Football
Favorite athlete: Kobe Bryant (all-time); Nakobe Dean (right now)
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: First Varsity Start as a Freshman
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Got sat on by my biggest teammate in a 1v1
Music on playlist: Biggie Smalls, Nas, Drake, J. Cole, Kendrick, Lil Baby
Future plans: Play college football
Words to live by: “God's plan isn't the same for everybody.”
One goal before turning 30: All-American linebacker & make the NFL
One thing people don’t know about me: I love fishing
By GORDON GLANTZ
When Pennridge senior Trevor Fuhs walked off the scholastic gridiron for the final time after a loss to rival Quakertown on Thanksgiving, there was disappointment but zero regret.
“I’m proud of the effort my brothers brought in my final game,” he said
A young Rams’ team is now positioned for a bright future, and Fuhs can feel good about his role in pointing coach Kyle Beller’s squad in that direction.
“I believe our program took a step forward this year,” he said. “I am looking forward to seeing what Coach Beller and the Rams will accomplish in the future.”
After battling back from injuries to the same knee as a freshman and a sophomore, he captained the Rams the last two years while recording more than 200 tackles in that span at linebacker.
This past year, after just playing defense as a junior, he also played tight end.
“In the fourth quarter, when it’s the last drive, you want him on the field,” said Beller.
And then there are the intangibles.
Added Beller: “When you look – as a coach - at players, he’s awesome. He’s an awesome kid to coach and to be around. In film study, he brings a notebook and takes notes. He helps teammates out. He’s the first one on the field and the last one off.”
A few days before the Thanksgiving Day game, Beller was trying not to think about a future without Fuhs.
Now, well, it’s time.
“It’s going to be weird,” said Beller. “From day one, he has been that leader. You look around and say, ‘Who is going to fill that role?’ I’m going to miss him.
“Trevor is a great kid. He’s a great student in the classroom. He’s a great young man of the field. He just does things right, from the classroom to the community and representing the school.”
A True Captain
It’s interesting to note that Beller allows the players to elect captains with no coach interference, and it says something about Fuhs that he was tabbed last year as an underclassman and again for this past season.
“That’s what his teammates think of him,” said Beller. “They voted him in. This year, he had to reapply for the job, and they voted him in again.”
For Fuhs, it was not just a ceremonial title.
“I took it with pride, and I tried to make the most of it,” he said. “I was proud to be named captain, and I made the most of it.
“It was a blessing. I was very grateful for that. I knew I would have to step up into a leadership position. The year before, we didn’t have much leadership. We felt like we were lost. We didn’t have an identity.”
In Fuhs, Beller saw a true captain on multiple fronts.
“In the offseason, every day in the weight room, he’s a leader,” said the coach, who just finished his second season with the Rams after coaching in the Lehigh Valley. “He works his tail off.
“He’s vocal in the offseason in the weight room. When we have a fundraiser, he’s the first one there, helping out.
“He really checks the boxes for what you are looking for as a young man, on and off the field.”
And it is on the field where Fuhs has earned his reputation.
“He’s probably our most vocal guy on the team,” said Beller. “He’s the one who breaks the huddle down. He’s the one who motivates the rest of the team.”
“On the field, there is his play. He cares, tremendously. He wants to do everything perfectly. You like to see that. He gets upset with himself, but he never gets down. If he makes mistakes, he fixes them. He demands it of himself, and he demands it of his teammates.”
For Fuhs, leadership during games came easy.
“There were certain times when I was the only senior on the field, meaning everyone on the field was younger than me,” he said. “If they make mistakes, I can’t yell at them. I’ll rip into them a little bit, but I’ll always end it with, ‘I trust you, brother. I love you and I trust you and I know you’ll make the next play. Just have the confidence in yourself that you’ll make the play the next time.’ That is the biggest thing that I tell the young guys. That’s the best example of positive leadership that I have given a lot this year.”
