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Vanderbilt's Sarah Fuller named SEC special teams player of the week after historic kick

Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller is racking up accolades. After becoming the first woman to play in a Power Five football game she is now the Southeastern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.

Fuller suited up for Vanderbilt on short notice when the team’s kicking specialists were unavailable due to COVID-19 protocols. She served as the primary kicker against Missouri on Saturday less than a week after leading the women’s soccer team to an SEC championship in goal.

Fuller had a 0.97 goals against average this season, a mark that ranks eighth in program history. She had a rare goalkeeper assist in the SEC tournament quarterfinals, as she reminded naysaying Twitter folks on Monday.

It was the team’s first conference title since 1994. As she was packing to head home for the holiday, she got a call gauging her interest for the team’s kicking job.

Though she didn’t get to attempt a field goal since the offense struggled in a 41-0 loss, Fuller did take the opening kickoff in the second half. The perfectly executed kick went 30 yards and was downed at the 35-yard line.

The Vanderbilt senior joins New Mexico’s Katie Hnida and Kent State’s April Goss as the only women to play in a Football Bowl Subdivision game.

“Honestly, I was just really calm — the SEC [Championship] was more stressful,” Fuller said in the post-game interview on SEC Network. “I just want to tell all the girls out there that you can do anything you set your mind to, like you really can. And if you have that mentality all the way through, you can do big things.”

Fuller told reporters on Sunday she plans on “sticking around until someone tells me to go.” She said she’s having a lot of fun with the new challenge and wants to learn from the Vanderbilt kickers when they’re out of quarantine. It’s unclear if she will be the kicker for Vanderbilt’s game against No. 11 Georgia on Saturday.

Sarah Fuller in the Vanderbilt football uniform.
Vanderbilt place kicker Sarah Fuller was named an SEC player of the week. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

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