Twitter: @OLBeastCoach03
Nate Fuqua is in his sixth season as Georgia State’s defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach. Since joining head coach Shawn Elliott’s original staff in 2017, he has helped coach the Panthers to four bowl berths and four winning seasons in five years.
Over the last two seasons, the GSU defense ranks among the national leaders with 73 sacks and 167 tackles for loss while allowing less than 140 yards rushing per game (3.65 yards per attempt) and forcing 42 turnovers, all key factors in Georgia State’s back-to-back winning seasons and bowl victories. Fuqua’s outside linebackers have accounted for 30 of those 73 sacks.
Last fall, the Panthers set school records with 38 sacks and 92 tackles for loss, breaking records set the previous season. GSU forced 21 turnovers, one shy of the program record, including 17 takeaways as the Panthers won seven of their final eight games, capped by the dominating bowl victory. The defense allowed 141.4 rushing yards per game, third-lowest in school history, with a GSU-record 3.51 yards per carry. The Panthers also set the GSU single-game record by holding Arkansas State to minus-3 yards rushing.
In 2020, Fuqua’s defense ranked in the Top 10 in FBS in sacks (No. 7 with 35) and turnovers forced (No. 8 with 21). The Panthers’ average of 136.6 rushing yards allowed per game was the second-best mark in school history, including four of the program’s top 11 single-game performances.
The defense keyed GSU’s late-season run, allowing averages of 19.0 points and 322.0 yards of total offense over the final four games of 2021, capped by the LendingTree Bowl win over Western Kentucky, in which the Panthers allowed a season-low 284 yards.
In 2019, Fuqua’s defense played a key role in the Panthers’ landmark victory at Tennessee, holding the Volunteers to just 93 yards rushing. Another top performance was allowing just 63 yards passing in the win over Army.
In his first season running the Panther defense, Fuqua was nominated for the 2017 Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach. His unit set GSU season records for fewest points per game (24.75) and fewest rushing yards per game (136.4) and then-records for fewest yards per rushing attempt (4.13) and most sacks (24). The Panthers also recorded the first shutout in school history while setting single-game records for fewest rushing yards allowed (minus-2) and most sacks (seven).
Fuqua coached All-Sun Belt Conference outside linebacker Michael Shaw, while his defense also featured four other all-conference honorees, including Academic All-America cornerback and Senior Bowl invitee Chandon Sullivan.
Following the 2017 season, three GSU defenders signed NFL free agent contracts in Sullivan (now with the Minnesota Vikings), defensive end Mackendy Cheridor and cornerback B.J. Clay, while noseguard Julien Laurent was a first-round selection in the 2018 CFL Draft.
In five seasons at GSU, his defense has produced 21 all-conference honorees and five pro players.
Fuqua came to Georgia State from Wofford, which he helped to a 10-4 record and a berth in the FCS quarterfinals in 2016 as he directed a defense that ranked fifth in the nation in total defense (287.2 ypg), sixth in scoring defense (17.1 ppg) and 12th in rushing defense (101.8 ypg). The Terriers, who fell to Youngstown State in double overtime in the FCS quarterfinals, posted three shutouts during the season.
Fuqua spent 12 seasons at Wofford, his alma mater, including the last three years as defensive coordinator. In each of his three seasons running the defense, the Terriers had the top rushing defense in the Southern Conference while ranking fourth in the FCS in 2014 and 12th in 2016.
Fuqua originally joined the Wofford staff in 2005, assisting with the linebackers for two seasons before taking over as the outside linebackers coach in 2007. From
then on, he helped the Terriers reach the FCS playoffs in six of his last 10 years on the staff and winning three Southern Conference championships.
Among the top players he coached was All-American and three-time all-conference outside linebacker Alvin Scioneaux. He tutored numerous other all-conference and all-freshman selections during his time at Wofford.
A nose tackle in college, Fuqua was a four-time All-Southern Conference player and two-time All-America for the Terriers, including first-team recognition as a senior in 2002. He was elected to the Wofford College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.
Fuqua (pronounced FEW-quay) is a native of Danville, Ky., where he was an all-state player at Danville High School. He is married to the former Tiffany Webb and the couple has a daughter, Natalie Marie, and a son, Webb Kirkland.