The Next Chapter
Fuhs, who gave up wrestling and lacrosse to focus on football, also hits the books with the same intensity he does an opposing offensive skill player, carrying a 4.1 GPA.
“My parents really harped on getting good grades, and taking school seriously,” said Fuhs, who has been in the National Honor Society since his sophomore year. “You learn a lot of things from school also – life things.”
Those “life things” undoubtedly helped in the leadership department, where Fuhs, who is an early riser who also avoids social media, noted personal growth from being a junior captain to a senior one.
“First year and second year as a captain, they were definitely different,” he said. “I was dealing with different guys. Being a younger guy, I was trying to push some of the seniors, so it was tough. This year, it was easier. I felt more respect among my teammates.
“The big thing for me was positive leadership, which is something I didn’t have much of throughout my early high school career. I was just about trying to get the younger guys to realize what leadership truly is. It’s not just screaming and yelling at everybody. It’s about pushing them in a good way to be better.”
The Comeback Kid
While Beller was not in the picture when Fuhs dealt with his knee injuries, he was well aware that the way his senior captain worked to get back onto the field made an impression on his teammates.
“He really worked hard to get back,” said the coach, who teaches at Pennridge after 22 years at Nazareth. “Even when I got hired, he was working himself to get back.”
Fuhs said viewed the pair of season-ending knee injuries in his freshman and sophomore years as part of God’s plan.
As such, there was no anger.
“I was just treating it as a blessing in disguise,” he said. “I felt like I was just starting back from square one, really. I was just building my body back up to be even better than I was before.
“God’s plan for everybody is different. I really live by that.”
The Next Level
Fuhs, who is the second of Adam and Angela’s brood of four children, will absolutely be playing college football.
It’s just a matter of where.
He is in some serious talks with several programs at various levels and hopes to have the matter settled sooner than later.
“He’s open to any level now,” said Beller. “He understands that recruiting has definitely changed. It’s hard to navigate right now. He’s doing everything right, but the whole recruiting landscape has really changed for colleges with the portal and NIL. They are not recruiting high school like they had been, and that’s at all three levels.
“At the bigger levels, he doesn’t necessarily check all the boxes off, but I definitely think he can play Division I-AA or Division II. He’s up for anything.”
And any program that hands Fuhs a uniform will, in Beller’s estimation, be making a wise investment.
Said the coach: “He’s a smart kid. He has got very good instincts. He’s a film nut. He’s a strong kid who runs well, you just have to find the right coach to say, ‘Hey, we are going to bring this kid in.’”
While size – 5-11, 215 (albeit with room to grow) – may preclude a scholarship from a large Division I mega program, Fuhs is still keeping his eye on the prize of reaching the NFL.
He sees Haason Reddick, who walked on at Temple and became an All-Pro. He sees standout quarterback Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills whose only scholarship offer was from Wyoming.
And he sees Nakobe Dean, his favorite active athlete, in the midst of a career year with the Eagles. Dean also overcame injuries and was an undersized linebacker who dropped to the third round of the 2022 draft because of it.
Said Fuhs: “Why can’t I be one of those guys? I may not be the perfect size but, if I work my hardest, I know that I at least have a chance. From middle school on, I just started harping on wanting to be the best linebacker in the school and the league and the state and maybe even to the NFL, if I work my tail off.”
While Fuhs isn’t thinking much beyond picking a college program and then making the most out of it, Beller sees a future vocation for his two-time captain.
“I’m going to enjoy following his career,” said Beller. “I told him in our exit interview that he is going to make one heck of a coach one day.”
Support System
Fuhs believes he did not get where he is alone.
“First and foremost, I’d like to thank God for blessing me with life and for the opportunity to become a great football player,” he said. “My parents support me so much. They have given me everything. They have supplied me with everything ever since I was a kid. They provided me with love, the shirt on my back, food on the table and all of that other good stuff.
“All of my friends and family have given me tremendous support in my life, and I just really appreciate that.”
