25 Days to Purdue Football: Tario Fuller

Today’s player was a surprise starter two years ago before injuries sidelined him.

Tario Fuller - Sr.

Sugar Hill, GA (Lanier HS)

6’, 200 pounds

Running Back

2019 Projection; Starter at Running Back

It has been a tough couple of seasons for Tario since he started the first three games of 2017. In the home opener against Ohio in 2017 he rushed for 142 yards and a TD. He followed that up with 90 more yards and a TD at Missouri before an ankle injury ended his season.

Last year he appeared in 11 games, but was used sparingly behind DJ Knox and Markell Jones. With Knox and Jones both game, Fuller is expected to be the go-to guy in the backfield as long as he is healthy. He has 325 rushing yards and two touchdowns in his career with another 133 yards on 15 catches. Those two games against Ohio and Missouri gave us a great look into what he is capable of, however.

Let’s also not forget what a good guy he is, too:

A young man who’d overheard the two asked little Kinley which was her favorite doll. She replied, “I really lub dis one,” Shufflebarger recounted on Facebook.

The teenager then chuckled, plucked the doll, and walked off with it.

“I told her it would be okay, [that] there are more [dolls],” wrote Shufflebarger.

But another doll wasn’t needed — as minutes later, the young man returned with the doll Kinley had been eyeing.

He gave it to her in a bag, along with the receipt and wished her a happy birthday.

“What a reminder to never [lose] faith in humanity and to be generous and pay it forward. To this generous young man, whoever you are, I hope you see this and more importantly, I hope you know what a good young man you are.”