According to a report, some male members of the Vanderbilt football team shed tears when soccer player Sarah Fuller kicked her 30-yard squib kick last week.
Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright claims that some of the players actually shed a progressive tear when Fuller trotted out on the field for her relatively ineffective kick.
In a video about Fuller’s brief stint on the field posted by College GameDay, Wright insisted, “There were some people on the sideline tearing up.”
At the end of November, Fuller made history as the first female to play on the field in a Power 5 college football game when she kicked her short squib kick in the Nov. 28 game against the Missouri Tigers. Her kick did not lead to a first down or a touchdown, and the Vanderbilt Commodores suffered a blowout 41-0 loss despite the “historic” event.
The SEC quickly celebrated the kick as “history made”:
Still, many accused then head coach Derek Mason of launching a desperate stunt to save his job by putting Fuller on the field. Mason was fired the next day, so it obviously didn’t work. And perhaps showing that it was just a stunt, interim coach Todd Fitch immediately announced that he would try to convince former kicker Ryley Guay to return to the team. Guay quit football to attend Vanderbilt’s medical school.
Others said Fuller’s kick was a politically correct stunt when news broke that she was allowed to harangue the players for not being “supportive enough” during a scolding locker room speech.
Despite the accolades for Fuller’s “first,” Vanderbilt has begun postponing games because interim coach Fitch can’t get enough players to field a team.
Meanwhile, Fuller has been showered with not just for one, but for two awards. She was immediately handed the SEC Player of the Week award after her kick and then was nominated for the Courage Award for her 30-yeard kick.
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