Tracking proCanes - Sinorice Moss - Part I

proCanes.com is continuing our “Tracking proCanes” feature with former University of Miami and current New York Giants wide-receiver Sinorice Moss. Moss played in 46 games with 12 starts for the Hurricanes and finished his career with 63 receptions for 1,046 yards (16.6 yard avg.) and 8 touchdowns. As a senior, played in 10 games with 8 starts at flanker and led the team with a career-high 32 receptions for 554 yards (17.3-yard avg.) and 5 touchdowns. He also thrived in Track. Moss was selected with the 44th overall pick in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. Moss is the younger brother of Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss, who was also a standout wide receiver for the University of Miami prior to entering the NFL. He has one son, Sinorice Moss Jr.

Part I: Sinorice talks about growing up in Miami, his days as a Hurricane wide-receiver, his transition to the NFL, the U Family and much more!  

proCanes: How is the off season going? It had been reported that you pulled a hamstring?
Sinorice Moss: [Laughter] It’s fine now. It’s going real good.

pC: What are you doing differently this off season compared to last year or prior years?
SM: I’m doing the same thing. Working out hard and making sure I’m staying on top of things.

pC: Why did you stay up in New York this offseason? Why not come down to Miami and train?
SM: I’ve been doing it for the past couple of years but I just felt like I wanted to stay up here instead of going home this time. I wanted to be around the facility and show these coaches what else I can do.

pC: Is Jessie Armstead a coach?
SM: You can say that. He’s kind of like a coach. He works closely with the defense.

pC: Well you guys have that bond. Do you talk about the U often or not so much?
SM: All the time!

pC: If we can start from the beginning, when did you first start playing?
SM: I started playing at the age of about 7 or 8. I started playing at Miami Scott Lake Optimist Club in Miami, Florida.

pC: And what position were you playing?
SM: I was a running back one year, then I switched to offensive line [laughter] and then I stayed at running back throughout my little league. After I left Scott Lake Park I went to Miami Lakes Park, maybe when I was like in 6th or 7th grade and that’s when I first started playing wide receiver.

pC: Who was your favorite player growing up?
SM: Oh man, my favorite player growing up was definitely Barry Sanders. Yeah, I was mainly a running back so I was a big, big fan of Barry Sanders.

pC: Why did you end up switching to wide receiver? Did you want that or was it something that the coaches wanted?
SM: No I definitely wanted to do it. When I got up in age I started thinking, I probably am not big enough to play running back so I made the transition over to wide receiver and I always had pretty good hands. I can catch pretty well. So just learning to use my speed and learning how to run routes wasn’t too bad because I had an older brother who was doing it all the time.

pC: Did Santana help you a lot in terms of developing your game when you were younger?
SM: Of course. I mean we were always throwing the ball around or I would watch him run routes outside or go see him practice so it helped me out a lot growing up.

pC: Would you say you guys were competitive or more of the older brother helping out the younger brother?
SM: It was more of the older brother helping out the younger brother. Sometimes he got real competitive though. It was funny the times we used to be in the house playing throw up tackle. It was real nice.

pC: So were you always a Hurricane fan growing up?
SM: No. To be honest with you we were big Florida State and University of Florida fans growing up. Yeah, very very big on Florida State and very ery big on the University of Florida. Personally I liked the University of Florida because they threw the ball all the time. Me and Santana were in love because they threw the football all the time. We had female cousins that went to Florida State and were there when it was Warrick Dunn and Charlie Ward and she was good friends with them so we grew up watching those guys play and we also grew up watching the Hurricanes. I can’t say I was a big, big Hurricane fan growing up but now you can’t stop me from talking about the Hurricanes.

pC: So were you just not recruited by Florida or Florida State?
SM: I was recruited by Florida, LSU, Colorado, a lot of teams, but I just chose to stay home.

pC: What Coach recruited you from Miami?
SM: Curtis Johnson.

pC: And do you stay in touch with him?
SM: Yes. I recently talked to him a couple of weeks ago.

pC: Was it ever a close decision that you may not go to UM?
SM: At first I really wasn’t sure but when it came down to it, there was no other place I would rather be than at the University of Miami and be around my family and have my close friends be able to come to the games.

pC: So what was the toughest thing about playing at the “U?”
SM: I wouldn’t say it was tough at all. Not to me. Playing at the University of Miami was more of an honor and a privilege for myself to have the opportunity to be a part of a great organization.

pC: Was it hard at all following in your brother’s footsteps?
SM: Well, of course it was. You know you have people that doubt you. You have people that say so many different things about you. They want you to do this. They want you to do that. I could never be Santana and Santana could never be me. So growing up, I followed in my brother’s footsteps. I went to the same high school, went to the same college, there were a lot of expectations that okay you have to do this because Santana did it. I’m not Santana, I’m Sinorice. So when the opportunity was given. I stepped up and I made plays. So I can only be myself. I can’t be Santana. So that’s where the pressure was, people wanting me to do what Santana did and I’m not Santana.

