May 9, 2023 • 40 mins
He was always the best. Until Josh McDaniels told him he wasn’t.
At the age of 9, Jarvis Moss set his sights on playing in the NFL. He achieved that goal as the Denver Broncos first round draft pick in 2007. Mike Shanahan even moved up to get the defensive end coming off a BCS Championship with Florida under Urban Meyer. Everyone had high expectations for Jarvis, including himself. Afterall, he’d made it through so much get to the NFL. For instance, when he was being recruited in high school, Jarvis stepped onto a plane for the first time and went by himself for his college visits. Not because his parents didn’t support him, but because they were both incarcerated.
The NFL was tough. His rookie season, Jarvis broke his shin, went on injured reserve and to top off the pressure meter, became a dad. In November of 2010, he was cut and when he was done with football a year later, he was disgruntled with the game and wanted nothing to do with it. Until his son started playing. Today, Jarvis is an assistant coach at Cherry Creek High School where Noah is a freshman. He also helps coach with Phenom Academy a sports academy within the Phenom Phoundation, a non-profit organization.
Hosted by Susie Wargin
At the age of 9, Jarvis Moss set his sights on playing in the NFL. He achieved that goal as the Denver Broncos first round draft pick in 2007. Mike Shanahan even moved up to get the defensive end coming off a BCS Championship with Florida under Urban Meyer. Everyone had high expectations for Jarvis, including himself. Afterall, he’d made it through so much get to the NFL. For instance, when he was being recruited in high school, Jarvis stepped onto a plane for the first time and went by himself for his college visits. Not because his parents didn’t support him, but because they were both incarcerated.
The NFL was tough. His rookie season, Jarvis broke his shin, went on injured reserve and to top off the pressure meter, became a dad. In November of 2010, he was cut and when he was done with football a year later, he was disgruntled with the game and wanted nothing to do with it. Until his son started playing. Today, Jarvis is an assistant coach at Cherry Creek High School where Noah is a freshman. He also helps coach with Phenom Academy a sports academy within the Phenom Phoundation, a non-profit organization.
Hosted by Susie Wargin
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I think somebody came to my locker. It was like, coach McDaniels wants
to talk to you upstairs, soI'll go up the elevator and go see
Josh and he's like, I thinkwe're gonna release you get your opportunity to
go somewhere else. It was atough day for me. I was,
you know, I've always been thebest. Once you get to the best
in the world's reality is telling youhow you're not just the absolute best anymore.
(00:23):
It was hard for me to dealwith. Welcome to Cunt, Traded,
Fired, Retired a weekly podcast featuringconversations with professional athletes and coaches who
have experienced being cut, traded,fired, and or they're retired. I'm
your host, Susie Wargon. Doyou ever hear a name and think I
wonder whatever happened to him or her? That's likely what you'll say when you
(00:44):
hear the name of this episode's guest, Jarvis Moss. Jarvis was a first
round draft pick seventeenth overall by theBroncos in the two thousand and seven draft.
Denver actually moved up to get thedefensive end out of Florida, who
was fresh off the Gator's BCS championshipunder Urban Meyer. Mike Shanahan and the
Bronchos had high hopes for Jarvis andSONA Jarvis he'd been the best at what
(01:06):
he'd done since high school, buthis rookie season wasn't easy. He broke
his shin in November of two thousandand seven and went on ir. On
top of that, he became afather, first round draft pick with high
expectations, injured and a new dad. That's a lot to take on physically
and mentally. But Jarvis stayed withthe Bronchos for a few years, through
Shanahan's firing, the hiring of JoshMcDaniels, and changing positions to outside linebacker.
(01:34):
Then he was cut in November oftwenty ten. He played a little
while longer with the Raiders, andwhen he was done with football, he
was done. He didn't want towatch it or talk about it until his
son started playing. Now, Jarvis'sback as an assistant coach for his son's
high school football team. He's beenthrough a lot and is better for it.
Ladies and gentlemen, Jarvis Moss,cut, trading, fired, Red
(01:59):
Tire podcasts with Susie war Hello,Jervis Moss. It's great to see you.
Good to see miss Susie. Iforget how tall you are, ye
your tall glass of water. It'sbeen a while. You should have saw
me when I was about aft.I know you look good. You look
really good. Yeah you're still sixseven though, right. Yeah, you
are in town. You have beenaround for a while. I didn't know
(02:23):
that you were a coach over atCherry Creek High School. You know.
Of course, I worked with DaveLogan, who's the head coach there.
One of his coaches, Jim Z. I had his number, and I
was trying to figure out what Jim'slast name was, and so I looked
up the coaching staff so I couldput him in my contacts. And I'm
like, Jervis Moss is freaking coachingfor Cherry Creek. I gotta have him
on my podcast. Yes, yes, I am, yeah, and I
(02:44):
just know him as Jim Z.And I don't didn't know what his last
name was, so yeah, soI told Dave, I'm like, I
didn't know Jervis Moss was on yourstaff. I need him on my podcast.
Yeah, it's funny how it happened. My son's going through youth football
and Dave's main coach up there atthe high school, coach Eddie. He
asked me. It was like,man, you want to coach the high
school. And at that time Iwas like, no, no, not
(03:05):
really. It was like, youknow, take a couple of days and
think about it, and start thinkingabout Noah, he was approaching high school
and how cool that would be.Like you said earlier, to hover a
little bit. You hovered just enough. We are in a conversation before we
started about how you parent with highschoolers. At first it was like,
yeah, I'll do it my sonin the back of my mind. But
now and it's so much gratifying meetingsome of these young boys and sending kids
(03:29):
to college and coaching. It's reallycool. And that's the key thing I
think, Jervis, is that youget to know your kids friends in a
very non threatening way, especially asa coach or like I was telling you,
I was a volunteer at Highlands RanchHigh School and so many different things.
My daughter was in palms, youknow, My kids were in so
many activities, and so I'd justbe involved with those on the parent level.
(03:50):
But then the ancillary part of thatis that then I knew other parents,
I knew their kids. I knewwho I wanted my kids to be
around and who I didn't want mykids to be around. So you can
only do so much because they're gonnafigure out how to do bad things anyway.
But the more you can kind ofbe plugged in, I think the
better. Yeah. True, Andjust with football in general, my life's
and brought me around a lot ofgood people. It's the same thing over
(04:11):
there, creeping now. I meeta lot of good families and coaches,
and that's the beautiful part of it. You know. I love it.
Yeah, I think it's great.I love that you're doing the coaching.
Okay, so let's go back toyour kind of beginnings, Jarvis. You're
born in Denton, Texas. Yougo to Billy Ryan High School in Denton.
So you stayed you were born andraised. You stayed in the same
place your whole life, didn't youlife? I pretty much didn't get on
(04:32):
the plane until it was time togo to recruiting trips, is that right?
My first time on the plane.I took those trips to myself too.
But just to go back to thebeginning, didn't Texas didn't Ryan born
and raised a Texas kid. Siblings, a lot of them. My dad
had quite a few, had anotherfamily. I'm as old as but he
had another family after me. Twosisters and a younger brother rest in peace.
(04:55):
And my sister Jelisa, my dad'sdaughter, and my mom's side to
have old brother and a younger sister. Who oh, man, got a
lot going on with your family,huh. So when you're in high school,
it's football the sport from the beginning. Did you play a lot of
sports growing up? I played football. My first year in organized football was
nine. I was in third grade. It was nineteen ninety three. I
(05:18):
remember. I remember my first playercleats and my first team and all that
stuff, and yeah, I knewthat, and you know, I want
to play football. You know,it's a third grade I told all the
growing up. Yea, I'm gonnago to the NFL one day. You
said that in third grade? Wow? What position did you play? Then?
My first year I was a tightend and it was a rough year.
My dad was my head coach too, and this isn't very fun blocking
(05:42):
and it was like, you know, Dad, if I don't get to
run the ball next year, I'mquitting, so he let me bring the
ball, and you know, that'skind of how my career took off.
Did you play any defense growing up? I did. I played middle linebacker.
I've always loved defense. I've alwaysbeen a defensive guy, so I
think, naturally that's why I wasgoing to end up. We were talking
before we started and I mentioned inyour height, did you ever play basketball?
I did. I actually had agood basketball program in my high school
(06:05):
too. They were state champions inninety nine. Right, so good coach,
good program worth playing for. Butmy high school coach is so great,
and he was just so good withthe kids. I couldn't even look
at the basketball coach. I couldn'tplay for him the same. So I
kind of just put all my focusin football. You had one of those
high school football coach Logan. That'swhat I always compare people to him,
(06:28):
like it's he's just the epitome ofyou'll run through a brick wall, you'll
play hard, but you can stillhave fun. You'll like him. It's
the whole package, and you justit's so hard to find. It's the
whole package. Yeah, shout outto Dave. It's been great up there,
you know, working with him andlearning and watching how to do things
and his attention to detail, andyou know, I just love for football.
What was your coach's name in highschool? Joey Florence. He's a
(06:48):
Hall of Famer, one of thewinning his coaches in Texas kids. To
tell you the story, my freshmanyear high school, we went one to
nine. We were horrible. Wewon one game, we to coach brought
it in Coach Florence, and wewent twelve and three and loss in the
state championship game. Then the yearafter that, we went undefeated and won
a state championship game. After thatwe went fifteen and one and won a
(07:11):
state championship games. So he literallywe had one of the biggest turnarounds in
Texas high school history, no kidding. And when you guys won that state
championship, that was the first onein school history too, the first one
in school history. Yeah, that'scool. Did you play both ways in
high school or did you switch overto defense at one point? Mostly defense?
But playoff time similar high Dave doesit? You know, when you
need your best players, you know, you kind of gotta had him ready
(07:34):
for those big games playoff game,state games. So coach Will utilized me
on offense during those times. Asa receiver, I used to catch the
ball, No kidding, I usedto catch the ball. Yeah, but
for the most part I was straightdefensive, you know, number one defensive
end in the nation, offics fromeverywhere. So, yeah, you were
an All American. You went tothe two thousand and three US Army All
(07:55):
American Bowl and parade magazine. Howdo you as an All American? What
was the recruiting process, Like yousaid, your first time on a plane,
how many places did you go?Was it hard to narrow it down
to Florida? I took four trips. I took four flights. I went
to Texas, I went to FloridaState, I went to Florida, and
I flew down in Miami. Itook a fifth visit too, but I
just drove up in Norman, Oklahomato seacoat stoops in them scary by yourself.
