Corey Fuller's plea to team after field trip to Orange Avenue Apartments

After playing four games in a 7-on-7 tournament at Florida High Friday morning, the East Gadsden Jaguars piled on their yellow school bus for the return trip to Havana.

Or so the team thought.

“I didn’t know what we were going to do,” junior defensive end Marco Rollins said Saturday.

The Jaguars made a detour while in Tallahassee to the Orange Avenue Apartments, where their coach, former Florida State star and 10-year NFL veteran Corey Fuller, was raised.

Fuller, as most know, wears his heart on his sleeve.

Even when his shirt is soaking wet from a driving thunderstorm.

“The kids see the glory but they really don’t know the story,” Fuller said Saturday.

Some of the Jaguars do now.

Fuller gave his players an emotional 48-second, rain-soaked version of his life that was videotaped by a volunteer assistant coach.

Shared on social media, the video had nearly 30,000 views in less than 12 hours and more than 100,000 by the 20-hour mark. It was shared more than 2,800 times on Facebook.

Frustrated at times by his team, a demonstrative and animated Fuller, 45, encouraged players to work hard and not make excuses.

The group stood in front of the apartment where Fuller was raised. A driving rain pelted Fuller and players; thunder boomed from beyond.

Maeflower Geter, 58, visiting her mother who now resides in one-story apartment No. 4 – Fuller’s football jersey number by design to honor his journey - stood on the doorstep, under cover, and also listened to Fuller’s message.

Fuller, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, was in full volume as he shouted it, soaking wet, with his right arm pumping out exclamation points. He barely stopped to inhale:

When the bus pulled up in front of the apartments around 12:15 p.m., many of the players started to realize that it was Fuller’s childhood home. The head coach has shared his story before, but had never made it a field trip.

This was being shared in real time, without any sunshine or excessive praise.

“Coach started telling us this is where he grew up and, from him, we knew what type of neighborhood that is,” Rollins said.

“We knew how he grew up. It made an impact. No matter what the circumstances are, you can still make it out and do big things. It inspired us to work harder.”

Geter was sitting outside her mother's apartment when the yellow school bus parked and Fuller led his team to the doorstep.

"I was wondering what was going on pretty much, too," Geter said Sunday morning.

Fuller's intention became immediately clear.

It was a light rain initially as Fuller spoke to his team. After three or four minutes, it began to rain harder. And harder. All that was missing was fire and brimstone.

It was around that time when volunteer assistant coach Courtney Wester pulled out his cell phone and videotaped the last rousing 40-plus seconds of Fuller's passionate to his players in the full-throttle thunderstorm.

“They (players) were in shock,” Wester said.

“Everyone really started talking about it when they got back to school. Everyone must have watched the video 20-30 times or more. Their reaction was like, ‘We have to do this. We can make it.’

“They have heard about Corey. They know he played in the NFL, they know he played at Florida State. But for them to actually be in the projects where he grew up, to see where he came from and where he lives now, they were, ‘Wow, we can do this.’”

Geter was impressed, too. She added with a laugh that a few neighbors telephoned as the bus drove away and asked what in the world went on.

"He gave them the lowdown on what's going on in the world, and what kind of life this is," Geter said.

"He gave them a pretty good speech. He told them nobody is going to give them anything on a silver platter. Hopefully, some of them will follow through and it (message) won't go in one ear and out the other."

Fuller approaches each day with an unbridled zest for life and the dogged determination to help youth. His message Friday came from the depths of his heart and soul.

"If I save one person, I have done my job," Fuller said. "In this case I want to save more because it's my football team. I know what I do for my football team."

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Corey Fuller's plea to team after field trip to public housing complex