Editor’s note: This is a quarterback series highlighting of some of the top returning signal callers across the Texas Panhandle leading up to the kickoff of the regular season.
Tascosa senior quarterback Coltyn Fulton didn’t finish his junior season the way he would have liked. In fact, he didn’t get to finish it at all, which might be what motivates him this year.
Last season Fulton had come into his own in leading Tascosa’s ground-heavy flexbone attack as the Rebels were rolling in the area round of the Class 5A Division I playoffs against Saginaw. Before the end of Tascosa’s 35-13 win, though, the fate of Fulton’s – and Tascosa’s – season was sealed.
Fulton tore his right ACL, eliminating any chance he had of playing the rest of the season, or doing anything athletically for the remainder of the school year. He had to watch the next round from the sideline as the Rebels were crushed by Aledo 62-7 in the regional round.
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Through surgery, rehab and a significant weight loss, Fulton is ready to retake the reins of Tascosa’s offense. As much as anything, he plans on picking up where he left off before the injury.
“I’m going to have to keep running hard,” Fulton said. “Nothing much is going to change except maybe my pad level and getting lower. I have to say aggressive and when I’m on the field go 100 percent. I need to hit people and not get hit.”
That aggressive approach paid off most of the season for Fulton. Last year he ran for 1,106 yards and 14 touchdowns and is Tascosa’s leading returning rusher.
Among the quarterbacks who have run the program’s patented flexbone offense, Fulton has as much experience as anybody. With two full seasons under his belt as the focal point of the attack, he’s the ideal operator of the flexbone for the Rebels, injury not withstanding.
“He’s going in his third year and I think he made some great improvements last year,” said Tascosa coach Ken Plunk of Folton. “We expect those to continue. His finishing plays and taking care of the football need to improve but we’ve never had a quarterback like that in his third year into the system, so there’s some benefit to that. We’re really looking for some big things.”
Fulton actually made his varsity debut as a freshman, a rarity at a school as big as Tascosa. He made a big splash in a bidistrict playoff game against El Paso Ysleta, as he came in the game in the fourth quarter of a 70-7 rout and ran for 31 yards on only two carries, scoring on a 5-yard run, and later returning a punt 89 yards for another score.
That was enough of an appetizer to convince Plunk and the Tascosa staff that Fulton could provide the whole meal running the flexbone at quarterback. Fulton took over behind center to start his sophomore year, and after some experimenting in which he played fullback, he assumed the job fulltime as a junior.
There were still a few hiccups, but by the time District 2-5A Division I play started, Fulton hit hit a switch.
“I got real comfortable in the offense knowing what to do and knowing the jobs of people around me to make things easier,” Fulton said. “I just had to do my job and when I figured that out everything changed.”
Processing everyone’s duties is generally the key to running the flexbone. The quarterback has the ball in his hands every play and has to make the decision to hand off, pitch or keep it in the option offense.
The right decision was the biggest challenge for Fulton between his sophomore and junior years.
“With this offense it’s all about your eyes and you just have to try to trust that everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to do,” Fulton said. “I have to make sure everybody’s on task doing the right things. Even if a play’s broken you go fast and hard and that will get you some yards no matter what the play is.”
The running hard mentality is a key to quarterbacking Tascosa’s offense and the ACL injury has to be a factor in how effective Fulton can be doing that this year. He insists that mentality will be the same and Plunk doesn’t see any reason that it won’t.
“He’s had nine months to rehab, and I’ve talked to his surgeon and he told me that he’s no more likely to tear it than he was beforehand,” Plunk said. “It’s just as strong as the other side. It’s not like it’s a recurring injury.”
Fulton hurt his knee when he tried to cut to the middle of the field and got twisted around then was hit low. He said he heard three pops when he went down and was unable to return.
Getting his knee back in playing shape became the priority for Fulton, which meant missing baseball season last year. With that process progressing, Fulton decided it was also time to transform himself even further physically.
During rehab, Fulton lost 30 pounds and is now down to 185 pounds. He said it wasn’t necessarily a conscious choice.
“It just happened,” Fulton said. “I feel healthier and better and more agile. I still have muscle so I can run aggressive and hard and gain yards. It was just working hard, eating the right things and drinking water to get my body as healthy as possible.
“We had an intersquad scrimmage and I took a couple of good hits and I’m ready to go.”