(08:20):
Yeah, the reason why my dadwas incarcerated at the time. Both
my parents Actually when you were inhigh school, both your parents were incarcerated.
Yes, Oh my gosh, jervismostly college too. Wow. Yeah,
they missed a lot. You wereon your own. Yeah, I
was on my own, so scaryflights. But when you want to do
something, and I was getting onthose flights. We took care of you
(08:41):
in high school. So that waskind of a family effort. Okay,
I was kind of the nomatter thefamily. I had a great grandfather.
I lived with him quite some time, and I had a couple of ounces
that took me in and I livedwith him for quite some years. And
you know, I'm all right,he's off the college. At least we
got him out to college. Sothat's something most people cannot relate to at
all. We talk about challenges inthis podcast. There's one right there.
(09:03):
You're so young, facing that youdidn't have your folks around. Yeah,
it's stuff, But like I said, and you were still successful. You
know, I told you nine,I knew what I was gonna do,
so I couldn't let going around mestop stop what I wanted to do.
That is amazing drivers. So whatmade you decide on Florida? Then,
after all those trips, grew uploving the Gators watching them on TV.
(09:24):
Coach Sparer, some of the Gatorgreat players think that late nineties early two
thousand periods, like all the Floridaschools were good, Bobby about it.
At Florida State, coach Cooker andhurricanes were awesome. And then you had
the Gators, so it was kindof just stuff. You know, you
can't go wrong, you know,when you got options like that, you
kind of just close your eyes andbe like, all right at school,
(09:46):
you just look at Florida and pickand see where you're closest to. I
was dating somebody at the time too. Ah, there we go. Her
family, you said, who tookcare of me. Her family did a
really good job looking. So theywere right in Tampa. So Florida was
the closest place to where they wereliving. So he was convenient, you
know, absolutely. So you geta scholarship in Florida and you're there with
(10:09):
ron Zook, who was there forthe first two years you were there,
and then he was fired. Youguys go eight and five, seven and
five. He gets fired before theend of the two thousand and fourth season.
Then urban Meyer comes in talk aboutthe difference between playing for two coaches,
especially the one that recruited you.Now, it's completely different. All
those kids be in the portal,it'd be, you know, a hot
(10:31):
mess. When somebody knew comes in. But back in those days, you
stayed there. Yeah I did.So Zook recruited me, got me from
Texas to Florida. So did agood job. You didn't getting me there.
So he was a player's coach,good energy. I want another one
of those coaches. You'll you'll runthrough a wall for you know, the
way he treat players. Zook believedin me. My first couple of years,
(10:52):
I was dealing with injuries and sicknessthat we couldn't figure out. So
that kept me from actually playing.Oh yeah, so I was loyal to
a Zook in that way. Youknow. He recruited me, but physically
there were things going on with mewhere I couldn't be the player that he
needed me to be. But hekept you there, but he kept me
there. So when the coach likethat loses his job, you kind of
feel like, dang, well ifI would have been the best defensive end
(11:13):
like he recruited, you know,so all those moving parts. Did you
feel some pressure because he got fired? Of course, being a number one
recruit coming in not being able toplay or produce for your team, yeah,
it starts to wear on you.So had that coaching change. They
fired Zook. Irban Meyer comes in. You know, he put me through
the fire. He didn't like meat first, I don't think really because
(11:35):
I was one of those players.But he was kind of looking at like,
why is this guy here, Likehe's not doing anything for the program.
Prove yourself and I had to provemyself. I remember a meeting that
I had with coach irban Meyer andcoach Strong one time. Charlie Strong and
Urban got on me real hard infront of the team once before. I
mean, he was that kind ofcoach. You know, Urban is one
of those guys not everybody can playfor. It was just called how it
(11:56):
is. Oh. I think peoplehave realized that more and more as the
years have gone on. But shoutout to Irby mir. If I could
pick any coach to go win agame or a championship, I would always
still pick him because it's not personalwell he's good or what he does.
It's meant that's clearly work. Iwatched it. You were part of that.
It's tough, but you know Iwatched it be really successful. But
yeah, it got to the pointwhere I didn't think Urban wanted me in
(12:20):
Florida, So what are you thinkingat that point what your options might be?
Are you gonna stay, You're gonnago? Well, I'm really competitive
inside, so I would always hearfrom my teammates, even in Florida,
I had you really did the numberone defensive end and blah blah, just
because I wasn't able to do mything yet. So that always got to
me. So inside I had afire lit, Like you know, once
they figured out what's wrong with mephysically, I'm going to show everybody,
(12:43):
including Irby mir And you know,that's kind of how it happened. I
got healthy, and I told youUrban got on me in one meeting in
front of the team, really hadme mad, and I was kind of
thinking about what I was gonna do. That next day, Coach Strong took
me up into his office and weall sit down kind of how me and
you were sitting me in Strong onthis side of his table. He looked
at Urban. He's like, look, I know what you think, but
(13:03):
this is literally our best player.And Urban's looking at me like, wait,
this skinny little defensive end what he'sAnd Coach Trong's like, no,
there's something wrong with him. He'slike, I've seen enough to what he
can do. He's really good,but there's something wrong with him. We
need to figure it out. Webrought him all the way here from Texas,
and that's our job to figure outwhat's wrong with this kid. And
wow. Urban sat back in hischair and he looked at me and Coach
(13:24):
Strong and he picked up his phoneon his desk. He called the athletic
trainer from downstairs. He's like,I need you up in my office right
now. Anthony passed. Former ChicagoBears athletic trainer. Anthony came in and
Urban was like, look, weneed to exalt all our resources to figure
out what was wrong with this kid. From then on, I started going
to the hospital and they started runningthese tests on me, and I started
(13:46):
doing vibs. He's like on mypelvis, and they found out I had
like a staff infection. Yeah,oh geez, yeah for like two years.
It started in high school. SoI just think this is my red
shirt sophomore year and I'm still walkingaround staff infections no joke, Oh my
goodness. Yeah. So you know, and they figured out what was wrong
did with Irvan said let's help thiskid, and I got healthy and I
(14:09):
never looked back. They put likea pickline in my arm and I had
to wear like a fanny pack forlike seven weeks. Wow, I took
it out and like of antibiotics andantibiotics I think it was. And I
had no clue. I was justa kid, like I hope this works
right, And it worked. Sohe's the one that basically saved you pretty
much by making the phone call andbeing a tough coach on me, you
(14:31):
know, yah, putting that realpressure on me like hey, I don't
want you here if you can't donothing, and shout out to coach Strong
too, because he knew I kindof struggled for a couple of years,
but he knew what was in here. He knew it was in Yeah,
it's funny. I was actually lookingat the papers to sign, like to
where I'm not even a college playeranymore. I was that close to being
like all right, I quit thisfrustrated. At one point, I remember
(14:56):
when um John Deane, the assistantathletic trainer, you walk that office,
He's like, all right, man, the papers is like I'm I'm gonna
walk out of office and let youreally think about this. Read it good?
He's like, do you just soyou were? And I was sitting
there just looking at the packet,like if I signed here, there's no
more NFL, there's no more football. I was really close. What were
you taking classes for at that time? Sociology? I was a sociology major.
(15:20):
That's what I was studying, right, And then what do you do?
Because then you're you don't have yourscholarship. I would still have my
scholarship. I was allowed to goto school and stuff. I just wouldn't
have been at Okay, so hestill could have gone to school. They
were going to pay for me togo to school still, but couldn't have
played football. And then how differentwould your whole trajectory have been? Yeah,
(15:41):
Oh my gosh. So you playfor Urban, you get healthy,
which is good. You play forUrban. You guys have a championship,
the two thousand and seven BCS championship. Two thousand and six, probably one
of your best years. Right,you block a pat and a field goal
in a game against South Carolina.That's six seven in handy? Right?
(16:03):
Did you do it illegally? Couldyou do it in the NFL the way
you blocked him? Now, becausenobody blocks anything anymore. She did illegally.
I did illegally. It's funny goingback to that story, Urban Mara
was trying to take me off ofthe field. He called a time out
right before that field goal to kindof ice the kicker, and like when
the defense walked over to the coaches, I'm like tired, you know,
I'm bending over, yeah, andthey're like, hey, get him out
at it. I'm like, well, I'm not coming out of the game.
(16:26):
That was been the game winning fieldgoal, right, this is the
game winning field goal. And uh, I'm arguing with them on the sideline
like I'm not coming out herky,I better figure it out, but I'm
not coming out, and they finallylet me go back on and ye know,
I blocked the kick. It's funnythey were Yeah, I played every
play that game and it came downto that last kick. They're like,
all right, let's up, youout. I'm like no, wow,
(16:48):
no. And then the championship gamein in oh seven, you guys beat
Ohio State and that one. Whatwas that like? When the championship it
was a dream come true for mepersonally, I was the little kid that
I love college football growing up.I have a love for football that most
people can't match. So I wasthat kid always at home watching the Texas
Longhorns as soon as the corn Huskerswhile all the other kids are outside playing.
(17:10):
So I would always see that crystalball as a little kid, and
I was like, I'm going toget that for me. That's what the
National Championship Game represented. You know. I wanted to touch that trophy my
whole life, you know, seeingcoach bout It and all the greats every
same year, and yeah, itwas a great night, great team.
When you know, like I said, every Mayers Methids might be tough,
but you know, I think everybodywas pretty happy that night. Absolutely he
(17:32):
got you there. So that comesin your fourth year when you're at Florida
and then you decide to declare forthe draft. Like you said, my
biggest year. Probably couldn't have gotmy name any hotter that year, so
it's probably a good decision. Isent in my grades to see what the
NFL thought, and that got somefirst round grades, so they're like,
WHOA, I need to really thinkabout this. So yeah, I kind
(17:53):
of made that decision and prayed aboutit, just took that next step as
a man. You know, andyour drafted by the Broncos. They traded
up for you, drafted you atseventeenth overall, they moved up. So
you come to the Bronchos. Whatwas it like transitioning from Urban Meyer,
Florida to Mike Shanahan Broncos. NFLis a different ball game, a lot
(18:15):
of different moving parts. It's abusiness. It's a big business. Even
though we know colleges to NFL isyou got families, lots of stuff going
on, finances now, stuff thatyou're not just a player anymore. And
I think young players should, youknow, really be aware and prepare for
those type of things coming into theleague. You know, it can kind
(18:37):
of hinder you on the field ifyou don't have some of those things in
order, especially your support group,the people that you hang out with.
