On the Road with Cruiser: He's Baaaack!

The first time I saw him was at his first practice after his mission. I had no idea who he was, but as he walked by me, I was struck by his tremendous physique and raw power. Now, I’m not easily impressed by guys who sculpt their bodies in the gym but can’t contribute on the field, but something about this guy told me he was the real deal. I’ve played some ball at the Y myself and have been around the sport for years, and when my radar goes off, I listen. In this case, I also stared, which made me feel pretty foolish when he smiled at me and said hello.

Who was this guy?

I turned to a player I knew and was about to ask, when the player read my mind and said, "That’s Fui." As far as he was concerned, that said it all. When I asked if the guy was a defensive lineman, the player laughed and said, "He’s a running back. This is his first day back from his mission."

To understand the impact of this statement, you have to understand what I was looking at. First, his shirt was off. He had just walked into the indoor practice facility after completing a two-hour weight training session and was about to do ab work and agility drills for the next hour and a half. (Just so you know, "ab work" in this case was several hundred crunches and sit-ups, all with legs elevated, or, in some cases perpendicular (straight up.) His trapezious muscles (those muscles that extend from the base of the skull down to the shoulders and along the upper back) rose from his shoulders like two ranges of mountains. You see this on body builders sometimes, but his traps were wider and thicker than theirs. His lats (latissimus dorsi) were almost inhuman. I mean this in a good way. They bulged out from his sides like enormous, overgrown wings, and my first thought was, They must weigh a hundred pounds each! Of course, they probably only weighed half that, but when you see muscles so impossibly large on a human being, so Schwarzeneggerian, your mind does somersaults trying to make sense of it. Yes, his biceps, triceps, and pecs were huge too, not to mention his enormous calves, but it was his back that seemed to defy the natural limitations of reality.

And this was his first day back after a two-year "lay-off"!

Other players gathered around him, evidencing that they had already heard of this R.M. phenom. He looked like he weighed perhaps 240 - 250 (though I later learned he was only 235 at the time). Power oozed from him with each stride. And when he ran, I saw why he was a running back. Only later did I learn that he had been a sprinter in high school, taking 3^rd in the Utah State high hurdles and 4^th in the 100 meter. Only later did I learn that he ran a 4.45 forty. Only later did I learn that he could elevate his body over three feet straight up (37 inches), without the benefit of a single step. But even then, without knowing any of this, I could see that he knew how to run, that his body enjoyed running, and I knew he would be a very, very special ball carrier.

Since that day in January 2006, I have kept an eye on him. I was in attendance at his first live scrimmage that March, and I saw how the entire offense exploded into cheers when, on his first run from scrimmage in over two years, he carried Cameron Jensen and Quinn Gooch nearly ten yards after their initial, simultaneous hits. I saw him that August when he weighed nearly 250 and knocked defensive linemen back four yards when they made the mistake of hitting him high. I saw him in September when 60,000 fans began chanting "Fui! Fui! Fui!" when he entered a game. I saw the awkward tackle by a San Diego State safety that was the beginning of the end for his season. And I have seen him this spring, up close and personal, again with his shirt off, stronger and more fearsome than ever, almost bristling for a fight, arms seeming to flex for a ball that hasn’t come his way in over six months.

In other publications I have called him freakishly strong, and I stand by that assessment. Although he has trimmed down to 235 again, he is much stronger than before. He can do multiple sets of 20 pull-ups in an L position, with his legs straight out in front of him. He can bench over 400 pounds. He can do hundreds of sit-ups lightning fast, without stopping, seemingly without slowing down. He is running without pain again. He is doing drills. He is anxious for the ball. He is anxious for that first hit of the 2007 season, for the joy of running through linebackers and blowing up defensive backs and soaring into the end zone for six. His ankle is healed; his body is primed; his very being is poised for action.

Fui is back.