Former walk-ons come up big for Houston and Texas A&M.
Gillaspia rises from little-known player at Katy Taylor to Texas A&M’s double threat
COLLEGE STATION — Burly, furry and a barrel of fun with his friends and on the football field, longhaired Cullen Gillaspia looks like he’d be in trouble in a footrace with the Aggie Band.
“I’d like to keep it that way,” said Gillaspia, Texas A&M’s 235-pound senior fullback, in a hushed tone. “‘Deceptive speed’ is the key.”
Fine, we’ll keep that “deceptive speed” between readers and the fencepost that Gillaspia could either jump over or knock over, depending on the hefty former Katy Taylor star’s mood. Word is spreading like wildfire in the SEC, however, that the Aggies own a fullback and special teams ace with “surprising” swiftness, and Gillaspia happily can’t do a thing about it.
Except keep making plays. Ask Kentucky punt returner David Bouvier. Late in the Aggies’ eventual 20-14 overtime victory against the then-No. 13 Wildcats last Saturday, Bouvier fielded a booming Braden Mann punt at the Kentucky 13-yard line. He promptly lost four yards when a hustling and diving Gillaspia took out Bouvier’s feet to a roar from the Kyle Field crowd.
“Amazes me every time,” A&M’s own punt returner, Roshauud Paul, said of Gillaspia’s ability to beat most everyone down the field on special teams plays.
Said Gillaspia, “They see someone walk out there who doesn’t have the prototypical college-athlete body and they say, ‘Aw, this guy is nothing.’ And then I’m able to run by them.”
Gillaspia’s rev is not just a blossoming Wellborn Road legend. Technology backs it up. The A&M players wear GPS monitors, and for the past couple of years Gillaspia has recorded some of the fastest times among the Aggies in full pads on Kyle Field.
Last season he was recorded at 21.6 miles per hour on a special teams play, what his teammates claim was only behind then-safety Armani Watts’ 23 mph around that same time.
“It might take me a minute to get there,” Gillaspia said of his top speed, “but once I get going, I’m moving pretty quick.”
It hasn’t always been that way, and that’s why Gillaspia’s tale of perseverance should inspire any youngster dead set on chasing a dream. Gillaspia was good, but not great at Katy Taylor, and didn’t receive any scholarship offers to larger colleges his senior season.
In January 2014, he let some smaller schools that had offered scholarships know he intended to attend A&M as a student. Then, he received an invitation from the Aggies in his last semester of high school to walk on under thencoach Kevin Sumlin.
“I’ve always been a little bit of a late-bloomer,” Gillaspia said. “I definitely had some speed in high school, but my 40 (yard dash) times didn’t reflect it. I was always kind of a ‘4.6’ guy. All of the sudden (later on), I was running with some of the fastest guys in college.” Gillaspia has been the Aggies’ heralded “12th Man” the past three seasons, and new coach Jimbo Fisher immediately noticed No. 12 during A&M’s bowl practices last December and then early in spring drills.
“It kind of shocked me, because I was watching practice and saw him run and thought, ‘Wow,’ ” Fisher said. “I said, ‘That guy can run.’ Then he started goofing around and catching the ball, and that’s when I got the idea of putting him on offense.”
Fisher, who coached at Florida State from 2010-17, reintroduced the fullback position at A&M as part of his pro-style attack, and in doing so introduced Gillaspia, who had played linebacker and special teams his first three seasons with the Aggies, to the offensive side of the ball.
“He’s still learning how to play over there, and when that ball is in his hands — whether as a running back or catching it — he does extremely well,” Fisher said. “He’s a talented guy.”
Not long after the spectacular tackle on special teams against Kentucky, Gillaspia’s blocking helped spring running back Trayveon Williams to the game-winning touchdown in overtime. Midway through Gillaspia’s senior season, and with the No. 22 Aggies (4-2, 2-1 SEC) playing at South Carolina (3-2, 2-2) on Saturday, Fisher has openly said his first starting fullback at A&M, a former walk-on, likely will earn a shot in the NFL.
The secret is clearly out — and deep down in his fun-loving, perpetually hustling heart, Gillaspia knows that’s a good thing.