The honor, voted upon by sports information directors at NCAA Division II football-playing institutions, was the latest in a long line of citations earned by the 6-foot-5, 305-pound Fusco, a native of Cranberry Township and graduate of Seneca Valley High School.
Fusco was named Monday as the 2010 recipient of the Gene Upshaw Division II Lineman of the Year Award sponsored by the Manheim (Pa.) Touchdown Club. With that honor came an automatic invitation to participate in both the Jan. 22, 2011, East-West Shrine (Orlando, Fla.) and Feb. 5 NFLPA Game (San Antonio, Texas) postseason all-star games.
One week earlier, Fusco received an invitation to play in the Cactus Bowl, Division II all-star game Jan. 7, 2011 in Kingsville, Texas.
Fusco is also on the watch list for the Jan. 29 Senior Bowl all-star game in Mobile, Ala. and is a candidate for American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II All-America and Associated Press Little All-America teams.
Fusco earned first-team Preseason All-America honors last summer from The Sporting News, Consensus Draft Services, D2Football.com and D2PRODAY.com. Hde also received first-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division honors for the third consecutive season.
A year ago, in addition to being named to first-team all-conference status, Fusco received second-team All-America postseason honors from Don Hansen's Football Gazette, first-team all-region honors from the Football Gazette and Daktronics Inc. and finished third in the Super Region One Upshaw Award voting.
A third-team Football Gazette all-region selection as a sophomore in 2008, Fusco served two seasons (2009 and 2010) as a Rock team captain and was the team's 2009 Offensive MVP. He was in the starting lineup for all 44 Rock games since 2007, a rare accomplishment, especially for an offensive lineman.
This fall, Fusco was the foundation of a Rock offensive line that opened holes for redshirt sophomore running back Akeem Satterfield, the No. 1 scorer/No. 2 rusher in the PSAC and the No. 3 scorer/No. 5 rusher in the nation.
Fusco is the first Rock player to earn Daktronics All America status since offensive tackle Mike Butterworth was named to second-team honors in 2007.
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