And the finances I think is huge, it's huge. There's so many guys
that blow through all their money sofast. It's huge. You really need
somebody mentor on you. And youknow, sometimes people don't learn those lessons
unless they actually suffer the consequence themselves, right, you know, just me
(18:59):
and all the stuff I've been through, I try to tell young players and
just guys, what to watch outfor if you're serious about this is what
you want to do one day,did you have anybody that was mentoring you
or you just kind of on yourown island? Really kind of on my
own And yeah, I guess itwas for a reason. I had to
learn certain things so I can teachthe people I care about it. And
I got cousins and gonna get draftedand go to play in the NFL here
in a year or two, sojust to be able to get him knowledge.
(19:22):
And actually spoke to my uncle twodays ago. Agents are starting to
call my little cousin who plays atTCU. So I was just kind of
telling them what to watch out for. Like you said, financial people,
the people that want to be aroundyou because they think you got and I
love Rod Smith said this, theywant to be around you because they think
you got a bunch of zeros behindyour name. They think you had a
bunch of money. We're gonna hangout, going to the club, going
(19:44):
do whatever, and then once that'sgone, those people coming they're gone as
well. Yeah. So your son, Noah, he's a freshman this year.
You had Noah your rookie season.Rookie. Yeah, talk about it
and stuff. Yeah, that wastough. I broke my leg my rookie
year, you went on i Rin November, came a dad that same
year. So starting off my NFLcareer was kind of rocky, not how
(20:06):
you want to start it. So, you know, my messes to all
young players and you know, anybodylistening, you know, he kind of
gotta have that stuff in order andbe serious about what you're doing and kind
of take care of football. Well, you had so much pressure on your
drivers because you're a first round draftpick and then you come in November,
you break your shin, and thenyou go on IR and then you're also
a dad. I mean the mentalaspect of all those things had to be
(20:30):
overwhelming and you're what twenty two,Yeah, it was. You probably remember
the reports you want to retire earlier, like what the heck kids strong and
healthy? Heck you want to retire? You know, I was just dealing
with things becoming a dad that,particularly in the way that I did.
It was tough. But I'm herenow and there's twenty twenty three. My
son is strong and healthy and you'rea big part of his life too,
(20:52):
which is great. Explain if youcan going on injured reserve and what that
does to you mentally. That wasthe first time in my life if I
dealt with a season ending injury.So it's kind of hard to believe.
You know, you're that age.You're strong, you're tough. You you
don't think anything can stop you untilthe doctor's like, Noah, you can't
play anymore. And it hurts,you know. I broke my leg at
practice, obviously working hard at practiceand the stuff happens in football is tough,
(21:17):
and I thought I just had areally bad ankle spring. You know.
The doctor looked at me and it'slike, you're out for the season,
and I'm looking at him like youdon't know what you're talking about.
He's looking at me like, I'mthe doctor. I'm sorry, you played
football. I'm a doctor. Stayin your lane so you come back.
Mike Shanahan is your coach, similarto a Florida where he's your coach for
(21:38):
two years, just like Ron Zookwas. Then Mike gets fired at the
end of the O eight season andJosh McDaniels comes in, as does a
new defensive coordinator in Mike Nolan,and they move you from your natural position
of defensive line right to outside linebacker. That was tough and that's where a
lot of the stories came in ofyou were thinking about just calling it quit.
(22:00):
Yeah, it was tough. Obviously, a new regime comes in,
and that is a regime with JoshMcDaniels. You know, they kind of
want their guys and anybody can understandthat. You know, if you're gonna
step up to the play, thentry to lead a program and to me
and you kind of want your pickof the men, and that's how coaches
to come in do it. Youknow, that's tough for a former first
(22:22):
round like me who was still tryingto prove himself. And then you know
that year they drafted Robert Air isanother really good player for them for the
Broncos to come in and play myposition. So you know, it's all
competitive, and like we say,it's moving pieces to all of it.
You know, sometimes players might bebetter in a different place or what a
different coach or you know, youknow how that matters. Were you?
(22:44):
But how did you feel an outsidelinebacker? Um, I actually think I
could do all of that stuff.I felt comfortable. I felt you didn't
feel like you were a fish outof water or anything like that. Not
at all. I just felt morelike, you know, the opportunities are
going to be slam down because I'mnot there guy. That's part of the
business. And I'm close to fortynine. I understand those parts of the
game down that I did then.Isn't that funny? As we get older,
(23:04):
we're like, oh, now Iget it. Twenty years ago,
didn't understand it at all, andnow it makes so much more sense.
Yeah, it doesn't make it anyeasier. So you think about retiring in
OH nine, but you go aheadand stay. You make the team,
you play in OH nine and ten. You get cut in November of twenty
(23:26):
ten. November seventeenth, twenty ten. What happens when you get cut?
Did you get called in? Didyou see it on the Newssty morning?
I come to work like regular,and I think somebody came to my locker.
It was like coach McDaniels wants totalk to you upstairs. So I
go up the elevator and go seeJosh and he's like, uh, I
(23:47):
think we're gonna release. You getyour opportunity to go somewhere else. You
know, he gave me the wholelittle rundown probably how it goes, and
I'm shocked. I'm like, wow, you know crap. I walked back
downstairs. I started grabbing out ofmy locker. What's up, Moss,
what you're doing? I was like, I just got cut. He was
walking by, playing thing. It'sa joker. Literally, I just got
(24:07):
cut. I'll see you guys,We'll talk. I'll see you guys soon.
It was a tough day for me. I was you know, I've
always been the best. Once youget to the best in the world's reality
is telling you you're not just theabsolute best anymore. It was hard for
me to deal with. So Ihopped on a plane and went to Arizona.
I didn't even want to be inColorado. I didn't even want to
(24:29):
be in the state of Colorado.So I took it pretty hard. You
are not the first one to saythat was the first time somebody told me
I wasn't good enough. And that'sreally hard to hear. And I think
the average person is like, well, you know, it's no it's I
don't care what you're doing. It'svery hard to hear you're not good enough
anymore. We've got somebody else thatcan do your job. It was it's
tough. Like I said, Ihopped on a plane and just went to
(24:52):
Arizona for the weekend. Like Ican't even be in Colorado right now.
I don't want to anybody calling me. I don't see any reporters I know.
And that's the thing too, isyou guys have to then deal with,
you know, somebody calling you astick in a microphone in your face,
texting you, Hey, what's goingon? What's happening? They come
with the territory, it does,I know, But like a week later
you're with the Raiders. Yeah,had an opportunity to go to Pittsburgh or
(25:14):
Oakland at the time. Distillers,We're going to give me a workout and
see, you know, all right, we'll evaluate you. But the Raiders
are like, hey, you don'thave to work out, will sign you.
I guess that was my tipping pointtoo, where I was going.
I looked back in hindsight now andyou know, obviously Pittsburgh was always been
and still is the more a betterdefensive team, You're a stable franchise,
(25:37):
etc. Stuff that I wasn't thinkingabout then. And it's funny. We
played Distillers one time here in Denver, at the end of the game,
everybody walks across the field time andwalk right up to me. It's like,
keep your head off, I'm gonnacome get you, no kidding,
he did. So I think aboutthat now, like I should have just
at least went up to Pittsburgh andtalk to that man and the people that
play for him, people that knowMike Tomlin. I mean, he's one
(26:00):
of a kind. He's another oneof those kind of coaches that AD meant
a lot to me. Obviously,when you go through your first race as
a player and Mike Timond will stillcome and be like, yo, I
still see something in you. Ithappened with me with Joe Thomas too,
Hall of Famer. My last yearin Oakland, I played him and he
came up to me after the game. He's like, man, I'm really
glad you didn't retire. You're agood player. AD meant the world in
me. Little things like that,and I think that sometimes we forget,
(26:22):
we get too busy, we gettoo ego driven. Sometimes a sentence here
or a compliment there, and itmeans you'll never forget that, they said.
Though Mike Tomlin probably doesn't remember sayingit to you. Maybe Joe Thomas
doesn't either, but you remember,Yeah, for sure, it's huge.
Shout out the big Joe Thomas,that's my classmate. So in Oakland,
did you think about Oakland because itwas also in the AFC West and then
(26:45):
you might have a chance to stickit to the Broncos. True, I
definitely wanted to play the Bronchos andget to win my first game back here
and Denver, we gotta win Mondaynight football. I remember it was so
how sweet was fine? It wasgratifying and shout out to the Raiders too.
I actually felt like I started tobecome, you know, more mature
player, started to uh take mycareer in a positive direction in Oakland.
(27:07):
So who's your head coach? HughJackson? Oh he was there, Tom
Cable. Yeah, my five yearsin the league. Now I think about
it, I had five years,four different head coaches, four different head
coaches, five different defensive coordinator.We changed the defensive every year. Yeah,
because Mike Nolan was only there thatone year in n O nine.
Every year even in Oakland, he'sout of there. You know. That's
(27:29):
that's how I goes, I know, but that's so hard as a player,
there's no consistency, and not thatthere's you don't always have the same
guys back, but you got acore of guys that are there. And
then if they're always changing your scheme, especially if they're going three four or
four three, it's very I'm gonnaI'm gonna believe some players are just good
enough to don't matter what system he'sin, he's gonna produce, he's gonna
do his thing. And then I'ma big believer in I see why Archie
(27:51):
man and didn't let Eli go toSan Diego. You know, we can
see certain things, you know absolutely. So you finish out that year and
twenty ten with the Raiders and thenthey signed you from their deals, so
you play one more year with themin twenty eleven, and then you become
a free agent. And then didanybody come calling for the twenty twelve season,
Yes, a couple of teams,the Cowboys. I went and worked
(28:14):
out for the Cowboys back in myhome area. I was hoping to get
an opportunity there didn't happen. Thatkind of hurt my heart. That was
my last actual NFL workout where Iwas like, all right, I give
up on football. Really. Yeah, so the Cowboys in my last I
remember Justina Anderson called me to like, hey, working out for the Cowboys?
Is it true? I was justcrossing my fingers hoping that that came
(28:36):
through, but it didn't. Iremember seeing Davis Brian in the locker room.
He was wishing me luck that day, and de Marcus ware was also
that day, like, yeah,I'm good luck and your workout. I
hope you ran Carthon. Yeah,I play. We ran in college,
okay, And at the time hewas the general manager of the Rams.
