Will Fuller Is the Real Hero of Notre Dame Football's 2015 Season

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The question elicits long sighs, hearty and nervous laughter, headshakes and wry smiles.

“Honestly,” Notre Dame football senior safety Elijah Shumate said after emitting a helpless heave of air, “the honest truth is, nobody can defend Will Fuller.”

The past two seasons have provided similar answers from opposing defenses, as Notre Dame’s opponents search for ways to slow Irish junior wide receiver Will Fuller, who was voted Notre Dame’s MVP by his teammates.

The All-American from Philadelphia tallied 76 receptions for 1,094 yards and 15 touchdowns in a breakout sophomore season and has followed it up with 56 more grabs, 1,145 more yards and 13 more scores in 2015. Fuller’s 29 career receiving touchdowns rank second in the Notre Dame program's history, behind only Michael Floyd’s 37.

Fuller displayed a flair for the dramatic in 2015, too. His 39-yard touchdown catch with 12 seconds remaining in Week 2 rescued the Irish against Virginia. His 17-yard snatch with 2:09 left against Temple vaulted Notre Dame past the previously unbeaten Owls. Fuller is the only player in Irish history with two career game-winning touchdown catches in the final five minutes of action.

So, how should teams defend him?

“I would make sure he couldn’t go deep,” Fuller's close friend and fellow wide receiver Chris Brown said with a laugh. “Then again, he can catch one short, take it deep. He can catch a screen, take it deep. I’d just take away the deep for me, because he’s such a fast player.”

“You can game-plan, and you can just hope,” Shumate added. “Just keep him from making the crazy big plays. … Don’t leave the corner on an island just with him because that’s a crazy world, and one little mistake and he’s out the door.”

“You’d have to double-cover him,” fifth-year defensive back and captain Matthias Farley said. “You just have to say, 'You two—we’ll handle everything else—you try to stop him.' And then maybe drop a D-lineman out there. I don’t know.”

“I think about this pretty often,” fifth-year senior linebacker Jarrett Grace said. “I would have my quickest, most athletic guy cover him man to man every single play with inside leverage. And I would have a safety or somebody over the top of him every single play. So those two guys are out of the equation every play. Our run defense might be lacking. But if he’s gonna blaze me for almost 200 yards and multi-touchdown games, I need to take him out.”

And just how would Fuller defend himself?

“I’d probably press,” Fuller said after a pause. “I don’t know. Probably press.”

Asked how to beat press coverage, Fuller responded simply.

“Get a good release.”

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And therein lies the trouble with defending the 6’0”, 184-pound Fuller. He’s viewed himself as a shifty route-runner since high school who's able to get off the line and set up routes.

“Getting off the line is the first thing,” Fuller said. “You can’t be fast if you can’t get off the line.”

Fuller can do both. In three years in South Bend, Fuller has developed that elite speed.

“If he’s even, he’s leaving—anybody. No matter who you are,” confident Irish senior cornerback KeiVarae Russell said. “As a corner, you could run a 4.2 [40-yard dash]. You’re not catching Will.”

But that wasn’t always the case. Fuller said there was a “huge change” in his speed during his freshman season, and Irish assistant coaches Mike Denbrock and Chuck Martin first alerted the rookie of just how fast he was during fall camp. Of course, that fits neatly with Fuller’s story.

The understated and underrated prospect—who grew up the self-described quiet one among his four sometimes “crazy” sisters—didn’t attract scholarship offers in the Philadelphia area. Even after committing to Notre Dame, Fuller didn’t stand out from the other South Bend-bound wide receivers in his class, including Torii Hunter Jr., Corey Robinson and James Onwualu.

But that newfound speed and downfield ability caught Irish head coach Brian Kelly’s eye, and the freshman carved out a limited role in 2013. Fuller hauled in six catches for 160 yards and a touchdown that year. His first career reception—a 37-yarder against Michigan State in his fourth game—turned heads.

