Azariah Rusher grew up an introvert, committed to tennis but an athlete who hadn’t come out of his shell at Florida State. Justin Cryer is an extrovert, committed to football and an athlete who finds conversation with anyone easy.

Among the 500 athletes at FSU across 19 sports, they might have met at some point in their careers. But would they have common interests given their different personalities and sports? As it turns out they are listeners and leaders who have plenty in common.

Rusher and Cryer have been active voices with FSU’s student-athlete advisory committee, and in 2025-26 they represent the school on the ACC’s SAAC board as voices for more than 12,200 athletes.

“It pushed me past my limits, my comfort zone, and that's how I got to this place,” said Rusher, who is the ACC’s co-chair for SAAC. “I didn't like to be in front of a crowd or talking with people or socialize. I've been told that I had leadership qualities before, but this gave me the opportunity to expand those and get to be around like-minded people, which I loved. And it gave me energy. I woke up excited in the morning to actually do these things. And it continues to be that way.”

Cryer also has natural leadership qualities. And he had a curiosity about learning from athletes across campus while also representing the football team.

“When I was first approached with it, it was the idea of being able to be one of those outlets for the organization to the team,” Cryer said. “There wasn't really a lot of people from football who were on it. I ended up just going as really an observer. And as the year went on, and as I started meeting new people and talking with more people, it just became more apparent how important it was that we were represented in that area.”

The purpose of SAAC is to bring together athletes through discussion and community service while also broadening views of how decisions impact them as well as their sports. Led by associate athletics director for student-athlete development Sarah Petronio, SAAC meets monthly to discuss a variety of topics.

And while football is of course the revenue driver, decisions impact athletes across campus.

“A lot of it also has to do with just helping them understand, or me understand, what's going on, because how these decisions that are being made with people like me in mind and my teammates, how that affects tennis and softball and other sports that you don't really think about on a day-to-day basis. They also matter,” Cryer said. “So you don't want to ever just go through this entire process without thinking about other lives you're affecting with scholarship changes, roster reductions, as far as scholarship numbers and TV media rights and all this other stuff that is being made with football in mind.”

Cryer stated the obvious: FSU football has roughly 20 percent of the campus’ athletes, while more than 400 compete in 18 other sports (women’s lacrosse is also competing in exhibition matches this fall, and the team will debut in February). And while Cryer is able to earn money through revenue sharing or NIL, those same opportunities aren’t as readily available for a number of athletes in FSU’s Olympic sports.

“People who are part of this organization, most of them are not from football, so they have a different life than I do. A lot of things that are catered to us, and the type of things we learn on a day-to-day basis, they're living out day-to-day life as a student-athlete,” Cryer said. “And so to hear from their perspective, how things are impacting them, how certain rule changes and certain new implementations are affecting them. It's a lot of learning for me, so I can understand how to think of it as a broader scope.”

Understanding the broader scope can be as easy as finding time to meet up, which is challenging given varied daily schedules as well as those for athletes in-season and their offseasons. But sometimes meeting up can be a friendly face in the stands or a quick hello after games.

Cryer emphasized his desire for some football teammates to travel to Clearwater in February to watch the FSU softball team play. And in part Cryer and teammates wanted to change a perception that football players only care about themselves.

“I’m going to celebrate our own school,” Cryer said. “We have, in my opinion, the best softball team in the country, and for us to travel and show that we care, it holds a little more weight.”

The same is true for Rusher, who beams with pride over how many ACC champions walk across FSU’s campus each day. Rusher was part of the ACC men’s tennis title in 2024, and Cryer helped the Seminoles capture the ACC football title in 2023.

“Everyone does a fantastic job,” Rusher said. “They play their part. I was like, ‘Whoa. I want to be a part of this.’ I want to go watch our other sports compete and win.”

Cryer and Rusher have also spent time at ACC SAAC meetings in the last year. Rusher said those meetings, with some including commissioner Jim Phillips, have helped him ask questions and understand the big picture of college athletics.

“There's a lot more going on than what you see at the service level,” Rusher said. “There's a lot of money involved. There's a lot of NIL. And I think just to elevate my understanding has allowed me to have a small impact on those around me, and at the end of the day, that's what's going to make a difference.”

Rusher thinks he can be a voice that’s part of change and how it could help athletes. Among those is his desire to see athletes have five years of eligibility in a five-year window. The often-discussed five-for-five measure would help ensure athletes have opportunities to return to school regardless of when they might be injured in their season. Or it could give an athlete five full seasons to compete.

The door could also open up for an athlete to work toward a master’s degree, although a scholarship would potentially cover just one year if it’s a two-year master’s degree program.

Rusher said he has gratitude as an FSU student-athlete and feels he’s living a dream. He’s also hoping to shape the future of FSU athletes through his work with SAAC.

“You get to stand up and be a student-athlete voice for some of the changes that are going on,” Rusher said. “And that's been really cool for me because I don't think there's anything better in the entire world than student-athletics and what we get and the type of life we get to have here.”

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