He wanted me to come up fora workout and I should have just At
(28:57):
the time, I was kind oflike, yeah, But in hindsight now
it's like I should have just goton a plane and probably could've up playing
with Aaron Donald for a couple ofyears. Oh shoot, that's true.
You know. So there's a lotof things you can do different in hindsight.
But interesting. So you retire intwenty twelve, do you fill out
your paperwork then or do you stillkind of wait, a lot of you
(29:19):
haven't filled out my paperwork? No, way, you still haven't. Yeah,
I don't know. I haven't filledout my paperwork. But yeah,
I'm officially retired. Don't you haveto though, to get some of your
benefits? Or can you still getsome benefits if you don't fill out the
paperwork you can do you can stilldo certain things. I don't know how
to extra retirement, how that evenworks. I don't think anybody cares.
(29:40):
Yes they do, Yes they do. That is not true. That's funny.
You still haven't filled out your paperwork, but you are retired now after
over a decade. Could you imagineplaying now maybe a couple of plays the
most, but not doing training camp. So after retirement, then what happens
from twenty twelve? You end upgetting back to Colorado at some point?
(30:00):
Or were you? Have? Youalways kind of been here? So,
like I said, when I gotcut from the Broncos, I really had
some type of animosity anxiety towards Coloradounderstandably. So I don't know if the
fans were super kind to you either. Were they not particularly but fanatics that's
what I call them. Yeah.Yeah, I went to San Diego for
(30:22):
like a year after my last yearin Oakland because I just didn't want to
come back to Colorado. Crazy soul, just clear your head, You clear
my head. I eventually make itback to Colorado, of course, and
I wouldn't even watch football for acouple of years in my house. I
didn't even allow people to cut footballprotocol. I didn't want to see anything.
Wow. Ye when I started watchingfootball again, the Seahawks and the
(30:45):
Niners were good, I'm like,what the hell? Like what happened?
But yeah, a couple of yearsI couldn't even watch football, just just
mad at the sport, you know. And I thought I was gonna go
to the Hall of you know,I was always the best. I thought
it was gonna end like that.Life told me different. But you get
(31:06):
back here, Yeah, I getback here, and what do you do?
I really took it as opportunity tospend more time with my son.
You know your number one job.Yeah, just start to teach him and
grow him in. I love it. Make sure he's shaped right. And
you know, he actually started playingfootball and like the first time I saw
him like go forward in the uniformmy Adamasi tourist. Football started to go
(31:27):
away a little bit. It's likename, so my son wants to do
this, Like I have to likeget back involved too. So Noah has
helped you work through a lot ofthis, started watching football again, caring
again, all of it. Ilove it. You're a coach at Cherokeoe
High Schools. We mentioned defensive linefor varsity JV and you do the freshman
(31:48):
games as well. What has coachingbrought to you? It gave me something
to do in retirement, that's forsure. Those first couple of years,
I wasn't doing enough, just notinvolved in anything. And it was healthy
having so much idle time. Sogetting involved and coaching and youth football.
When Noah started, it was likea breath of fresh air. Like I
(32:08):
told you, got to meet alot of good families over there, and
it's almost given you a new beginning, hasn't it. It's true I don't
have much family here. I hadNoah as a rookie, and that's why
I'm here. I wouldn't be inColorado really if it weren't for my son.
Probably, you know, I'm justhere being a dad until he's off
to college or something like that.But football has brought me friends and people
(32:29):
to somewhat like family out here.That's great. And then you're also involved
with Phenom Factory Sports Performance training,and I am super curious about this.
Okay, you're curious about this,Like to use my time wisely and give
me the opportunity to work with kids. Obviously over a phenom. You know,
there's a lot of inner city kids, underprivileged kids. I just talked
(32:50):
to one of my guys that Itrained. He's a seventh grader. He
was just telling me that he didn'teven know his dad. And I'm looking
at this kid like there, youcould be great one day, and then
you start to find out stuff likethat, that thing, he's gonna need
a little help. And so it'sa lot of kids like that that we
work with, we train, youknow. So right now I'm kind of
just going around at different high schools. We'll get a field for a couple
of hours and we'll train the boys, persist specific quarterbacks, receivers, dbs,
(33:15):
very cool group of linement from allages and you know, just teaching
what I know. Every Sunday,when I leave there, I feel so
good, Like, you know,I got a fifth gradeer who most people
be like Jarvis, He's never gonnabe a good football player, but if
you could just see how much he'simproved in the last two months. It's
like, it's so gratifying to meworking on kids and not even looking at
you know, Oh, they're nevergoing to make it in the NFL,
(33:37):
but the confidence that you can helpinstilling these kids just to be able to
do something like that is huge.It's funny you say that, Susie,
because I know a lot of football. Everybody knows how he knows football.
Probably forgot more forball than most peopleever know. Sometimes I feel like,
yeah, I'm good with my exesand os at the game, But at
other times I feel like I havea gift to where I'm more motivator.
(34:00):
I kind of know how to getmy guys mine prepared to do what we're
going to do. And sometimes whatwe're going to do is the lyarman is
not easy. I like to getmy guys mentally had a right mindset to
go into battle. And you know, of course I can teach him the
exits and os what he needs todo football wise, but you know,
I like to get in the guy'shead and tell the young man, you
(34:21):
know, this is how you needto approach this situation. Well, I'm
thinking how many have influenced you becauseof things that they've said things that stayed
in your head. And I'm sureyour experience growing up and how you were
in high school with your folks thathas to I mean, it's very relatable
to a lot of these kids youwork with, for sure. Do you
tell them about that quite a few. One of my best players last year,
(34:42):
Chase Brackney, he's going to playfor Iowa next year. He was
asking me, like, coach,did you eat a lot in high school?
I was like, Chase has poor. I was like, heck no,
I didn't get to eat, Likewe didn't have milk, just sitting
in the fridge all the time.Right. So man, Yeah, So
I share them bits and pieces ofmy life and just where they kind of
know, you know, coaches likethat, you know, for you know,
(35:05):
certain reasons. Even my son,I try to give him my story
just so he can have a littlebit more abide in life. His life
is a little bit more comfortable thanmine. There. Oh, all our
kids' lives are more comfortable than howthey were. And sometimes I look and
I'm like, man, we needto make it a little tough run.
I actually think my environment kind ofreally shoved me to like, hey,
you better go do something. There'sno college without I knew early just scenario
(35:28):
wise, I have to do somethingon my own. There's so many guys
I've talked to where they said Iknew I wasn't going to go to college
unless I got a scholarship. OtherwiseI'm just at home, and I may
fall back into where everybody else andmy family's doing, and that's not where
I wanted to be. Right whilemy son's sitting here with a five twenty
nine. He doesn't even need hisscholarship, completely different scenarios. It is
so Jervis. As you look back, and I ask all of my guests
(35:50):
this as my last question. Whenyou go back and look through your life
and all of the ups and downs, and you had some really cool moments
that happened to you, and thenalso really tough moments and a ton of
pressure, what do you tell people, whether it's somebody that you're coaching or
whether it's the average person, howto work through those and how to get
over some of those, even mentalhurdles and physical hurdles from when you were
(36:13):
injured as well. You know,life's gonna happen, and stuff's gonna pass
too. Even in the moment whenit feels like it's the worst, you
know, the past and it'll alwaysget better. The other part to it
is just believing in yourself. It'stime gone. You know, you might
kind of lose graphs or a conceptof you know, the good things about
yourself. And I never let thathappen to me at the point of time
(36:36):
where it could have ruined me incollege, I could have just gave up
him. My teammates making fun ofme, asking me it was I really
that rank this high, and it'slike, dude, yes, you know,
like leave me alone. I'm justhurt. I could have gave up
on myself. But my roommate wouldalways tell me, he's like, man,
when you get healthy, you're gonnashow him and yeah, shout out
to Marcus Thomas, former Broncup.He would lay in the dorm room we
(36:58):
always and tell me, man,I know you're hurting. You know,
once you get better, And Iwould always be able to just look at
him like, so you heard himlaughing at me earlier, but back here
in the door room, you likeher for than me as a friend,
as a teammate letting me know,I know you're a good player. So
Yeah, just that self belief,you know, not giving up on yourself
no matter how hard it gets.Just pushing through that adversity. It could
be a big reward on the otherside of it all. Like I said,
(37:20):
I'm gonna sign my rights away toplay college football, there would have
been no NFL. So you pusheda little bit adversity and then you know
it was first round draft pick.You know, you get your name go
down in history with some other reallygood players. I want to ask you
one more question because before we startedtalking, we were talking about that you've
always been big, because I askedif you had a growth spurt and you
(37:42):
said you were very self conscious biggerperson growing up. Did that help you?
Do you think if you're always thetallest person and people make fun of
you, like it's just you've kindof worked throughout your whole life. I
think it really helped when I turnedmy height into something where people started to
recognize, Okay, he's good.And that was football. So I'm not
just a lanky kid. I usedto literally lean up against the wall so
(38:02):
I wouldn't be as tall, like, so I was that insecure for a
while. Like, but yeah,once you start to come into your own
and you're like, all right,I'm still tall and skinny, but y'all
know my name now. You knowthat just starts to overcome it. You
know a lot of things. Youknow, people see you working hard and
pushing towards the goal, and Iguess it helps if you're tall. Coaches
(38:22):
always at the high school messed withme, like, dude, you hit
the genetic lottery here. I'm like, dude, I had to like bust
my till to, you know,to get where I got, right.
I get what they're saying. Jamie'slike Brown five seven, it's not fair,
Moss. That's great, Jarvis,this has been a lot of fun.
I really appreciate you telling your storyand given the time, and I
(38:43):
know it's not always easy to kindof go back through and think about some
of those things, but I appreciatethat you did. And I think everybody's
going to really enjoy hearing where youare now. And I think it'll hit
home for a lot of people too, because there's a lot of people that
have those struggles and you still keepgoing forward and you keep moving forward in
life right on. That's good tohear you say that too. Anybody out
(39:05):
there struggling anything, and I hopehe gets better and just mentally you overcome
it and all those things. Thankyou for having me, Susie absolutely enjoyed.
It's not easy sometimes going through someof those things, but I think
I got to the point now whereit's okay. I can tell yeah it's
okay. Yeah, No, it'sgood and it's good to talk through it.
