Catch him if you can: Ryan senior running back Samir Bullock posted his second consecutive 300-yard rushing game in a Saturday 51–6 win over Cardinal O’Hara. Bullock’s 3,509 rushing yards in just 19 games are now a school record. BILL ACHUFF / FOR THE TIMES
In sports, the concept of deja vu sometimes has a cosmic way of spinning full circle.
Just ask Samir Bullock and the Archbishop Ryan football team.
Three weeks ago, the Raiders lost an absolute heartbreaker, 21–20, to Bonner-Prendie on a two-point conversion with no time left on the clock. It was the team’s second consecutive Catholic League Class AAA division loss, immediately putting a season with so much hope and expectations in serious peril. Something similar happened in 2013, when a senior-laden group (and stud running back Bullock in tow as a junior) fell short of the playoffs thanks to a poorly-timed three-game division losing streak.
But there would be no crushing deja vu for the Raiders this season, because Bullock unleashed his own version of the concept, the same version that displayed why he was such a special talent when he broke the school’s two-decade-old, single-game rushing record the first time he put on the Ryan uniform.
Following the Bonner-Prendie soul-crusher, Bullock broke his own single-game record by running wild for 377 yards in a 42–7 win over Archbishop Carroll that breathed life back into the Raiders (Bullock had previously set the mark at 345 yards in the 2013 opener against Cardinal O’Hara). Then, on Saturday night in a 51–6 demolition of those same O’Hara Lions, Bullock became the school’s all-time leading rusher by carrying 22 times for 301 yards and three long touchdowns. As if the consecutive 300-yard performances weren’t special enough, Bullock has now rushed for 3,509 career yards … in less than two seasons. All of that and more (he even threw in a 90-yard punt return TD against O’Hara for good measure), Bullock and the Raiders are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and will get another shot at Bonner-Prendie in the Catholic League playoffs in a few weeks, hoping like hell that deja vu has gone into hiding for the rest of the season.
“Nothing he does surprises me anymore,” head coach Frank McArdle said after the game. “I actually got sad coming home from the Carroll game. Everyone is excited, but I’m thinking I might never see this again. He’s such a special kid, and we may never get another Samir Bullock. From the kind of kid he is to the talent he has, you don’t get too many like him in a coaching career. He’s special, and he’s getting better as it goes on.”
Better? Seriously?
“Just look at the fact that he didn’t even play in the fourth quarter the last two games,” McArdle said. “He got 678 yards, and he did it in six quarters. So you can see he’s still getting better before our eyes. Anytime he touches the ball, he can score, and that’s a great thing to have.”
For his part, Bullock is about the most unselfish of superstars you’re bound to come across. He said he wasn’t cognizant of breaking the career rushing record until he was told in the first quarter, and when he found out, Bullock deflected all praise to his offensive line and coaching staff.
“It’s a great honor. I came here and these guys welcomed me with open arms,” said Bullock, who spent his first two years at Father Judge. “I give all the credit to the coaches, the offensive line and these guys behind me. We play as a unit … as one. As long as we come out with the ‘W,’ that’s all I’m happy about.”
Bullock said he draws his inspiration from his late father, Lee, as well as mom Robyn for keeping him on track during the ups and downs of teenage adolescence. (Bullock also cited his cousin, Carolina Panthers rookie wide receiver Corey “Philly” Brown, as one of his idols.) Before every game, Bullock gazes skyward and says a prayer, his way of talking to Lee before he takes the field.
“My dad, he was a big football guy,” Bullock said. “I try to talk to him and give 100 percent on every play because I know he would have wanted that. I go home, look at myself in the mirror and ask myself, ‘Did you give it your all? Did you take any plays off? Did you do your assignments today?’ I think back to what my dad would have wanted me to do. That’s what brought me here, my dad, my mom, my family and everyone around me.”
After becoming the 11th player in city history to cross the 2,000-yard barrier a season ago, Bullock is threatening to do the same again this year. With at least three games remaining (but hopefully more, he said), Bullock has 1,454 yards on 188 carries — almost eight yards per rush — and 17 total TDs, 14 of them on the ground. More importantly, he’s gotten Ryan back to the playoffs, ready to square off against a team the Raiders are thirsty to exact revenge against.
“I’m so excited to get to play them again,” Bullock said. “We want to go out there, get them back and go play in the (Class AAA) championship game. We won this O’Hara game to get another shot at Bonner. This is the first time I’ve made it to the high school playoffs; now let’s go and handle our business.”
Bullock, who gained 182 yards in the Bonner loss, said he currently has six scholarship offers in hand from Rhode Island, Maine, Robert Morris, Bryant, Delaware and Stony Brook, though Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference has been sniffing around for awhile. Bullock said he’d like to make it to the NFL one day like his cousin; but if not, he’d like to study business management and maybe open his own restaurant or sporting goods store.
But for now, only one thing matters: the Catholic League playoffs.
“The records I’m setting, those are great honors,” Bullock said. “But right now I’m just focused on working hard and getting better so that my teammates and I can go as far as we can. I’m having a great time, but I’m not satisfied yet.” ••
