Tigers in the mix for another great wide receiver

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Mar 21 22:17:01 GMT-04:00 2011

Jody Fuller says he would love to be the type of player that could come in and have the type of impact that Jacoby Ford had at Clemson.

But don’t assume he can only play the slot, he says.

Fuller is a 6-foot, 200-pound wide receiver out of Sun Valley High School in Monroe, N.C., and he says that Clemson recruiter Danny Pearman has told him that he would be a perfect fit in the slot in Clemson’s new offense.

“I just make plays,” Fuller told TigerNet Monday evening. “I am more of a run-after-the–catch kind of guy, and I think I can do some of the things that Jacoby did at Clemson. But I also feel like I can do it all, really. It doesn’t matter to me if I play inside or outside. I am fast enough [4.48 40-yard dash] to play inside, but I’m big enough that I can go and play outside.”

He caught 77 passes for 850 yards and 16 touchdowns this past season, and said he has been putting in work in the weight room in order to get better and put up even bigger numbers this season. He says he can now bench 325 pounds, squat 425 and has a 37-inch vertical leap.

“I really want to improve my 40-time and improve how I run my routes,” he said. “I want to get open faster so the quarterback can see me quicker.”

Clemson has been recruiting Fuller since the summer of his sophomore year, and the Tigers offered following his visit to Clemson for camp last summer. Now, the Tigers are among 20+ offers he has received, including West Virginia, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Michigan and Tennessee.

However, he says Clemson is still very much a front-runner after he attended a few home games last season, and he plans on taking another visit to Clemson sometime before the spring is out.

“I do like Clemson, and they have a really good chance in my mind,” he said. “I love that place. It is really nice. Their fans are awesome and they make a lot of noise. It looks like a great place to play.”

He brought up Clemson’s stellar 2011 recruiting class – including wide receivers Charone Peake and Sammy Watkins – and said that having other great receivers around is a plus in his mind.

“Having great players already there would just make me better,” he said. “I believe in myself and I know I can make plays and I would have a chance at playing time right away. I know I could compete for a job there. I just want to go to a place where I feel comfortable with the atmosphere and the people coaching me.”