And if you can help somebody else, I think that's huge. And
you're doing that with your coaching too, which I think is great. Thank
(39:28):
you. I appreciate definitely loving that. Like I always tell Dave, I
definitely appreciate him letting me be involved. It's nice to be a part of
something, especially something really positive likethat. So he's one of a kind.
I love being part of a team. I'm on a different kind of
team than you are with him,and it's just it's something else. Yeah,
Jarvis, thank you, Thank you, Jarvis Moss. I am still
stunned listening to him talk about hisparents being incarcerated while he was in high
(39:52):
school and he's still accomplished so much. New episodes of Cut, Traded,
Fired, Retired come out every Tuesday. Please down load, rate, and
review, this podcast wherever you listento podcasts, and you can keep up
on new releases by following on Twitterand Instagram, at CTFR podcast and the
website ctfr podcast dot com. Doyou know someone that could use some inspiration,
(40:14):
share an episode with them. I'dappreciate it. I'm your host,
Susie Wargin. Thank you for takingthe time out of your day to listen
and do me a favor. Untilnext time, please be careful, be
safe, and be kind. Takecare
I think somebody came to my locker. It was like, coach McDaniels wants
to talk to you upstairs, soI'll go up the elevator and go see
Josh and he's like, I thinkwe're gonna release you get your opportunity to
go somewhere else. It was atough day for me. I was,
you know, I've always been thebest. Once you get to the best
in the world's reality is telling youhow you're not just the absolute best anymore.
(00:23):
It was hard for me to dealwith. Welcome to Cunt, Traded,
Fired, Retired a weekly podcast featuringconversations with professional athletes and coaches who
have experienced being cut, traded,fired, and or they're retired. I'm
your host, Susie Wargon. Doyou ever hear a name and think I
wonder whatever happened to him or her? That's likely what you'll say when you
(00:44):
hear the name of this episode's guest, Jarvis Moss. Jarvis was a first
round draft pick seventeenth overall by theBroncos in the two thousand and seven draft.
Denver actually moved up to get thedefensive end out of Florida, who
was fresh off the Gator's BCS championshipunder Urban Meyer. Mike Shanahan and the
Bronchos had high hopes for Jarvis andSONA Jarvis he'd been the best at what
(01:06):
he'd done since high school, buthis rookie season wasn't easy. He broke
his shin in November of two thousandand seven and went on ir. On
top of that, he became afather, first round draft pick with high
expectations, injured and a new dad. That's a lot to take on physically
and mentally. But Jarvis stayed withthe Bronchos for a few years, through
Shanahan's firing, the hiring of JoshMcDaniels, and changing positions to outside linebacker.
(01:34):
Then he was cut in November oftwenty ten. He played a little
while longer with the Raiders, andwhen he was done with football, he
was done. He didn't want towatch it or talk about it until his
son started playing. Now, Jarvis'sback as an assistant coach for his son's
high school football team. He's beenthrough a lot and is better for it.
Ladies and gentlemen, Jarvis Moss,cut, trading, fired, Red
(01:59):
Tire podcasts with Susie war Hello,Jervis Moss. It's great to see you.
Good to see miss Susie. Iforget how tall you are, ye
your tall glass of water. It'sbeen a while. You should have saw
me when I was about aft.I know you look good. You look
really good. Yeah you're still sixseven though, right. Yeah, you
are in town. You have beenaround for a while. I didn't know
(02:23):
that you were a coach over atCherry Creek High School. You know.
Of course, I worked with DaveLogan, who's the head coach there.
One of his coaches, Jim Z. I had his number, and I
was trying to figure out what Jim'slast name was, and so I looked
up the coaching staff so I couldput him in my contacts. And I'm
like, Jervis Moss is freaking coachingfor Cherry Creek. I gotta have him
on my podcast. Yes, yes, I am, yeah, and I
(02:44):
just know him as Jim Z.And I don't didn't know what his last
name was, so yeah, soI told Dave, I'm like, I
didn't know Jervis Moss was on yourstaff. I need him on my podcast.
Yeah, it's funny how it happened. My son's going through youth football
and Dave's main coach up there atthe high school, coach Eddie. He
asked me. It was like,man, you want to coach the high
school. And at that time Iwas like, no, no, not
(03:05):
really. It was like, youknow, take a couple of days and
think about it, and start thinkingabout Noah, he was approaching high school
and how cool that would be.Like you said earlier, to hover a
little bit. You hovered just enough. We are in a conversation before we
started about how you parent with highschoolers. At first it was like,
yeah, I'll do it my sonin the back of my mind. But
now and it's so much gratifying meetingsome of these young boys and sending kids
(03:29):
to college and coaching. It's reallycool. And that's the key thing I
think, Jervis, is that youget to know your kids friends in a
very non threatening way, especially asa coach or like I was telling you,
I was a volunteer at Highlands RanchHigh School and so many different things.
My daughter was in palms, youknow, My kids were in so
many activities, and so I'd justbe involved with those on the parent level.
(03:50):
But then the ancillary part of thatis that then I knew other parents,
I knew their kids. I knewwho I wanted my kids to be
around and who I didn't want mykids to be around. So you can
only do so much because they're gonnafigure out how to do bad things anyway.
But the more you can kind ofbe plugged in, I think the
better. Yeah. True, Andjust with football in general, my life's
and brought me around a lot ofgood people. It's the same thing over
(04:11):
there, creeping now. I meeta lot of good families and coaches,
and that's the beautiful part of it. You know. I love it.
Yeah, I think it's great.I love that you're doing the coaching.
Okay, so let's go back toyour kind of beginnings, Jarvis. You're
born in Denton, Texas. Yougo to Billy Ryan High School in Denton.
So you stayed you were born andraised. You stayed in the same
place your whole life, didn't youlife? I pretty much didn't get on
(04:32):
the plane until it was time togo to recruiting trips, is that right?
My first time on the plane.I took those trips to myself too.
But just to go back to thebeginning, didn't Texas didn't Ryan born
and raised a Texas kid. Siblings, a lot of them. My dad
had quite a few, had anotherfamily. I'm as old as but he
had another family after me. Twosisters and a younger brother rest in peace.
(04:55):
And my sister Jelisa, my dad'sdaughter, and my mom's side to
have old brother and a younger sister. Who oh, man, got a
lot going on with your family,huh. So when you're in high school,
it's football the sport from the beginning. Did you play a lot of
sports growing up? I played football. My first year in organized football was
nine. I was in third grade. It was nineteen ninety three. I
(05:18):
remember. I remember my first playercleats and my first team and all that
stuff, and yeah, I knewthat, and you know, I want
to play football. You know,it's a third grade I told all the
growing up. Yea, I'm gonnago to the NFL one day. You
said that in third grade? Wow? What position did you play? Then?
My first year I was a tightend and it was a rough year.
My dad was my head coach too, and this isn't very fun blocking
(05:42):
and it was like, you know, Dad, if I don't get to
run the ball next year, I'mquitting, so he let me bring the
ball, and you know, that'skind of how my career took off.
Did you play any defense growing up? I did. I played middle linebacker.
I've always loved defense. I've alwaysbeen a defensive guy, so I
think, naturally that's why I wasgoing to end up. We were talking
before we started and I mentioned inyour height, did you ever play basketball?
I did. I actually had agood basketball program in my high school
(06:05):
too. They were state champions inninety nine. Right, so good coach,
good program worth playing for. Butmy high school coach is so great,
and he was just so good withthe kids. I couldn't even look
at the basketball coach. I couldn'tplay for him the same. So I
kind of just put all my focusin football. You had one of those
high school football coach Logan. That'swhat I always compare people to him,
(06:28):
like it's he's just the epitome ofyou'll run through a brick wall, you'll
play hard, but you can stillhave fun. You'll like him. It's
the whole package, and you justit's so hard to find. It's the
whole package. Yeah, shout outto Dave. It's been great up there,
you know, working with him andlearning and watching how to do things
and his attention to detail, andyou know, I just love for football.
What was your coach's name in highschool? Joey Florence. He's a
(06:48):
Hall of Famer, one of thewinning his coaches in Texas kids. To
tell you the story, my freshmanyear high school, we went one to
nine. We were horrible. Wewon one game, we to coach brought
it in Coach Florence, and wewent twelve and three and loss in the
state championship game. Then the yearafter that, we went undefeated and won
a state championship game. After thatwe went fifteen and one and won a
(07:11):
state championship games. So he literallywe had one of the biggest turnarounds in
Texas high school history, no kidding. And when you guys won that state
championship, that was the first onein school history too, the first one
in school history. Yeah, that'scool. Did you play both ways in
high school or did you switch overto defense at one point? Mostly defense?
But playoff time similar high Dave doesit? You know, when you
need your best players, you know, you kind of gotta had him ready
(07:34):
for those big games playoff game,state games. So coach Will utilized me
on offense during those times. Asa receiver, I used to catch the
ball, No kidding, I usedto catch the ball. Yeah, but
for the most part I was straightdefensive, you know, number one defensive
end in the nation, offics fromeverywhere. So, yeah, you were
an All American. You went tothe two thousand and three US Army All
(07:55):
American Bowl and parade magazine. Howdo you as an All American? What
was the recruiting process, Like yousaid, your first time on a plane,
how many places did you go?Was it hard to narrow it down
to Florida? I took four trips. I took four flights. I went
to Texas, I went to FloridaState, I went to Florida, and
I flew down in Miami. Itook a fifth visit too, but I
just drove up in Norman, Oklahomato seacoat stoops in them scary by yourself.
(08:20):
Yeah, the reason why my dadwas incarcerated at the time. Both
my parents Actually when you were inhigh school, both your parents were incarcerated.
Yes, Oh my gosh, jervismostly college too. Wow. Yeah,
they missed a lot. You wereon your own. Yeah, I
was on my own, so scaryflights. But when you want to do
something, and I was getting onthose flights. We took care of you
(08:41):
in high school. So that waskind of a family effort. Okay,
I was kind of the nomatter thefamily. I had a great grandfather.
I lived with him quite some time, and I had a couple of ounces
that took me in and I livedwith him for quite some years. And
you know, I'm all right,he's off the college. At least we
got him out to college. Sothat's something most people cannot relate to at
all. We talk about challenges inthis podcast. There's one right there.
(09:03):
You're so young, facing that youdidn't have your folks around. Yeah,
it's stuff, But like I said, and you were still successful. You
know, I told you nine,I knew what I was gonna do,
so I couldn't let going around mestop stop what I wanted to do.
