in the defensive backfield. Fuller made 23 tackles on the season, including one for loss and record half-of-a-sack. Most importantly, he showed a tremendous nose for the football, tying for the team lead with four interceptions while also forcing a fumble. That season, the Hokies had three different players with four interceptions, including Willie Pie and DeAngelo Hall.

The redshirt junior played in all 13 games in 2003, making three starts. He finished with 56 tackles, forced two fumbles, recovered three fumbles and picked off one pass. Fuller also blocked a kick. He was a part of a deep and talented secondary that featured Hall, Jimmy Williams, Eric Green and Aaron Rouse. On the ACC championship team in 2004, Fuller started all 13 games, finished sixth on the team with 51 tackles and also had three interceptions. He forced a fumble and was one of Tech’s leaders on that all-important first ACC squad.

After his collegiate career was over, Fuller was picked in the fourth round by the Tennessee Titans. He spent six seasons there before spending his final season in 2011 with Detroit and New England.

The eldest Fuller brother has been busy since leaving the NFL. He spent some time at the Harvard Business School just before he retired in a program for NFL players. He received his doctorate of law from Fordham University in 2017. He spent four months in 2014 as a congressional fellow in the U.S. House of Representatives. In September 2017, he became an associate at the Fried & Frank Law Firm in New York City where he remains today.

The Hokies have done well with family members, and perhaps none more prominently than the Fullers. Vinny, Corey, Kyle and Kendall all had tremendous careers at Virginia Tech. Much like we said with Kyle, the only bad news is there are no more Fuller brothers in the pipeline.