pC: What would you say your favorite or best memories of the “U” were?
SM: Just being around the guys, working out, going to classes with my teammates. We were like brothers. So just being around those group of guys. Working hard. Sweating and just getting ready for the games. That’s what I really miss the most.

pC: Is there maybe one game that definitely stands out? One memory that I have of you is obviously that Florida State game and the screen that you took for a touchdown. What game would you say stands out in your mind?
SM: Oh that’s definitely the all-time favorite because it was against Florida State. Big game. Big rivalry. We were down and having the opportunity to catch a pass at such a clutch moment and do something with it and score a touchdown was very big for myself, very big for my career. And we were home. We were at the Orange Bowl. A place that I loved playing at. It’s no longer here anymore, and I’m very disappointed about that, but it’s a place that I will remember forever. I have so many memories in that stadium from myself and watching my brother Santana.

pC: What former teammate that you went up against would you say was the toughest guy in practice that you had to face on a daily basis at UM?
SM: I’d probably say Antrel Rolle. Antrel and I had a lot of battles when we were in school. We had so many guys that would dominate the field when I was in school. You can go back looking on the roster of my teammates, guys that I play with here in the NFL. Everyday was a battle. No matter who you face you were up against someone that you were going to have to work very, very hard against. Kelly Jennings, Marcus Maxey, and so many different guys I could name or go down the line of corner backs Sean Taylor, Mo Sikes, my cousin Glenn Sharpe, when he was there. There were so many guys that were there that you had to face every day.

pC: Who do you think was the overall best player on the team when you were there?
SM: Overall I don’t know. We were surrounded by greatness. There were so many people on that team. It wouldn’t be fair for me to say that somebody was the best player when we were surrounded by so many dominant players and we made each other better. You walked into practice and you saw so many guys making plays, running fast, doing so many different things. It made you want to become better. It made you want to work hard and take those extra steps and stay those extra days and watch film, and go on the field, and stay on the field later and do those extra things to become better and I think that’s why I love the University of Miami so much, because I was around guys. We made each other better and still to this day you go back home and you see those guys that you played with young that are now in the NFL and you see what they’re doing now and it makes you want to become better. Like my brother, Reggie, and all those guys have been in the league for like 9 years now. And for a young guy like myself being in the NFL, I want to have the opportunity to do those great things that they’ve done in the NFL.

pC: And when you were there were a lot of NFL receivers coming back and did they help you develop your game?
SM: I mean I had my brother, one of the best of the best. It’s not necessarily that I needed for someone to come back and talk to me because I had my brother there but Reggie Wayne was always around. Him and my brother are very close and he always came back and talked to us. So having those two guys there, it doesn’t get any better than that.

pC: Who would you say you were closest to on the team?
SM: I was either with Glenn Sharpe, that’s family, with Ryan More, Aikeem Jola, Brandon Meriweather. I still talk to those guys all the time. They’re family. Once you’re part of the University of Miami, you’re family.

pC: Talk about that. Talk about how UM has that sort of thing about family. Talk about what its like and the feeling you get and the bond you create even with players you’ve never played with.
SM: It’s so special. I really don’t know what it is. It’s a special feeling of guys that went to the University of Miami that worked hard and fought through adversity. They had some good seasons at UM, they had some bad seasons. But at the end of the day they came out on top and to be a part of something like that [is special]. We’re different guys. Even if we weren’t in school with those guys we knew what they went through to get to the NFL. So it’s like a brotherhood. We woke up every morning and went to weight training. And we woke up every morning and went on the field even when we didn’t want to sometimes and we fought and we practiced and practiced hard and we went out to the Orange Bowl and we competed and we won games. It’s such a tightness, still to this day, all of us at the NFL have so many crazy schedules and doing different things, we’re still close whether we went to school together or not. We’re still close because we’re part of that UM family. Guys have tattoos on them because it’s a brotherhood. We bleed orange and green. I get so upset sometimes when I hear guys in the NFL say stuff about the University of Miami. I get ticked off. I get pissed off because they really don’t know what we went through. Not to take anything from them and their school but it’s just the feeling that we had, when you were a part of the University of Miami family, you’re brothers and nothing is going to break that bond. I think it will be like that for years and years to come. Even the young guys that are down there now, when they make it to the NFL, it will be that they are a part of the University of Miami. We’re family. I support you, I’ve got your back no matter what.

pC: Have you been getting a lot of crap in the locker room since we’ve been down the last couple of years?
SM: Of course. Of course. You have guys that went to different schools that I faced when I was in college and now they’re beating the University of Miami. Miami’s this, they’re sorry. They’re this, they’re that. I get pissed off, I say some other things that I can’t say to you right now. I tell them just wait. It was a group of young guys last year. A team pretty much full of freshmen and sophomores. I talked to Coach Swasey. Coach Shannon down there is doing his best.

