Whether it was summer camps, a new coach or simply being healthy for a change, Rancho Bernardo running back Terrick Fisher is a completely different football player this year.
Fisher rushed for 126 yards last season before suffering an MCL injury that kept him on the sideline. With at least one playoff game to go against Bishop’s Friday night at home, he has already rushed for 1,316 yards this season.
“I worked a lot harder in the off-season this year, going to camps in West Virginia, Montana and Texas,” said Fisher, an 18-year-senior who is 5-9, 165 pounds.
“My dad, Reginald, said we should take a chance and attend all those camps to see if the college coaches liked me. Because of the injury, they didn’t have that opportunity last year.
“Every coach at the camps had a different style. I really learned a lot and one of the things I learned, besides how run with the ball and block, was that I could adjust to any coach.”
That was important because Rancho Bernardo had hired former Charger Eric Weddle, so he’d definitely get a fresh start.
It didn’t take Weddle long to let Fisher know what he expected.
“At first I was scared to go up to him — he was an All-Pro,” Fisher said. “But I respected what he had accomplished, and it turns out he’s a normal guy who is easy to talk to.”
Weddle saw something on film and, as it turns out, he built the offense around Fisher.
“He has that great ability to explode at any time and fight through the first tackle,” Weddle said. “He has breakaway speed, he’s a physical runner and he works just as hard in practice as he does in the game. He’s the complete back in that he can run, he can catch the ball and he’s probably our second-best blocker behind a lineman.
“We just had to keep him healthy because you can’t be going in and out all the time,” he said. “Going to a lot of different camps really helped him because it showed he could adapt to any offense. On this team, he IS the guy, I don’t know what we’d do without him.”
Fisher won the Palomar League 100-meter dashes in track his freshman and sophomore years with a best in the 10.8-second range, which is blistering fast on the football field.
Weddle said Fisher being a captain has helped him open up.
“He’s a one-on-one kind of a guy,” Weddle said. “A quiet leader and who leads by example. Kind of like (former Chargers, Saints and Eagles RB) Darren Sproles.”
Fisher had a goal of rushing for 1,000 yards but now has expanded that to 1,500 with the playoff game and if the seedings hold, maybe more to come. In the regular season finale against Mt. Carmel, he rushed for 242 yards and scored twice.
The Broncos earned the No. 2 seed in the Division II playoffs and would like nothing more than to win two games and have a rematch with No. 1 Del Norte for the championship. When the two teams met early in the season, Del Norte won 49-43 in quadruple overtime.
“I just want to do my best, especially in a tight situation,” said Fisher, who carries a 3.4 GPA. “When I have the ball, I make quick decisions and I don’t think about it, it just happens. It’s natural. Yes, I like the games more than practice, the Friday Night Lights and everything.”
As for college, Fisher grew up in Texas and he said he’d really like to go to Rice University in Houston. Asked which pro player he thinks plays most like him, Fisher says he patterns himself after Sequon Barkley of the New York Giants.
But for right now, getting to that 1,500-yard mark is carrot enough.
