Carlton Koonce says he can’t go outside anymore without at least one person stopping him to talk about football.

It’s taken him four years, but he’s finally become the big man on a small campus.

“It’s a complete 180,” Koonce said. “I get workers, regular staff, professors, the student body coming up to me. If you’re going from point A to point B on campus, I hear ‘good game,’ ‘good job,’ ‘six in a row,’ ‘keep it up’. It’s great to see Fordham back on the map.”

Four years ago, Koonce left Hofstra when the program shut down. Now, two years removed from a 1-10 season during which he was forced to change positions, Koonce is the senior captain on a Fordham team that has yet to lose a game in 2013.

Currently sitting at 6-0, the Rams have already defeated two Top 10 Football Championship Subdivision opponents on their home field this season and upset Temple on the road. The Rams have sold out their past two home games at Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx, N.Y. Fordham hadn’t sold out a game since 2007.

“When I first got here, I never in my wildest imagination thought that would be possible,” Koonce said. “One sold out game is unheard of here at Fordham, let alone two sold out games back to back. That’s unreal.”

Though Koonce might not quite believe it to be real, he is a large reason of why it is happening. The preseason third-team All-American has rushed for 752 yards, sixth most in the FCS. He could possibly break the school rushing record that he set last season.

He’s the best running back in program history, but less than two seasons ago he was relegated to the wide receiver position due to a glut of talent at running back at the time.

“We realized Carlton was a running back, but he had really good hands,” former Fordham head coach Tom Masella said. “So we figured we’d give him some time at receiver.

“I think he just wanted to get on the field. He said, ‘Whatever you want, Coach.’ That’s the type of person he is.”

After that season, Masella was fired. When Joe Moorhead took over, Koonce became captain as a junior and Moorhead gave him the starting running back job. Moorhead had recruited Koonce while he was a coach at Akron, and knew what he was capable of.

“I remember his high school film,” Moorhead said, “and when we got the board, and we saw he was on the roster, and what we do with our up-tempo, no-huddle offense, and what is primarily a zone-based scheme, I said that this kid would be a perfect fit for what we’re looking for in the running back.”

Moorhead said one of the reasons that Koonce has thrived is because of his hard-working and outgoing personality. He said he wished he had a team full of players like him.

When Koonce was in high school, it was no different. He was the first player out on the field for practice and the last player in the locker room. Even with a new head coach at Rancocas Valley (N.J.) High School, he still comes back to visit.

“He would come in during the offseason, and I was coaching basketball at the time, and ask if he could get an extra workout with the basketball team,” Rancocas Valley head coach Dan Haussmann said. “He was always looking to keep getting better.”

All Koonce has done is get better. And as Koonce goes, Fordham football goes, too, in its most memorable season in program history.

“Hopefully we can continue that success, and continue to build leadership that we’ve had over the past few years,” Koonce said. “It’s been a group effort, and I’m just so proud and happy to be a part of it. It means more than anyone can imagine.”

Published on October 9, 2013 at 10:14 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3