That is amazing drivers. So whatmade you decide on Florida? Then,
after all those trips, grew uploving the Gators watching them on TV.
(09:24):
Coach Sparer, some of the Gatorgreat players think that late nineties early two
thousand periods, like all the Floridaschools were good, Bobby about it.
At Florida State, coach Cooker andhurricanes were awesome. And then you had
the Gators, so it was kindof just stuff. You know, you
can't go wrong, you know,when you got options like that, you
kind of just close your eyes andbe like, all right at school,
(09:46):
you just look at Florida and pickand see where you're closest to. I
was dating somebody at the time too. Ah, there we go. Her
family, you said, who tookcare of me. Her family did a
really good job looking. So theywere right in Tampa. So Florida was
the closest place to where they wereliving. So he was convenient, you
know, absolutely. So you geta scholarship in Florida and you're there with
(10:09):
ron Zook, who was there forthe first two years you were there,
and then he was fired. Youguys go eight and five, seven and
five. He gets fired before theend of the two thousand and fourth season.
Then urban Meyer comes in talk aboutthe difference between playing for two coaches,
especially the one that recruited you.Now, it's completely different. All
those kids be in the portal,it'd be, you know, a hot
(10:31):
mess. When somebody knew comes in. But back in those days, you
stayed there. Yeah I did.So Zook recruited me, got me from
Texas to Florida. So did agood job. You didn't getting me there.
So he was a player's coach,good energy. I want another one
of those coaches. You'll you'll runthrough a wall for you know, the
way he treat players. Zook believedin me. My first couple of years,
(10:52):
I was dealing with injuries and sicknessthat we couldn't figure out. So
that kept me from actually playing.Oh yeah, so I was loyal to
a Zook in that way. Youknow. He recruited me, but physically
there were things going on with mewhere I couldn't be the player that he
needed me to be. But hekept you there, but he kept me
there. So when the coach likethat loses his job, you kind of
feel like, dang, well ifI would have been the best defensive end
(11:13):
like he recruited, you know,so all those moving parts. Did you
feel some pressure because he got fired? Of course, being a number one
recruit coming in not being able toplay or produce for your team, yeah,
it starts to wear on you.So had that coaching change. They
fired Zook. Irban Meyer comes in. You know, he put me through
the fire. He didn't like meat first, I don't think really because
(11:35):
I was one of those players.But he was kind of looking at like,
why is this guy here, Likehe's not doing anything for the program.
Prove yourself and I had to provemyself. I remember a meeting that
I had with coach irban Meyer andcoach Strong one time. Charlie Strong and
Urban got on me real hard infront of the team once before. I
mean, he was that kind ofcoach. You know, Urban is one
of those guys not everybody can playfor. It was just called how it
(11:56):
is. Oh. I think peoplehave realized that more and more as the
years have gone on. But shoutout to Irby mir. If I could
pick any coach to go win agame or a championship, I would always
still pick him because it's not personalwell he's good or what he does.
It's meant that's clearly work. Iwatched it. You were part of that.
It's tough, but you know Iwatched it be really successful. But
yeah, it got to the pointwhere I didn't think Urban wanted me in
(12:20):
Florida, So what are you thinkingat that point what your options might be?
Are you gonna stay, You're gonnago? Well, I'm really competitive
inside, so I would always hearfrom my teammates, even in Florida,
I had you really did the numberone defensive end and blah blah, just
because I wasn't able to do mything yet. So that always got to
me. So inside I had afire lit, Like you know, once
they figured out what's wrong with mephysically, I'm going to show everybody,
(12:43):
including Irby mir And you know,that's kind of how it happened. I
got healthy, and I told youUrban got on me in one meeting in
front of the team, really hadme mad, and I was kind of
thinking about what I was gonna do. That next day, Coach Strong took
me up into his office and weall sit down kind of how me and
you were sitting me in Strong onthis side of his table. He looked
at Urban. He's like, look, I know what you think, but
(13:03):
this is literally our best player.And Urban's looking at me like, wait,
this skinny little defensive end what he'sAnd Coach Trong's like, no,
there's something wrong with him. He'slike, I've seen enough to what he
can do. He's really good,but there's something wrong with him. We
need to figure it out. Webrought him all the way here from Texas,
and that's our job to figure outwhat's wrong with this kid. And
wow. Urban sat back in hischair and he looked at me and Coach
(13:24):
Strong and he picked up his phoneon his desk. He called the athletic
trainer from downstairs. He's like,I need you up in my office right
now. Anthony passed. Former ChicagoBears athletic trainer. Anthony came in and
Urban was like, look, weneed to exalt all our resources to figure
out what was wrong with this kid. From then on, I started going
to the hospital and they started runningthese tests on me, and I started
(13:46):
doing vibs. He's like on mypelvis, and they found out I had
like a staff infection. Yeah,oh geez, yeah for like two years.
It started in high school. SoI just think this is my red
shirt sophomore year and I'm still walkingaround staff infections no joke, Oh my
goodness. Yeah. So you know, and they figured out what was wrong
did with Irvan said let's help thiskid, and I got healthy and I
(14:09):
never looked back. They put likea pickline in my arm and I had
to wear like a fanny pack forlike seven weeks. Wow, I took
it out and like of antibiotics andantibiotics I think it was. And I
had no clue. I was justa kid, like I hope this works
right, And it worked. Sohe's the one that basically saved you pretty
much by making the phone call andbeing a tough coach on me, you
(14:31):
know, yah, putting that realpressure on me like hey, I don't
want you here if you can't donothing, and shout out to coach Strong
too, because he knew I kindof struggled for a couple of years,
but he knew what was in here. He knew it was in Yeah,
it's funny. I was actually lookingat the papers to sign, like to
where I'm not even a college playeranymore. I was that close to being
like all right, I quit thisfrustrated. At one point, I remember
(14:56):
when um John Deane, the assistantathletic trainer, you walk that office,
He's like, all right, man, the papers is like I'm I'm gonna
walk out of office and let youreally think about this. Read it good?
He's like, do you just soyou were? And I was sitting
there just looking at the packet,like if I signed here, there's no
more NFL, there's no more football. I was really close. What were
you taking classes for at that time? Sociology? I was a sociology major.
(15:20):
That's what I was studying, right, And then what do you do?
Because then you're you don't have yourscholarship. I would still have my
scholarship. I was allowed to goto school and stuff. I just wouldn't
have been at Okay, so hestill could have gone to school. They
were going to pay for me togo to school still, but couldn't have
played football. And then how differentwould your whole trajectory have been? Yeah,
(15:41):
Oh my gosh. So you playfor Urban, you get healthy,
which is good. You play forUrban. You guys have a championship,
the two thousand and seven BCS championship. Two thousand and six, probably one
of your best years. Right,you block a pat and a field goal
in a game against South Carolina.That's six seven in handy? Right?
(16:03):
Did you do it illegally? Couldyou do it in the NFL the way
you blocked him? Now, becausenobody blocks anything anymore. She did illegally.
I did illegally. It's funny goingback to that story, Urban Mara
was trying to take me off ofthe field. He called a time out
right before that field goal to kindof ice the kicker, and like when
the defense walked over to the coaches, I'm like tired, you know,
I'm bending over, yeah, andthey're like, hey, get him out
at it. I'm like, well, I'm not coming out of the game.
(16:26):
That was been the game winning fieldgoal, right, this is the
game winning field goal. And uh, I'm arguing with them on the sideline
like I'm not coming out herky,I better figure it out, but I'm
not coming out, and they finallylet me go back on and ye know,
I blocked the kick. It's funnythey were Yeah, I played every
play that game and it came downto that last kick. They're like,
all right, let's up, youout. I'm like no, wow,
(16:48):
no. And then the championship gamein in oh seven, you guys beat
Ohio State and that one. Whatwas that like? When the championship it
was a dream come true for mepersonally, I was the little kid that
I love college football growing up.I have a love for football that most
people can't match. So I wasthat kid always at home watching the Texas
Longhorns as soon as the corn Huskerswhile all the other kids are outside playing.
(17:10):
So I would always see that crystalball as a little kid, and
I was like, I'm going toget that for me. That's what the
National Championship Game represented. You know. I wanted to touch that trophy my
whole life, you know, seeingcoach bout It and all the greats every
same year, and yeah, itwas a great night, great team.
When you know, like I said, every Mayers Methids might be tough,
but you know, I think everybodywas pretty happy that night. Absolutely he
(17:32):
got you there. So that comesin your fourth year when you're at Florida
and then you decide to declare forthe draft. Like you said, my
biggest year. Probably couldn't have gotmy name any hotter that year, so
it's probably a good decision. Isent in my grades to see what the
NFL thought, and that got somefirst round grades, so they're like,
WHOA, I need to really thinkabout this. So yeah, I kind
(17:53):
of made that decision and prayed aboutit, just took that next step as
a man. You know, andyour drafted by the Broncos. They traded
up for you, drafted you atseventeenth overall, they moved up. So
you come to the Bronchos. Whatwas it like transitioning from Urban Meyer,
Florida to Mike Shanahan Broncos. NFLis a different ball game, a lot
(18:15):
of different moving parts. It's abusiness. It's a big business. Even
though we know colleges to NFL isyou got families, lots of stuff going
on, finances now, stuff thatyou're not just a player anymore. And
I think young players should, youknow, really be aware and prepare for
those type of things coming into theleague. You know, it can kind
(18:37):
of hinder you on the field ifyou don't have some of those things in
order, especially your support group,the people that you hang out with.
And the finances I think is huge, it's huge. There's so many guys
that blow through all their money sofast. It's huge. You really need
somebody mentor on you. And youknow, sometimes people don't learn those lessons
unless they actually suffer the consequence themselves, right, you know, just me
(18:59):
and all the stuff I've been through, I try to tell young players and
just guys, what to watch outfor if you're serious about this is what
you want to do one day,did you have anybody that was mentoring you
or you just kind of on yourown island? Really kind of on my
own And yeah, I guess itwas for a reason. I had to
learn certain things so I can teachthe people I care about it. And
I got cousins and gonna get draftedand go to play in the NFL here
in a year or two, sojust to be able to get him knowledge.
