Long-haired fullback Vincent Croce is often referred to by his Virginia teammates with the noun ‘character.’ The Oxford Dictionaries define character as “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.”

“I can be a character,” admits Croce (click here for a photo example). “I feel like I’m the kind of person that can fit in a lot of different categories. I’ve been like that my whole life but I can be a character at times.”

Entering his fifth season playing football at UVa, that’s certainly true. Croce fits into a lot of different categories, a lot of different roles. He’s a philanthropist, an Iron Cavalier Award honoree for performance and dedication in the weight room, a consistent member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll, and a team leader as captain. He has played defensive end, tight end, special teams, and fullback.

Following the 2012 season, Croce went to Coach Mike London and asked his head coach about moving from defensive end to fullback. Virginia lacked depth at the position and Croce wanted to find a way to get on the field. He played mostly on special teams in 2013 and last fall but did see time at fullback and tight end (26 plays) in 2014.

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