On3's Charles Power on why Matt Fuller could be a steal for South Carolina
Jesup (Ga.) Wayne County running back and South Carolina signee Matthew Fuller, has long been an On3 outlier, a prospect the site is higher on than others, and the 6-foot, 210-pounder continually moved up in the On3 rankings throughout the process.
The former three-star prospect moved into the On300 and officially became a four-star prospect in July when On3 deemed him the No. 283 overall prospect in the 2024 class.
After a more modest leap to No. 227 in his class, Fuller became the No. 140 overall prospect before ultimately settling in as the No. 185 overall prospect and No. 13 running back in the class.
On3 Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power joined GC Live as a guest last week and discussed the process of ranking Fuller.
“When we were going through updating the senior year rankings for the running backs, it was very interesting, I remember talking to Cody Bellaire, who works hand in hand with us in the rankings, he’s a former personnel scout just working with a bunch of SEC teams and has a lot of experience going through these type of players,” Power said. “And we were talking about it. I was like, a lot of the top running backs in the 2024 cycle did not really have like fantastic senior seasons. I remember getting a Matthew Fuller and I was like, okay, this guy averaged 200 yards a game. He played 10 games over 2000 yards. It was kind of refreshing to see as I was going through that ranking, getting to a guy kind of in his range that had a great senior season.”
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Fuller finished his senior season with 2,086 yards (8.1 YPC) and 27 touchdowns on 256 carries. As a junior, he racked up 1,757 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns, averaging 6.8 yards per carry in the process.
In another scouting report, Bellaire commented on Fuller’s athletic ability combined with his natural running style and production as well as how he had maintained his athletic ability while gaining mass.
“All of his production was in a 10-game sample,” Power continued. “So I think he continued to improve there, over eight yards a carry. Close to three touchdowns a game. This guy produced. I think he played defense as well. So I thought just his stamina. Ability to carry the load. He’s a sub-11 100-meter guy. Good size.”
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The On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average of the four major recruiting rankings, considers Fuller the No. 281 overall prospect and the No. 20 running back in the class.
“it’s funny. I heard some some buzz just after the fact, after he had already signed of people kind of in Georgia saying, like, ‘We can’t believe that this guy got out of state,'” Power said. “So I think the general feeling for people that got to see him play and like boots on the ground there was he was a steal for South Carolina. So I think adding him at that position, kind of a position of need for South Carolina. I think he’s going to add to that room and probably be a talent upgrade over the kind of baseline talent they’ve brought in the last 3-4 years.”
