A fearless, physical Jordan Fuller is forging his own legacy for Holy Cross football

A kindergarten-aged Jordan Fuller had his earliest introductions to Holy Cross football, and the sport of football in general, while watching his father, Jerome, play in alumni games alongside his fellow Crusaders. While the sport piqued his interest, at the same time, an incredibly young and frightened Jordan was simultaneously horrified — and even started crying — when his father would carry the ball and get hit. 

Fast forward several years later, though, to the 2023 version of Jordan, and it’s safe to say that he’s more than shaken off that fear. Entering Holy Cross’ Family Weekend contest against Lafayette this Saturday, Jordan has 35 career rushing touchdowns in just 30 contests — ranking second all-time in program history just six games into his junior season. He’s had nine multi-touchdown games in his career, including five with three or more touchdowns. He currently leads the nation in rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns as a physical, bruising running back who can stiff-arm Power Five opponents and out-muscle his way through a wall of defenders at the goal line. 

It’s worth noting that Jerome Fuller ’92 is one of the best football players in Holy Cross history, and played on one of the best football teams ever assembled on The Hill. He still holds the single-season school record for rushing yards (1,465 during an undefeated 1991 season), and his name pops up across the record books in a number of other categories. Jerome is in the school’s Varsity Club Hall of Fame not only for football, but also for a stellar baseball career as well. 

So naturally, when Jordan arrived at Holy Cross as a freshman in 2021, there was plenty of chatter about Jerome Fuller’s kid suiting up for the Crusaders. Would he follow in his father’s footsteps? After all, those are pretty big shoes to fill, right? 

Well, not so fast. Now, Jordan isn’t just Jerome Fuller’s kid. He’s Jordan Fuller — who is making a name for himself, rewriting the record books on The Hill in his own right, and whose unconditional hard work has lifted a high-powered Crusader offense to become one of the best in the nation. He isn’t comparing himself to anyone else; he simply wants to be the best. 

“My dad has always put it as: This is my journey, and it has nothing to do with him,” Jordan said.

When other kids his age might have been watching cartoons, a football-obsessed Jordan was watching old games on NFL Network. Around age 8 or 9, Jordan became fascinated with physical fitness and working out — he began doing pushups and situps in his room constantly, and would proudly parade into the living room and show his parents that he could do 40 pushups in a row (“I was always working out and drinking milk, thinking I was going to get really strong,” he said with a laugh). 

Now, a 6-foot, 231-pound Jordan’s physical strength is certainly evident at a glance — but that’s not without years of dedication. Around age 10, Jordan began going to the gym in the mornings before school with his father (to this day, Jerome still wakes up at 5 a.m. every day to go to the gym). 

“He never wanted to really push me into football or training,” Jordan said. “But once he saw that I was interested in it, he started getting me more involved.”

Growing up, Jordan also played basketball and baseball, but began playing football when a youth team started up in his New Hampshire hometown. Within the first few days of learning fundamentals, Jordan ran full speed at a coach holding a bag during a drill — so aggressively, in fact, that “he nearly broke the guy’s leg,” Jerome said — and that was the precursor to what would turn into a relentless, gritty, competitive style of play for years to come. 

Even early into his playing career, Jordan wanted to know every detail of the game. He paid attention whenever his coaches spoke, and he rallied his teammates to do the same. 

“Some kids would be zoning out, and looking at the sky, looking at the grass, but not him,” said Melinda Fuller, Jordan’s mother and Jerome’s wife. 

At age 11, Jordan played on a team with mostly 12-year-olds — and though he may have been one of the most talented players, he still had a somewhat timid approach. Jerome, who was coaching the team at the time, pulled him aside, and let him know: If Jordan was going to play nervously, then he wasn’t going to be able to play. 

“The very next play,” Jerome said, “He went 100 miles an hour for a touchdown. 

“And from that point, he never turned back.”

Over the years, Jordan’s confidence has grown, and he’s become more fearless with every carry. He’s reminded that he's earned his role as someone who’s bigger, faster and stronger than much of the opposition, and leverages that advantage daily. 

So when, exactly, throughout a long football journey, did Jerome know that Jordan would be a football player? 

“The first day,” Jerome said. “The very first day.”

Jordan's success, to put it simply, is the byproduct of a lot of hard work, and he’s had a strong example of dedication and hard work from the very beginning. Jordan is the middle child of three, between older brother Trey and younger sister Jaeda — and before the eldest was born, Jerome and Melinda had a conversation about how they wanted their children to be raised.

“We really set a goal,” Jerome said, “that their lives would be better than ours.” 

Melinda noted that it was important for the two of them to be at as many of their children’s games, events and celebrations as possible. If their children wanted to play a sport or try any other activity, even if money was tight, the Fullers made it work. They would work multiple jobs as needed, and Melinda, who is in the military, took deployments for extended periods of time, while Jerome would be at home with the kids (with help from his mother, who lived next door). From a young age, the Fuller children learned responsibility and the importance of self-sufficiency. They packed their own lunches, learned how to do their own laundry, always made their beds, studied and did their homework without being asked. 

To this day, the Fullers keep busy. Jerome manages retail operations for Staples in Maine and New Hampshire. Melinda, who has been in the military for 24 years, is a captain in the Air Force and also serves as an Air National Guard Tanker Maintenance Officer. She additionally works for Boeing, and owns a yoga, fitness and paddleboarding studio called Ride the Wave on the Seabrook Harbor in New Hampshire.

