Joe Fusile’s unlikely path to being a key part of Georgia Tech resurgence

This is not a Rudy Ruettiger story.

Joe Fusile did not take a bus from Richmond Hill to Atlanta, throw a duffel bag over his shoulder and walk to the gates of Bobby Dodd Stadium to look longingly inside, fantasizing about playing for the Yellow Jackets one day.

No, really the only things Fusile and Ruettiger, the famous Notre Dame defensive end, have in common are that they both had their minds made up where they wanted to attend college and that they were both once walk-ons.

But Fusile was fortunate to be a 6-foot-5, 230-pound high school freshman with a wrestling background whose high school coaches had some connections to the Tech football staff. And, unlike Ruettiger, Fusile didn’t have to spend a good bit of his post-prep career at junior college before transferring to his dream school.

Although that latter part was closer to reality at one point in time.

“To be honest, I barely made it in (to Tech),” Fusile admitted. “It was really probably a poor decision because it’s the only school I applied to. I had a week, where I was like, ‘If I don’t get in, I’m gonna have to find a job or do something drastic here.’ It didn’t even dawn on me that there was a possibility of not going until that week. I got an email saying, ‘You’re in.’ Just such a load off.”

Fusile grew up in Carmel, Indiana, north of Indianapolis. The sport of wrestling was his passion. He loved the idea of the responsibility of it, that the mistakes were his own and had to be overcome, that the triumphs were individually-gained.

Fusile also loved engineering and trains. And with Purdue University about an hour northwest from home he figured he would someday go to college there.

But then the Fusiles moved to the Savannah suburb of Richmond Hill before Fusile’s eighth grade year. Fusile had played youth football in Indiana but took a year off from the sport his first freshman season. He continued to wrestle, and was a percussionist in the middle school band (when he botched his finger cymbal solo during a concert, he thought better of pursuing a music career).

When he put the football pads back on as a sophomore, after the Richmond Hill coaches pleaded with Fusile and his family to give football another try, Fusile had already made his mind up he was going to attend Tech to study engineering. Potentially playing for the Jackets would be somewhat of a bonus.

Fusile went to a junior day camp at Tech and took part in another one at Wake Forest. Stetson, Morehead State, Davidson and Columbia showed some interest in Fusile’s football abilities, but it was always going to be Tech.

“My high school coaches knew that I wanted to go to Tech, so they were very proactive and they did a lot to help me, reaching out to the people they knew to try to get me in front of peoples eyes,” Fusile said. “It was really coming down to the end of senior year. It was crunch time by the time that (Tech) finally made the (admissions) decision. But we had been talking to Tech for a while and that was very helpful, and it helps having the good grades and nice test scores. I think it was the spring of my senior year they (Tech’s football coaches) were like, ‘We got a spot, you can walk on.’”

Saturday’s game, No. 16 Tech hosting Pittsburgh at 7 p.m., will be Fusile’s last inside Bobby Dodd Stadium. It will mark his 47th game in white and gold, his 44th as a starter and 36th straight in the starting lineup.

The left guard was a scout team offensive lineman in 2021. A year later, in a game at Pitt, with Brent Key serving as Tech’s interim coach, Fusile was in the starting lineup.

“I could go on forever about Joe,” Key said. “Somebody that came in here as a walk-on, had opportunities to play at other places, and this is where he wanted to go to school to build a life after football. I really can’t say enough great things about Joe, the person he is, the man he’s become.”

Said defensive tackle Jason Moore, who also began his career as a walk-on offensive lineman: “Man, (Fusile’s) awesome. Just kind of seeing the transformation of how he was then. He was just a big, stiff guy, just happy-go-lucky, just happy to be here, just trying to find his bearings. And just kind of growing up with him in the program, the ups and downs, competing with him every single day at practice, us both making each other better, it’s just been an amazing thing.”

Not only is Saturday’s game the final home game for Fusile, but it’s also likely one of the last of his football career. After lining up for 2,636 offensive snaps during his tenure, and with his civil engineering degree nearly complete, Fusile plans to begin his professional career with the Foresight Group. He’s honest about his chances of playing football at the next level, saying he’s “content” in knowing his playing days are numbered.