(19:22):
And actually spoke to my uncle twodays ago. Agents are starting to
call my little cousin who plays atTCU. So I was just kind of
telling them what to watch out for. Like you said, financial people,
the people that want to be aroundyou because they think you got and I
love Rod Smith said this, theywant to be around you because they think
you got a bunch of zeros behindyour name. They think you had a
bunch of money. We're gonna hangout, going to the club, going
(19:44):
do whatever, and then once that'sgone, those people coming they're gone as
well. Yeah. So your son, Noah, he's a freshman this year.
You had Noah your rookie season.Rookie. Yeah, talk about it
and stuff. Yeah, that wastough. I broke my leg my rookie
year, you went on i Rin November, came a dad that same
year. So starting off my NFLcareer was kind of rocky, not how
(20:06):
you want to start it. So, you know, my messes to all
young players and you know, anybodylistening, you know, he kind of
gotta have that stuff in order andbe serious about what you're doing and kind
of take care of football. Well, you had so much pressure on your
drivers because you're a first round draftpick and then you come in November,
you break your shin, and thenyou go on IR and then you're also
a dad. I mean the mentalaspect of all those things had to be
(20:30):
overwhelming and you're what twenty two,Yeah, it was. You probably remember
the reports you want to retire earlier, like what the heck kids strong and
healthy? Heck you want to retire? You know, I was just dealing
with things becoming a dad that,particularly in the way that I did.
It was tough. But I'm herenow and there's twenty twenty three. My
son is strong and healthy and you'rea big part of his life too,
(20:52):
which is great. Explain if youcan going on injured reserve and what that
does to you mentally. That wasthe first time in my life if I
dealt with a season ending injury.So it's kind of hard to believe.
You know, you're that age.You're strong, you're tough. You you
don't think anything can stop you untilthe doctor's like, Noah, you can't
play anymore. And it hurts,you know. I broke my leg at
practice, obviously working hard at practiceand the stuff happens in football is tough,
(21:17):
and I thought I just had areally bad ankle spring. You know.
The doctor looked at me and it'slike, you're out for the season,
and I'm looking at him like youdon't know what you're talking about.
He's looking at me like, I'mthe doctor. I'm sorry, you played
football. I'm a doctor. Stayin your lane so you come back.
Mike Shanahan is your coach, similarto a Florida where he's your coach for
(21:38):
two years, just like Ron Zookwas. Then Mike gets fired at the
end of the O eight season andJosh McDaniels comes in, as does a
new defensive coordinator in Mike Nolan,and they move you from your natural position
of defensive line right to outside linebacker. That was tough and that's where a
lot of the stories came in ofyou were thinking about just calling it quit.
(22:00):
Yeah, it was tough. Obviously, a new regime comes in,
and that is a regime with JoshMcDaniels. You know, they kind of
want their guys and anybody can understandthat. You know, if you're gonna
step up to the play, thentry to lead a program and to me
and you kind of want your pickof the men, and that's how coaches
to come in do it. Youknow, that's tough for a former first
(22:22):
round like me who was still tryingto prove himself. And then you know
that year they drafted Robert Air isanother really good player for them for the
Broncos to come in and play myposition. So you know, it's all
competitive, and like we say,it's moving pieces to all of it.
You know, sometimes players might bebetter in a different place or what a
different coach or you know, youknow how that matters. Were you?
(22:44):
But how did you feel an outsidelinebacker? Um, I actually think I
could do all of that stuff.I felt comfortable. I felt you didn't
feel like you were a fish outof water or anything like that. Not
at all. I just felt morelike, you know, the opportunities are
going to be slam down because I'mnot there guy. That's part of the
business. And I'm close to fortynine. I understand those parts of the
game down that I did then.Isn't that funny? As we get older,
(23:04):
we're like, oh, now Iget it. Twenty years ago,
didn't understand it at all, andnow it makes so much more sense.
Yeah, it doesn't make it anyeasier. So you think about retiring in
OH nine, but you go aheadand stay. You make the team,
you play in OH nine and ten. You get cut in November of twenty
(23:26):
ten. November seventeenth, twenty ten. What happens when you get cut?
Did you get called in? Didyou see it on the Newssty morning?
I come to work like regular,and I think somebody came to my locker.
It was like coach McDaniels wants totalk to you upstairs. So I
go up the elevator and go seeJosh and he's like, uh, I
(23:47):
think we're gonna release. You getyour opportunity to go somewhere else. You
know, he gave me the wholelittle rundown probably how it goes, and
I'm shocked. I'm like, wow, you know crap. I walked back
downstairs. I started grabbing out ofmy locker. What's up, Moss,
what you're doing? I was like, I just got cut. He was
walking by, playing thing. It'sa joker. Literally, I just got
(24:07):
cut. I'll see you guys,We'll talk. I'll see you guys soon.
It was a tough day for me. I was you know, I've
always been the best. Once youget to the best in the world's reality
is telling you you're not just theabsolute best anymore. It was hard for
me to deal with. So Ihopped on a plane and went to Arizona.
I didn't even want to be inColorado. I didn't even want to
(24:29):
be in the state of Colorado.So I took it pretty hard. You
are not the first one to saythat was the first time somebody told me
I wasn't good enough. And that'sreally hard to hear. And I think
the average person is like, well, you know, it's no it's I
don't care what you're doing. It'svery hard to hear you're not good enough
anymore. We've got somebody else thatcan do your job. It was it's
tough. Like I said, Ihopped on a plane and just went to
(24:52):
Arizona for the weekend. Like Ican't even be in Colorado right now.
I don't want to anybody calling me. I don't see any reporters I know.
And that's the thing too, isyou guys have to then deal with,
you know, somebody calling you astick in a microphone in your face,
texting you, Hey, what's goingon? What's happening? They come
with the territory, it does,I know, But like a week later
you're with the Raiders. Yeah,had an opportunity to go to Pittsburgh or
(25:14):
Oakland at the time. Distillers,We're going to give me a workout and
see, you know, all right, we'll evaluate you. But the Raiders
are like, hey, you don'thave to work out, will sign you.
I guess that was my tipping pointtoo, where I was going.
I looked back in hindsight now andyou know, obviously Pittsburgh was always been
and still is the more a betterdefensive team, You're a stable franchise,
(25:37):
etc. Stuff that I wasn't thinkingabout then. And it's funny. We
played Distillers one time here in Denver, at the end of the game,
everybody walks across the field time andwalk right up to me. It's like,
keep your head off, I'm gonnacome get you, no kidding,
he did. So I think aboutthat now, like I should have just
at least went up to Pittsburgh andtalk to that man and the people that
play for him, people that knowMike Tomlin. I mean, he's one
(26:00):
of a kind. He's another oneof those kind of coaches that AD meant
a lot to me. Obviously,when you go through your first race as
a player and Mike Timond will stillcome and be like, yo, I
still see something in you. Ithappened with me with Joe Thomas too,
Hall of Famer. My last yearin Oakland, I played him and he
came up to me after the game. He's like, man, I'm really
glad you didn't retire. You're agood player. AD meant the world in
me. Little things like that,and I think that sometimes we forget,
(26:22):
we get too busy, we gettoo ego driven. Sometimes a sentence here
or a compliment there, and itmeans you'll never forget that, they said.
Though Mike Tomlin probably doesn't remember sayingit to you. Maybe Joe Thomas
doesn't either, but you remember,Yeah, for sure, it's huge.
Shout out the big Joe Thomas,that's my classmate. So in Oakland,
did you think about Oakland because itwas also in the AFC West and then
(26:45):
you might have a chance to stickit to the Broncos. True, I
definitely wanted to play the Bronchos andget to win my first game back here
and Denver, we gotta win Mondaynight football. I remember it was so
how sweet was fine? It wasgratifying and shout out to the Raiders too.
I actually felt like I started tobecome, you know, more mature
player, started to uh take mycareer in a positive direction in Oakland.
(27:07):
So who's your head coach? HughJackson? Oh he was there, Tom
Cable. Yeah, my five yearsin the league. Now I think about
it, I had five years,four different head coaches, four different head
coaches, five different defensive coordinator.We changed the defensive every year. Yeah,
because Mike Nolan was only there thatone year in n O nine.
Every year even in Oakland, he'sout of there. You know. That's
(27:29):
that's how I goes, I know, but that's so hard as a player,
there's no consistency, and not thatthere's you don't always have the same
guys back, but you got acore of guys that are there. And
then if they're always changing your scheme, especially if they're going three four or
four three, it's very I'm gonnaI'm gonna believe some players are just good
enough to don't matter what system he'sin, he's gonna produce, he's gonna
do his thing. And then I'ma big believer in I see why Archie
(27:51):
man and didn't let Eli go toSan Diego. You know, we can
see certain things, you know absolutely. So you finish out that year and
twenty ten with the Raiders and thenthey signed you from their deals, so
you play one more year with themin twenty eleven, and then you become
a free agent. And then didanybody come calling for the twenty twelve season,
Yes, a couple of teams,the Cowboys. I went and worked
(28:14):
out for the Cowboys back in myhome area. I was hoping to get
an opportunity there didn't happen. Thatkind of hurt my heart. That was
my last actual NFL workout where Iwas like, all right, I give
up on football. Really. Yeah, so the Cowboys in my last I
remember Justina Anderson called me to like, hey, working out for the Cowboys?
Is it true? I was justcrossing my fingers hoping that that came
(28:36):
through, but it didn't. Iremember seeing Davis Brian in the locker room.
He was wishing me luck that day, and de Marcus ware was also
that day, like, yeah,I'm good luck and your workout. I
hope you ran Carthon. Yeah,I play. We ran in college,
okay, And at the time hewas the general manager of the Rams.
He wanted me to come up fora workout and I should have just At
(28:57):
the time, I was kind oflike, yeah, But in hindsight now
it's like I should have just goton a plane and probably could've up playing
with Aaron Donald for a couple ofyears. Oh shoot, that's true.
You know. So there's a lotof things you can do different in hindsight.
But interesting. So you retire intwenty twelve, do you fill out
your paperwork then or do you stillkind of wait, a lot of you
(29:19):
haven't filled out my paperwork? No, way, you still haven't. Yeah,
I don't know. I haven't filledout my paperwork. But yeah,
I'm officially retired. Don't you haveto though, to get some of your
benefits? Or can you still getsome benefits if you don't fill out the
paperwork you can do you can stilldo certain things. I don't know how
to extra retirement, how that evenworks. I don't think anybody cares.
(29:40):
Yes they do, Yes they do. That is not true. That's funny.
You still haven't filled out your paperwork, but you are retired now after
over a decade. Could you imagineplaying now maybe a couple of plays the
most, but not doing training camp. So after retirement, then what happens
from twenty twelve? You end upgetting back to Colorado at some point?
