Former Cleveland State baller J'Nathan Bullock still has pro hoops aspirations but is using the Flint Fury football team to stay in shape
Published: Sunday, June 12, 2011, 10:30 AM
View full sizeJ'Nathan BullockBullock, a Northern High School graduate who had a successful college basketball career at Cleveland State, is suiting up these days for the Flint Fury semi-pro football team.
“Everybody always told me that football was going to be my gateway,” said Bullock. “But I never really took football serious, period, so I really don’t know my full potential in that sport.
“I’ve been going hard with basketball since middle school.”
In part, Bullock is playing for Fury to help him stay in shape for basketball.
He hopes to play professional basketball overseas next season.
In his first game last week against the Detroit Redd Doggs, Bullock rushed for a touchdown and helped the Fury win 43-0.
View full sizeCleveland State guard Cedric Jackson, left, and forward J'Nathan Bullock react near the end of the second half of a semifinal college basketball game against Valparaiso in the Horizon League Conference Tournament in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 8, 2008. Cleveland State won 78-73.And the 6-5, 240 pound athlete has impressed the Fury with his workhorse mentality.
“He’s real powerful and a big guy (and) he’s hard to take down,” said Charles Lawler, the Fury’s head coach. “I kind of feel like they’re intimidated to tackle him almost.”
“He’s a good piece of talent and he’s a real physical specimen,” said Demarkis Smith, Bullock’s teammate and longtime friend.
Smith is the one who convinced Bullock to join the Fury.
When Bullock was looking for a way to keep his conditioning intact, Smith brought the Fury to his attention.
The duo hadn’t suited up for the same team since their senior year at Northern.
“It was good just being on the sideline talking to him,” said Smith, who is in his second year with the Fury at safety. “It kind of brought back some memories.”
Bullock played four years of football and basketball at Northern. He averaged 20.6 points and 13.0 rebounds per game in his senior season. Bullock was named the 2005 Saginaw Valley Player of the Year and was a first team All-City selection in basketball, but also was honorable mention all-state in football.
Northern's J'Nathan Bullock drives to the basket past the defense of Central's Chris Porn.After his four-year stint with the Vikings, Bullock was regarded as one of the best players in program history.
He still holds records for career starts (124) and is the only Cleveland State player to score more than 1,500 points and grab over 750 boards in his career.
But it was the National Football League which came calling after college.
In 2009, the New York Jets signed Bullock as an undrafted free agent and invited him to their training camp — although he never played a lick of football in college — but waived him before the season began.
“At the time I had family issues and we had agreed to part ways but I just never went back because I had an unclosed chapter,” Bullock said.
Bullock went directly back to something he was familiar with when that situation didn’t work out.
He traveled overseas to play pro basketball in Australia with the Geelong Supercats and later suited up with the Optima Gent in Belguim before suffering a leg injury which he said was the result of overworking his body without the proper recovery.
Even with all the awards and honors that Bullock has attained throughout his career, the 23-year-old is still on a mission.
The same fire that burned within him growing up on Kermit Street in Flint still pushes him to excel to this day.
“I’m not really worried (because) I believe I will be playing (basketball) next year,” Bullock stated. “I don’t have any satisfaction right now because I’m not at the level that I want to be at.
“I’m not finished.”
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