Will Fuller V – June 11, 2021
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Friday, June 11, 2021
WR Will Fuller V
(Do you want us to address you as Will Fuller, William Fuller, William Fuller V? How does that go? What do we do?) – “(laughter) Man, you can call me whatever you want. You can call me Will. Don’t call me William. You can call me Will, you can call me V, whatever; just don’t call me William.”
(I guess what I need to know is by the end of this football season, will South Florida definitely know your name?) – “Oh yeah, for sure. I’m here to help the team win and I believe I can do that. I’m excited for the team and what we can do this year, and … South Florida.”
(It’s been awhile since you’ve been back on a football field with teammates. I just wanted to get your feel for how that went for you today. How does it feel to be back on the field with teammates?) – “It feels great. It definitely feels great. Like you said, it’s been awhile; so just getting back on the field with the guys, hearing play calls, moving around, competing a little bit and just thinking football stuff on the field, it feels good to be back out here.”
(What’s the process for you like in terms of getting to know the new guys? Is there some sort of pop culture quiz that you guys do with each other? Is it kind of related around the game? How do you create that camaraderie this time of the season?) – “For sure. I’ve only been here for a few days now – about a week – so I’ve just been in the building as much as possible, talking to as many people as possible, and just putting names with faces, just showing my face and letting people know who I am.”
(I noticed that you were excited to become the director of player outreach for The Players Company. What will that company do and why did it appeal to you?) – “That’s actually my best friend’s company. He’s been asking me to help him for two years now and I’ve just been so focused on football that I didn’t have time, really. But this offseason, I had more time and I just took the time to help him and reach out to as many people as I could to try to help him out. He’s doing a great job of helping players on and off the field to set them up for success after football, because football is not for long. One injury and you could be done. A lot of people, all they know is football; so they don’t know how to transition outside of football. We’re helping people with that and trying to set up players with a good team around them so they know the right things to do with their money. The beginning was just trying to help people with financial literacy. We’re real passionate about that because we do see a lot of people making not-so-smart decisions, so the more people we can help, I think the better we’ll be as athletes.”
(What types of mistakes have you seen teammates and friends make in the financial area that even if you were just giving them advice in the locker room, you might say to them?) – “Like I said, football is not for long; and we do get a large amount of money quick. I don’t think a lot of players understand that has to last us our lifetime. Other people in other professions, they don’t get paid a big lump sum at one time, so they learn how to manage their money. We’re coming out of college and a lot of us – me, I’m from Philadelphia and I didn’t really have too much money. My parents really couldn’t teach me how to manage my money, so when I got to the NFL and I got that big lump sum of money, some people think it’s going to last forever; but that’s not the case because like I said, you have to know you’re not going to play for that long so income is not going to continue to come in like that. You just have to be smart with your money.”
(I wanted to ask you about coming back from the offseason and your impressions of the Dolphins before signing. What were they and what are some of the things that you’ve maybe learned about the team now that you’ve been here a couple of days?) – “This is my first free agency, so I just took it as I wanted to go to a team that wanted me. The Dolphins showed the most interest. That’s why I chose the Dolphins and of course, I know we have a great team here and we can do great things. Ever since I’ve been here, it’s been great. I love the culture here. It’s just been easy to be here; and like I said, I’ve been in the building as much as I can. I enjoy being here so I’m happy the Dolphins decided to take a chance on me.”
(What are some things you think that you guys can accomplish this year, especially with you in the fold now?) – “I’m going to take it one day at a time, but I know we have a very good team. There’s going to be a lot of competition in camp. We’re going to get better each and every game and see where that takes us.”
(We already know that you have an ability to get behind secondaries. Obviously we know WR Jaylen Waddle has an ability to get behind secondaries. How excited are you to see what you and Waddle can do when you blow the top off some defenses with your speed?) – “You can’t teach speed and we do have that on this team. It’s not just me and Waddle. There are other players with speed too. It’s going to be fun. We’ll see – we’re going to do what the coaches ask of us and we’re just going to be playing fast and make some stuff happen.”