(30:00):
Or were you? Have? Youalways kind of been here? So,
like I said, when I gotcut from the Broncos, I really had
some type of animosity anxiety towards Coloradounderstandably. So I don't know if the
fans were super kind to you either. Were they not particularly but fanatics that's
what I call them. Yeah.Yeah, I went to San Diego for
(30:22):
like a year after my last yearin Oakland because I just didn't want to
come back to Colorado. Crazy soul, just clear your head, You clear
my head. I eventually make itback to Colorado, of course, and
I wouldn't even watch football for acouple of years in my house. I
didn't even allow people to cut footballprotocol. I didn't want to see anything.
Wow. Ye when I started watchingfootball again, the Seahawks and the
(30:45):
Niners were good, I'm like,what the hell? Like what happened?
But yeah, a couple of yearsI couldn't even watch football, just just
mad at the sport, you know. And I thought I was gonna go
to the Hall of you know,I was always the best. I thought
it was gonna end like that.Life told me different. But you get
(31:06):
back here, Yeah, I getback here, and what do you do?
I really took it as opportunity tospend more time with my son.
You know your number one job.Yeah, just start to teach him and
grow him in. I love it. Make sure he's shaped right. And
you know, he actually started playingfootball and like the first time I saw
him like go forward in the uniformmy Adamasi tourist. Football started to go
(31:27):
away a little bit. It's likename, so my son wants to do
this, Like I have to likeget back involved too. So Noah has
helped you work through a lot ofthis, started watching football again, caring
again, all of it. Ilove it. You're a coach at Cherokeoe
High Schools. We mentioned defensive linefor varsity JV and you do the freshman
(31:48):
games as well. What has coachingbrought to you? It gave me something
to do in retirement, that's forsure. Those first couple of years,
I wasn't doing enough, just notinvolved in anything. And it was healthy
having so much idle time. Sogetting involved and coaching and youth football.
When Noah started, it was likea breath of fresh air. Like I
(32:08):
told you, got to meet alot of good families over there, and
it's almost given you a new beginning, hasn't it. It's true I don't
have much family here. I hadNoah as a rookie, and that's why
I'm here. I wouldn't be inColorado really if it weren't for my son.
Probably, you know, I'm justhere being a dad until he's off
to college or something like that.But football has brought me friends and people
(32:29):
to somewhat like family out here.That's great. And then you're also involved
with Phenom Factory Sports Performance training,and I am super curious about this.
Okay, you're curious about this,Like to use my time wisely and give
me the opportunity to work with kids. Obviously over a phenom. You know,
there's a lot of inner city kids, underprivileged kids. I just talked
(32:50):
to one of my guys that Itrained. He's a seventh grader. He
was just telling me that he didn'teven know his dad. And I'm looking
at this kid like there, youcould be great one day, and then
you start to find out stuff likethat, that thing, he's gonna need
a little help. And so it'sa lot of kids like that that we
work with, we train, youknow. So right now I'm kind of
just going around at different high schools. We'll get a field for a couple
of hours and we'll train the boys, persist specific quarterbacks, receivers, dbs,
(33:15):
very cool group of linement from allages and you know, just teaching
what I know. Every Sunday,when I leave there, I feel so
good, Like, you know,I got a fifth gradeer who most people
be like Jarvis, He's never gonnabe a good football player, but if
you could just see how much he'simproved in the last two months. It's
like, it's so gratifying to meworking on kids and not even looking at
you know, Oh, they're nevergoing to make it in the NFL,
(33:37):
but the confidence that you can helpinstilling these kids just to be able to
do something like that is huge.It's funny you say that, Susie,
because I know a lot of football. Everybody knows how he knows football.
Probably forgot more forball than most peopleever know. Sometimes I feel like,
yeah, I'm good with my exesand os at the game, But at
other times I feel like I havea gift to where I'm more motivator.
(34:00):
I kind of know how to getmy guys mine prepared to do what we're
going to do. And sometimes whatwe're going to do is the lyarman is
not easy. I like to getmy guys mentally had a right mindset to
go into battle. And you know, of course I can teach him the
exits and os what he needs todo football wise, but you know,
I like to get in the guy'shead and tell the young man, you
(34:21):
know, this is how you needto approach this situation. Well, I'm
thinking how many have influenced you becauseof things that they've said things that stayed
in your head. And I'm sureyour experience growing up and how you were
in high school with your folks thathas to I mean, it's very relatable
to a lot of these kids youwork with, for sure. Do you
tell them about that quite a few. One of my best players last year,
(34:42):
Chase Brackney, he's going to playfor Iowa next year. He was
asking me, like, coach,did you eat a lot in high school?
I was like, Chase has poor. I was like, heck no,
I didn't get to eat, Likewe didn't have milk, just sitting
in the fridge all the time.Right. So man, Yeah, So
I share them bits and pieces ofmy life and just where they kind of
know, you know, coaches likethat, you know, for you know,
(35:05):
certain reasons. Even my son,I try to give him my story
just so he can have a littlebit more abide in life. His life
is a little bit more comfortable thanmine. There. Oh, all our
kids' lives are more comfortable than howthey were. And sometimes I look and
I'm like, man, we needto make it a little tough run.
I actually think my environment kind ofreally shoved me to like, hey,
you better go do something. There'sno college without I knew early just scenario
(35:28):
wise, I have to do somethingon my own. There's so many guys
I've talked to where they said Iknew I wasn't going to go to college
unless I got a scholarship. OtherwiseI'm just at home, and I may
fall back into where everybody else andmy family's doing, and that's not where
I wanted to be. Right whilemy son's sitting here with a five twenty
nine. He doesn't even need hisscholarship, completely different scenarios. It is
so Jervis. As you look back, and I ask all of my guests
(35:50):
this as my last question. Whenyou go back and look through your life
and all of the ups and downs, and you had some really cool moments
that happened to you, and thenalso really tough moments and a ton of
pressure, what do you tell people, whether it's somebody that you're coaching or
whether it's the average person, howto work through those and how to get
over some of those, even mentalhurdles and physical hurdles from when you were
(36:13):
injured as well. You know,life's gonna happen, and stuff's gonna pass
too. Even in the moment whenit feels like it's the worst, you
know, the past and it'll alwaysget better. The other part to it
is just believing in yourself. It'stime gone. You know, you might
kind of lose graphs or a conceptof you know, the good things about
yourself. And I never let thathappen to me at the point of time
(36:36):
where it could have ruined me incollege, I could have just gave up
him. My teammates making fun ofme, asking me it was I really
that rank this high, and it'slike, dude, yes, you know,
like leave me alone. I'm justhurt. I could have gave up
on myself. But my roommate wouldalways tell me, he's like, man,
when you get healthy, you're gonnashow him and yeah, shout out
to Marcus Thomas, former Broncup.He would lay in the dorm room we
(36:58):
always and tell me, man,I know you're hurting. You know,
once you get better, And Iwould always be able to just look at
him like, so you heard himlaughing at me earlier, but back here
in the door room, you likeher for than me as a friend,
as a teammate letting me know,I know you're a good player. So
Yeah, just that self belief,you know, not giving up on yourself
no matter how hard it gets.Just pushing through that adversity. It could
be a big reward on the otherside of it all. Like I said,
(37:20):
I'm gonna sign my rights away toplay college football, there would have
been no NFL. So you pusheda little bit adversity and then you know
it was first round draft pick.You know, you get your name go
down in history with some other reallygood players. I want to ask you
one more question because before we startedtalking, we were talking about that you've
always been big, because I askedif you had a growth spurt and you
(37:42):
said you were very self conscious biggerperson growing up. Did that help you?
Do you think if you're always thetallest person and people make fun of
you, like it's just you've kindof worked throughout your whole life. I
think it really helped when I turnedmy height into something where people started to
recognize, Okay, he's good.And that was football. So I'm not
just a lanky kid. I usedto literally lean up against the wall so
(38:02):
I wouldn't be as tall, like, so I was that insecure for a
while. Like, but yeah,once you start to come into your own
and you're like, all right,I'm still tall and skinny, but y'all
know my name now. You knowthat just starts to overcome it. You
know a lot of things. Youknow, people see you working hard and
pushing towards the goal, and Iguess it helps if you're tall. Coaches
(38:22):
always at the high school messed withme, like, dude, you hit
the genetic lottery here. I'm like, dude, I had to like bust
my till to, you know,to get where I got, right.
I get what they're saying. Jamie'slike Brown five seven, it's not fair,
Moss. That's great, Jarvis,this has been a lot of fun.
I really appreciate you telling your storyand given the time, and I
(38:43):
know it's not always easy to kindof go back through and think about some
of those things, but I appreciatethat you did. And I think everybody's
going to really enjoy hearing where youare now. And I think it'll hit
home for a lot of people too, because there's a lot of people that
have those struggles and you still keepgoing forward and you keep moving forward in
life right on. That's good tohear you say that too. Anybody out
(39:05):
there struggling anything, and I hopehe gets better and just mentally you overcome
it and all those things. Thankyou for having me, Susie absolutely enjoyed.
It's not easy sometimes going through someof those things, but I think
I got to the point now whereit's okay. I can tell yeah it's
okay. Yeah, No, it'sgood and it's good to talk through it.
And if you can help somebody else, I think that's huge. And
you're doing that with your coaching too, which I think is great. Thank
(39:28):
you. I appreciate definitely loving that. Like I always tell Dave, I
definitely appreciate him letting me be involved. It's nice to be a part of
something, especially something really positive likethat. So he's one of a kind.
I love being part of a team. I'm on a different kind of
team than you are with him,and it's just it's something else. Yeah,
Jarvis, thank you, Thank you, Jarvis Moss. I am still
stunned listening to him talk about hisparents being incarcerated while he was in high
(39:52):
school and he's still accomplished so much. New episodes of Cut, Traded,
Fired, Retired come out every Tuesday. Please down load, rate, and
review, this podcast wherever you listento podcasts, and you can keep up
on new releases by following on Twitterand Instagram, at CTFR podcast and the
website ctfr podcast dot com. Doyou know someone that could use some inspiration,
(40:14):
share an episode with them. I'dappreciate it. I'm your host,
Susie Wargin. Thank you for takingthe time out of your day to listen
and do me a favor. Untilnext time, please be careful, be
safe, and be kind. Takecare
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