Angelo State head football coach Jeff Girsch had yet to learn what he was starting when he began recruiting Asa and Cade Fuller from the transfer portal.

“Our placekicker had just graduated, and our punting situation wasn’t great coming out of the Covid year,” Girsch recalled. “It kind of fell in our laps and was an outstanding opportunity for us. They walked in the door, and we instantly got better on special teams.”

Girsch didn’t know at the time that Asa and Cade were the beginning of a long line of Fullers to join the Rams football roster.

The brothers began their collegiate careers at Fresno State. Asa was the primary placekicker for the Bulldogs during his redshirt freshman season but was relegated to mainly kickoff duties during his sophomore and junior seasons. Cade was active for four games during his redshirt freshman season with the Bulldogs and averaged 39.4 yards on his 19 punts. Both brothers entered the transfer portal following the 2020 season.

“At DI, you’re a number. Then, when we got to Angelo, the coaches cared about us and not only our performance,” Cade said. “They want us to grow and become a man. It’s a family environment. It’s still a business because we want to win championships, but it’s a family who wants to see us succeed when we leave San Angelo.”

The brothers grew up in California and competed against some of the top high school players in the country while attending Servite High School, the home of current Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. Cade recalled playing wide receiver and linebacker against St. John Bosco and Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young at Mater Dei High School. 

However, their father, Asa Ralph, played quarterback and punter at Texas A&M-Kingsville and was familiar with Division II football and the Lone Star Conference. With his youngest son, Braeden, beginning his high school career at St. John Bosco and Asa and Cade attending Angelo State, the Fuller family departed California to move closer to their family in Floresville. 

Once the Fullers arrived at ASU, they told the coaching staff about their cousin, Dalton Perry, a lightly recruited offensive and defensive lineman at Poth.

“I went to watch their spring practice and knew I wanted to play football here,” Perry said. “Cade and Asa got my film to the coaches, and it took off from there. They wanted me right away, and the offensive and defensive coaches were fighting over which side I would play.”

Perry eventually landed on the Rams' offensive line and became the team’s center during his sophomore season. He enjoys being the “general of the o-line.”

If you’re counting at home, that’s two Fullers and a cousin on the Rams roster in 2021. Braeden was deep into his recruitment at Floresville, where he was the District 15-5A Division II Offensive Most Valuable Player and Week 5 Built Ford Tough Player of the Week. Still, the family made sure the decision of where Braeden would play college football was his alone.

“Coming out of high school and having all three of them here was huge and would help me feel at home. But going through the recruitment process, the coaching staff here made me feel the most at home and that they wanted me to be here the most,” Braeden said. “It didn’t matter that my family was already here because this coaching staff cared about me before I signed and was the most welcoming on my visit.”

Braeden joined the Rams in 2022 and allowed for something special for the Fuller family. Due to the redshirt year awarded to all NCAA football players during the global pandemic, all three brothers, Asa, Cade, Braeden, and their cousin, Dalton, were on the same roster for the first time in family history.

“Our family reunions are on Saturday home games,” Cade said. “We have a crowd of around 30 just from our family.”

What’s it been like having so many Fullers around the program?

“When Asa was here, and all four of them were going at once, we’d joke as coaches that we were having a Fuller overload day,” Girsch joked. “It’s awesome, and they have so much fun.”

Whether it’s a family game of “Marbles” or an invented game after practice, fun follows the Fuller family.

“We have to kick them off the field after practice, or they’ll stay out there and have these competitions where they’ll see who can hit the goalpost with a ball and things like that,” Girsch said. “It gets loud, and that’s who they are. They’re competitors, and it’s non-stop. It’s also instant comedy at times. 

The competition runs throughout the Fuller clan. 

“I had a 71-yard punt last week, and my dad said, ‘I could still do that,” Cade said. “I got one of those in me.’” 

Cade successfully threw a two-point conversion pass during a game earlier this year. He made sure his brother saw the play.

“I sent that to (Braeden) and told him that’s QB1 stuff right there,” Cade said.

“With our family connection, we’ve played so long together,” Dalton said. “We know what each other’s thinking, and we’re connected on the same page during the game, and that’s helped so much.”

It’s no secret that all three on this year’s Rams roster play a significant role in Angelo State’s success on the field. Cade and Braeden were named LSC special teams and offensive players of the week, respectively, following a 38-0 win at Texas A&M-Kingsville. In the age of the transfer portal, success often leads players to consider taking their talents to Division I.

“Why would I leave if we’re winning games and going to the playoffs every year? I want to be on a winning team. Then, to have your brother and cousin on the team helping you win means even more,” Cade said. “This is the best situation ever. I hate losing more than I like winning, and when you have guys you can trust beside you on the field giving 100% – it’s the best thing in the world.”

“These guys came in as winners,” Girsch added. “Cade is a fifth-year senior, and I’m not saying he’s a different person than when he arrived, but he’s grown into a true leader on this team. You don’t see that from a punter very often. He’s a leader in the weight room, the classroom, and on the team. He leads in whatever he does.

“All three of these guys have strong voices in the locker room. When they say something, it gets heard. These guys have the coaches' backs, which is very powerful in the locker room. They’ve been taught to respect people, work hard, and do the right thing, and you see it every day.”

They’re committed, and they’re leaders on the team. They’re also tough.

“There’s not a game where Dalton doesn’t walk out of the training room with 50 different ice bags, and you wonder how the heck he is going to play the next game,” Girsch said. “But he’s always ready to go, and that’s the mentality each of these guys brings every week. They bring that mentality to practices and games.”

While each is focused on leading Angelo State to the NCAA Division II championship game in McKinney in December, they understand how special these moments will be later in life.

“The coaches are always talking to us about being focused on doing our job, but also about taking a step back and realizing that you’re playing college football. Everybody wants to play college football, but we get to do this,” Dalton said. “Yes, it’s our job, and we want to have fun, but we also want to take a moment to look at our surroundings and take in these experiences.”

“If I see Dalton go pancake someone, I will go crazy for him. If my brother hits a 70-yard punt, I will go crazy on the sideline for him,” Braeden added. “It’s not something we sit around and talk about much right now, but we’ll be able to sit around and reminisce about this unbelievable time in our lives when we got to be together.”

Is there a chance we’ll see more members of the Fuller family playing for the Rams in the future?

“I’ll take as many Fullers as I can get,” Girsch said. “I’m really proud of how they carry themselves and work to improve daily.”