“We all knew that, man, this kid’s gonna be special,” Shumate said of Fuller’s grab beside Spartans cornerback and eventual first-round pick Trae Waynes. “He has too much speed, too much talent. He doesn’t take no for an answer.”

Kelly told Fuller as much during one of the first practices of fall camp before the wideout’s sophomore season.

“Coach Kelly came up to me and said, ‘You're my guy. You're going to be the star receiver for us,’” Fuller recounted. “And I just took that personal. He has faith in me and believed in me, and I just started working my butt off ever since he said that to me.”

Fuller admitted he was surprised at the time and didn’t think he’d earned that faith yet. But armed with Kelly’s confidence, Fuller turned in one of the best single seasons by an Irish receiver ever in 2014.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Teammates insist Fuller has always brought a quiet confidence to the field—a weapon that’s been “ratcheted up even more” with the increased production, Farley said.

Brown points to the 2014 Music City Bowl victory against LSU as a turning point in Fuller’s mentality—from wholly confident to give-me-the-ball. Already with 14 touchdown catches for the season, the sophomore added one more to tie a single-season program record.

“Me and him had a couple moments where it was like we were both real, real hype,” Brown said of the LSU game. “I try and do it every game. If he makes a big play, I try to be the first one over there, talk stuff to him, tell him, ‘Man, he can’t guard you.’ That really gets him jacked up.”

“I definitely think that bowl game was a big step for him, because at that point he knew he was a man and it was on him to make plays for the offense,” senior running back C.J. Prosise said. “He definitely felt more assertive and could go up to a quarterback and say, ‘Listen, we need a big play, and I can make it.’”

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By the time September rolled around, Brown said Fuller was “brimming with confidence,” which is a dangerous proposition for a player already oozing physical ability.

“He’s an incredible route-runner on top of being absurdly fast,” Farley said.

Which one is more important to making Fuller an elite receiver?

“I think it’s just the quiet confidence he has,” Farley said.

“Those things are just physical tangibles that he brings,” Shumate said. “But what makes him dominant and makes him probably the best receiver in the country is just his mindset.”

“He plays with extreme confidence. That’s what it is,” Russell said.

“His confidence and his assertiveness [stand out],” Prosise said. “When it’s time to make a play, he’s like, ‘I want the ball, and I will make the play if you throw it to me.’”

And while it may not have shown to outsiders given his soft-spoken nature, Fuller evolved into that clutch, commanding playmaker in the regular season. In September, with Notre Dame trailing the Cavaliers and hurting from the loss of quarterback Malik Zaire, Fuller stepped up.

“He came to the sideline and said, ‘Coach, I’ll win the game for you. Just give me the ball,’” Kelly told his assistants after the game, as seen on Showtime’s A Season With Notre Dame Football series.

The next month against Temple, Fuller helped keep Notre Dame’s playoff hopes alive with another timely play.

Despite increased attention from opposing defenses—and one particularly difficult matchup with Clemson star cornerback Mackensie Alexander—Fuller earned an array of All-American honors in 2015. Still, the wideout is well aware of his flaws and admitted “drops are a big thing with me” and he must “really focus in on catching the ball.”

“He’s the first person to get on himself if he drops a ball or whatever,” Farley said.

More consistent hands are the next step for Fuller. In mid-November, Fuller told reporters he plans to return for his senior season in 2016. Kelly later said Notre Dame did request an NFL evaluation for Fuller, and the wideout told reporters earlier this month he’s “keeping [his] avenues open” regarding the draft, per the Observer’s Mary Green.

Regardless of his 2016 home, Fuller is already one of the best receivers in Notre Dame history—a product of physical gifts, votes of confidence and, eventually, strong-willed self-belief.

“He’s such a competitive guy,” Farley said. “He wants to be the best. He wants to be great. So he’s not gonna be satisfied.”

All quotes were obtained firsthand and all stats courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.

Mike Monaco is the lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.