Fitten drawing Bryson Allen-Williams comparisons
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
When asked about what player Rodricus Fitten reminds him of, it takes Aaron Sterling a minute to come up with an answer.
He spends a few seconds with his head cocked back, racking his brain for all of the pass rushers he’s played with over his football-playing career and comes up with what, on the surface seems like an easy answer: Bryson Allen-Williams.
Fitten is getting compared to Allen-Williams, one of the program’s best pass rushers of the Will Muschamp era, Sterling said because of the energy he brings to everything he does.
“I’m liking Hot Rod,” Sterling said. “He’s got a motor. He’s going to go.”
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Fitten earned the nickname Hot Rod soon after arriving on campus in the spring and has been firing on all cylinders since then.
He’s already impressed BUCKs coach Mike Peterson through the first eight months on campus, getting his weight to a “ripped up” 245 or 250 pounds entering the season, which is about 15 to 20 pounds heavier than Allen-Williams was listed at his senior season.
Peterson agrees with the comparison and says the motor is something that separated Fitten from a few other guys in the recruitment process.
“That’s a great one to compare him to,” Peterson said. “He’s probably running the wrong way but that’s my job. That’s why I’m here: to get him running in the right direction. Give me a guy that plays with a motor over a talented guy any day.”
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Fitten was the first commitment in the Gamecocks’ 2019 class, committing in 2017, two years before he’d even be able to play a football game at Williams-Brice.
He stuck with his commitment and even got in early, arriving in January to go through spring practice with the team.
The freshman mistakes will still come, but at least he’s making his mistakes moving at 100 miles per hour.
“The thing I like about him, and I saw it in recruiting, is he plays with a lot of energy,” Peterson said. “The thing now is shortening the learning curve for him and getting him on our page as far as the terminology and the way we do things. The effort is one thing I really like about him. I loved it in recruiting but he’s showing it now.”
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Fitten has a good mentor in redshirt senior Danny Fennell, who’s taken the athletic freshman under his wing since he arrived this winter.
It’s been good for Fitten to learn from a guy who’s played in 30 career games with 58 total tackles and Fennell’s seen a lot of progress so far from a young player with an infectious energy.
“We’ve been working all summer,” Fennell said. “Hot Rod came in and his eyes lit up about the whole thing and I love it. His spirit is something good for the team. He’s been asking questions about his get off and everything.”