With a run-first offense and the loss of Adam Harris, how valuable would a 5’10”, 245 lb. bruising fullback be to the Syracuse attack? E.J. Fatu (Spring, TX) had offers from SU, Michigan, Utah and Arizona State when The Fizz last profiled him back in September. But it looks like one of the best FBs in the nation might be off the radar this winter.
- Follow The Fizz on Twitter for SU’s Signing Day News
Fatu is dealing with unfortunate family circumstances and played in only four games for Klein Oak High School this fall before transferring to another school in the district. His coach David Smith is respecting the privacy of the details, but says it was¬†a death in the family that E.J. took hard. Fatu played with a leg band that read “R.I.P Dad” (pictured above). Smith has said the¬†circumstances have been difficult for everyone involved and influenced Fatu’s move. He also stressed how strong Fatu’s character has been through all this.
Fatu’s situation is unclear with three weeks to go before National Signing Day. Schools backed off Fatu after his abbreviated season, and the question may also be whether E.J. is ready personally to play again. The Orange traveled to Texas to recruit Fatu in the summer and offered him then. Fatu was originally getting attention from a handful of BCS schools, and the Orange have the potential to get involved again. 
Smith told The Fizz if the Orange comes back with renewed interest, Fatu will listen and consider an offer from Marrone. With newly opened scholarships SU does have the ability to take another look at E.J. The parallel is intriguing – could the Orange use Harris’ scholarship to bring in his replacement?
Fatu showed his natural running ability at Nike Camps, and ran for over 1,000 yards in ’10. His attitude and size are a good fit for a punishing ground game under Doug Marrone. As Syracuse finalizes¬†its recruiting class over the next month, it may be worth reconnecting with Fatu. His talent is undeniable and Marrone’s strong family atmosphere within the program might be the perfect landing spot for the fullback. This could be a relationship which helps both sides. The Fizz wishes the best to Fatu, and it helps bring into focus how many things are more important than football.
Posted: Alex Plavin
Eastbay has coupons available for Nike products.
12 responses to “E.J. Fatu’s Coach Tells Fizz Bruising Fullback Would Listen to Syracuse Offer”
bring in the young gun. he will play here.. would be a win win.
I hope HCDM has someone read this site because you guys have a real good handle on what the SU football team needs and players who would fit the need. Of course a lot of the early work is done by SU coaches, and you follow up on their interest. However, this story points out the continuation of a trend where SU recruits players that would commit, only to back off in hopes of landing some 5 star kid SU, in reality, has no shot of landing. The bottom line is that SU should take a page from JB’s playbook and focus on athletic, under the radar players. That’s what Frank Beamer did, and continues to do, at Va. Tech, and it’s about the only way, aside from rampant cheating, that SU has a chance of once again being relevant in college football. I hope Marrone and their staff figure that out before it’s too late. Dr. Gross isn’t going to have infinite patience if it seems like the program is not moving forward. I don’t think he will repeat the mistake he made with G.Rob, and if anything, would pull the trigger on firing HCDM before he should instead of a year too late.
just what su needs another nondynamic player as an every down player
other teams add players to help the team score su goes after fb and kickers
Good story. Let’s hope someone shows interest in this young man as a person as wells as a student athlete.
mdb80- Syracuse has a need at full back due to the loss of Adam Harris. There are not a lot of dynamic full backs. It is a matter of need. If we need a full back why not get the best one possible?
Daryl Johnston was probably another non-dynamic player in your book too mdb80. He turned out ok. Fullbacks make their living paving the way and occassionally get a few bones thrown their way. I had been wondering about Fatu. Thanks for the update fizz. Keep feeding our addiction to cuse recruiting.
Daryl Johnston played here 25 years ago. Look at how offenses have developed since then. WVU, Oregon, Oklahoma State, etc… – how often do they use a fullback? Rarely, if at all. The day that HCDM realizes that he has the perfect arena to play an incredibly uptempo offense is the day we will start to get real playmakers to come to school here. The longer he continues to play this incredibly boring brand of football, the longer we will recognize recruiting classes barely cracking the top 50 as an accomplishment.
is sales back next year?
The reason EJ’s season was cut short was because he was busted smoking pot in the Klein Oak parking lot and was suspended from school. It made the Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/sports/highschool/article/Klein-Oak-fullback-arrested-on-possession-of-2237459.php That is the reason why schools have backed off of him. Threw away his golden ticket. I don’t think his Syracuse offer is still on the table.
I think EJ Fatu is the son of former wrestler Umaga. If so then the wrestling/football connection continues with the Samoan Wrestling families.
Now that Perkins is done screwing with Syracuse fans I can get on with cheering for whatever team plays against him and his school. I couldn’t stand Woody Hayes and the rest of his kind of coaching types. Hayes was a thug.
An effective share, I just with all of this onto a colleague who was simply doing a bit evaluation in this. Through which he actually purchased me breakfast as a result of I stumbled upon it for him.. smile. So permit me to reword that: Thnx on the cope with! However yeah Thnkx for investing enough time to talk about this, I sense strongly regarding it and love studying more on that topic. If potential, whenever you develop into experience, is it possible to thoughts updating your blog () with extra details? It’s highly helpful in my experience. Large thumb up for this reason blog offered!