Cosmello leads out of spotlight

The hard-working fullback has started 25 straight games. Somewhere in the middle of Jim Finn and Carmelo Rubano, somewhere in the middle of the limelight and the spotlight, somewhere in the middle of guts and glory, there stands Brian Cosmello. It is the middle. It is his home. Cosmello has grown quite comfortable in the middle. He has been the starter, lining up at fullback for 25 straight games -- a streak which began in the middle of his freshman year. And although he's started every Saturday for the past 2 1/2 years, chances are you've never heard of him. Because here in the middle, there are no stats. There are no show-stopping plays. There is no one to pat your back. Here in the middle, it is up to you to do everything and do it well. It is your job to win games and give others the credit. It is your job to be Brian Cosmello. It is your job to block on every offensive play of every game of the season. It is your job to make other people better, to touch the ball 14 times in 25 collegiate games and never to complain. "[Cosmello] is one of the most unselfish kids I've ever been around," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "If you take a look at his job description last year -- here's a kid who plays every single play of the offensive game and on every single play he blocks with the exception of [our] sending him out for five passes a year. "And he never complains. He never says, 'I want the ball.' He never says 'boo.' He just keeps blocking --Eand he blocks with an efficiency that is very unusual in this league." Blocking so efficient that with a stat line of five pass receptions for 39 yards, Cosmello garnered second-team All-Ivy honors last year. Cosmello is anything and everything to the Penn offense, which features three new starters at offensive line, a transfer quarterback and a platoon of young tailbacks. "He's still going to have to block at the level that he blocked last year and besides he's also going to have to be a bigger factor in the total offense," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "There's more pressure on him this year than there's ever been --Enot only to be the stalwart blocker that he's been, but also to be a ball carrier, to be a pass receiver, to be a leader as a senior." In the middle, you don't ask to be a leader. You simply are. By doing what you do, day in and day out. You lead. Just ask Cosmello. "I'm not the most vocal kind of guy, I lead more by example," he said. "I say a word here and there whenever I think it's necessary. I rely on being mentally sound and not making mistakes. Hopefully that will rub off on them." Cosmello has experience leading people. Last year he led one of his best friends, Jim Finn, to the better part of 1,450 rushing yards and the Penn single-season record. "Ninety percent of Finn's runs were behind Cosmello," Bagnoli said. "He's the guy who is either going to make or break the play anytime it goes front side." But in the middle, you don't tell anyone that you cleared the way for the team's superstar. You're just happy to be along for the ride and say how lucky it was to play with him. You don't think about what you could have done. You don't ask for more carries or time off for good behavior. "Obviously, I'd like to be a little bit more involved in the offense and I think it's going to happen this year, but as far as the past, I was doing what I was best at doing, which was blocking," Cosmello said. "I think I'm pretty good at that." Offensive coordinator Chuck Priore loves Cosmello. He loves that he blocks, he loves that he catches, he loves that he does his job. But most of all he loves that he blocks. "He's probably the one reason we've been successful," Priore said. "It's like having another offensive lineman in the backfield and he's a dominating player at that position." In fact, when Cosmello turned heads with his blocking ability on the scout team freshman year, Priore decided to switch from Penn's one-back offense to the now familiar, and always Cosmellic, two-back set. Cosmello took his place in the middle of that set, right between tailback Jasen Scott and quarterback Tom MacLeod in a loss against Brown, and he's been there ever since. He brought with him an intensity that propelled him to three varsity letters and a captainship on his Seton Catholic Central high school football team in Binghamton, N.Y. And an intensity that burns still, according to Priore. "[He's] really quiet, really intense," Priore said. "He challenges teachers in the classroom. He's that kind of person. He wants to know the answers. Mentally he's really strong." Penn's winning tradition, among other attributes, brought Cosmello to the middle of the Quakers offense. People in the middle hate to lose. "My whole career in football, I've never really been on a winning team ever," Cosmello said. "My best record was like 5-3 when I was in middle school. I wanted to come here and be on a winning football team." Winning is good, especially when you're in the middle. Winning makes you forget about the dings, the sore spots, the injuries that nag and that may never go away. The bumps and bruises that come with being the middle of the offense -- the focal point, without which nothing gets done -- aren't so bad when you win. But even people in the middle are human. Even people in the middle feel the effects of throwing your body in the way of anyone not in a Penn jersey for 25 straight Saturdays. "It's tough. Every year I get older, I feel like I get five years older," Cosmello said. "When something starts to hurt, you have to get it taken care of really quick. As a freshman, I felt like I could never be hurt. Every year, [you have to] prepare yourself mentally and physically." And Cosmello prepares. Every weekend. Without failure or gripe. Well, there is one little matter he'd like to settle. "I'd like to score a touchdown, I guess," Cosmello said. Even people in the middle like touchdowns. But all Cosmello really wants is another Ivy League title, an improved season and to have as much fun as he can in what is possibly his last year in the middle. The presence of pro scouts at practices, including scouts from the Colts, the Bills and the Titans, says that the pros like people in the middle, too. "If there's a possibility, I could try. But if not, that's why I came to an Ivy League school," he said. For right now, Cosmello is content to do his job. And on any given Saturday, you may see someone score a touchdown, and you may ask yourself how he did what he did. But the answer is right on the field, in a red and blue jersey, wearing No. 32. Just look for the one in the middle. His name is Brian Cosmello.

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