Moreover, the main values Jerome and Melinda taught their kids were to work hard, and be good people. Much of what the Fullers have done in their life was to set their children up for success — and not just when it comes to football.

“It was never a comparison thing,” Jordan said. “My dad always wanted me to do better than him, because he was dedicated to improving his own life and ours. He’s done a lot of great things since coming out of college to help us be better than him — not that that means just rushing for more yards than him, but also doing better in school, and trying to set ourselves up for the future.”

Academics have been a priority for the Fuller children, and Jordan’s success has continued off the football field as well. As an economics major, Jordan was an Academic All-District and Academic All-Patriot League honoree last season, and is a two-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll selection. (His siblings have seen similar academic success — Trey is in law school at Vanderbilt, and Jaeda attends Purdue).

“They value the hard work, and understand that things don't come easy,” Melinda said.  

Even after a few impressive seasons at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.H., Jordan was unsure where his football career would take him — and he wasn’t getting much attention from colleges. Knowing that, he transferred to the Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Mass., where he put together a stellar junior season. Jordan’s final season at Governor’s Academy was eliminated due to COVID, though, so when it came to his recruitment, his junior-year tape would have to suffice. 

Throughout his recruiting journey, Holy Cross wasn’t high on the radar for Jordan, since it was unclear if there would be a role for him in a stacked running backs room. Late in the process, though, the Crusaders came calling. And Jordan was impressed by the 90-Wide mentorship program, strong academics, facilities and team culture — really, everything about the place. 

“I knew that the second he said he was going there, that he was going to have to deal with that stuff — was he going to break the record, and all that,” Jerome said. “In fact, in the local paper, it was the second sentence in the announcement. But it happened to be the right circumstance, the right coach — they made the right pitch to the right guy at the right time.”

During his first year at Holy Cross in 2021, Jordan carved out a role as a reserve running back, primarily playing in goal-line situations and using his strength to his advantage. He finished with nine rushing touchdowns as a freshman, including a three-touchdown showing in a Patriot League Championship-clinching win over Fordham. 

While splitting time with three-time All-Patriot League running back Peter Oliver ‘23, Jordan still continued to elevate his game as a sophomore. He earned All-Patriot League second team honors a year ago — even with Oliver, an All-Patriot League first team honoree in 2022, in the official starting role — after scoring 13 touchdowns. 

This year, though, as a junior and full-time starter, he’s taken things to the next level. In Holy Cross’ season opener, a 42-20 victory over Merrimack, Fuller totaled five touchdowns on the day – the most touchdowns scored by a Crusader in a single game since Gordie Lockbaum against Dartmouth in 1986 – with four touchdown rushes and one receiving score. He earned National Offensive Player of the Week honors as a result. 

In Holy Cross’ most recent contest, Jordan scored four more touchdowns in a win over Bucknell, earning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this year. He’s been a leader on a tremendous offense, and muscled his way into becoming one of the best running backs in all of FCS. 

“When he gets into a rhythm, he's pretty tough to stop,” said Holy Cross running backs coach Mike Cordova. “Obviously, his size speaks for itself, and so does his strength. But he's just a good football player all around, and when he's just playing loose and having fun, he's pretty tough to stop. 

“His mindset — he’s just always in attack mode.”

Off the field — much like his father — Jordan is extremely introverted. Though he is quietly hilarious outside of football, before games, he’s completely focused and dialed in (recently, he says a teammate told him that he’s scared to talk to him before games, because he’s that dialed in). He’s calm and composed, but ready to attack when the time is right.  

So what’s made the difference this year for Jordan? 

“The big thing this year has just been expecting to get through,” Jordan said. “There are a lot of times where if you see a run, you might think, alright, I'm probably gonna go down right here. But I’ve learned to just keep going, keep moving forward, and run as if they're not there.”

“He’s playing the game faster than before — but at the same time, he might be playing it slower,” Jerome added. “He’s letting things happen, and then moving a million miles an hour. And there’s a leadership component, certainly, that is different now that he’s older. 

“Right now, he’s really demanding opportunity.”

Among a tight-knit running backs group, the learning — and the progress and growth — continues for Jordan.

“In meetings, he's always asking, why are we doing this?” Cordova said. “He's never just satisfied with ‘this is how we do it,’ he always wants to know why we're doing it. For someone that obviously sat behind Pete for two years, to step into the role that he stepped in now, and to help elevate this offense to where it is — that’s all him putting in the work.

“He didn't come in with the mindset of, ‘I have to fill in for Pete.’ His mindset was, ‘I have to be the best, period.’” 

As the Fullers gather in the stands at every single game, Jordan feels their support — there’s never been pressure from his family to live up to a particular standard, only unconditional support, and they’ve paved the way for a successful football career. 

“There's no feeling like having a good game, and seeing people that you care about, that have helped you get to where you're at, watching you do well,” Jordan said. “And hopefully they know that they had some part in it. It’s just really special.”

An outgoing Melinda isn’t afraid to yell out a gleeful “that’s my baby!” when Jordan rumbles his way to the end zone. Of course, a reserved Jerome might not celebrate as loudly, but he beams alongside his family — including his mother, who went to so many of his games throughout Jerome’s life, and now gets to watch her grandson build his own legacy. 

“Jerome’s a lot more quiet, but the look he gets on his face,” Melinda said, “You can just tell — he is the proudest father.”

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