pC: So you go to UM to win a National Championship, unfortunately you didn’t, you played in one but lost, and then your last game some would say was the beginning of the downturn, against LSU? Talk about that. Did you get the sense after LSU that Miami would struggle in the following years?
SM: I really didn’t think that to be honest with you. We went out there and played in the game but didn’t play our best and we got defeated. The world had seen it, that LSU got the best of us. And that was my last game, my last ever Bowl Game in college. So I was pretty upset about that. But I just really didn’t look at it that way, like this is going to be the game and next year they’re not going to do this. It never crossed my mind at all.

pC: How was it playing for Coker?
SM: I honestly really did enjoy playing for Larry Coker. He was a great coach to me and someone that wanted the team to do well. He stayed on top of guys. He spoke to us. He was always available if we needed him. Always a coach that I could go knock on his door if I needed him and he would sit down and talk to me about anything: if I had a problem with school, if I had a problem with something that was going on in practice, he was always there. He was a team Coach. He was one of those coaches that was always there. He had his times that if we weren’t doing things right he was going get up on us. I mean he wasn’t going to just let us slack off. Coach Coker was going to get on you. If you were doing bad he was going to get on you. It’s sad because a lot of people have their different opinions about so many different things and there’s no way in hell that they could ever be a Head Coach of a college football team or even play football, but everybody has their opinion. So there were times when I heard things about Coach Coker when I left school and you can’t blame it all on the coach! The coach is not out there on the field. It’s up to the players. All the coaches can do is coach us throughout the week. Teach us technique. Teach us the knowledge of the game. Teach us the things we need to know and call the plays and us as players we owe that to the coaches and to the fans to go out there and execute the plays and win football games. So a lot of times it was truly unfair for the team to say the things that they said about Coach Coker because it wasn’t all his fault. You know when things go wrong they start at the top.

pC: What do you think are the factors that led to things sliding?
SM: I really don’t know. I don’t know what it was. It wasn’t lack of talent at all. If you go back to the years that I haven’t been there, you see the talent, you see the guys flying around, you see the guys making those spectacular catches, you see the guys doing all those things that you’ve normally seen at the University of Miami. So it was never a lack of talent and it will never be a lack of talent at the University of Miami because you have so many guys that are coming there from Miami and coming from Texas and all over that are very, very talented. So you can’t blame it on talent at all, or lack of talent at all. Whatever it was and whatever it is, hopefully it’s done now and hopefully they understand now. The group that’s entering, they understand, what it takes and what it means to be a part of the University of Miami. It’s not a joke. It’s not something you just come and you’ll be able to just float through. You’ll have to work hard for it. To have that love, to have that fight to go out there every Saturday and win some football games.

pC: Talk about your transition to the NFL. What was the most difficult part in terms of going from college to the NFL?
SM: For myself, I can’t say the speed of the game. The speed of the game is pretty much the same as when I was in school. It is faster because you have line backers that are running at the same speed as receivers and running backs but I can’t say it was the speed of the game for myself.

It was just me being able to realize that it’s a business now. That the NFL is a business and they are bringing you in here to do something. You need to come in here and do it and not BS around and not have excuses but come out here and show these coaches you want to be here and that it means a lot to you. So coming to the NFL, my maturity level went up so much because I had so many older veterans around me when I first got into the New York Giants. I had the Tiki Barbers, the Michael Strahans, Amani Toomer, Plaxico Buress, I had Lavaar Arrington, Carlos Edmonds, so I could just name guys that were savvy vets that played in the league for years and made plays that were very, very known. So I had the opportunity of speaking to those guys and also seeing what my brother went through so it kind of made me mature and say okay, this is a business. I need to get on my job, I need to work out, I need to do this, I need to do that. I need to make sure I have everything down pact. I need to make sure I know my schedule. It’s a business. If you miss a meeting, they’ll fine you. If you miss two meetings they’ll let you go. It’s what it is. If you’re not producing they’ll let you go. So they just wake up one day and feel like they don’t need you, they’ll let you go. It’s a business. It’s not college where you have four years to be here. No, if they feel like they don’t need you, they’ll let you go. And I realized that quickly. There were days that I can become friends with one guy and the next day he was gone and I’d be like where’s such and such. They were like oh they let him go and I really didn’t understand that because I really didn’t know how it worked. I learned that my rookie year in the league real fast.

pC: So what do you think, what has been the biggest adjustment or what’s one thing you’ve worked on this past season or this off-season in terms of your game. Is it the deep ball? Is it getting off the line of scrimmage?
SM: Just staying consistent. Just going out there day in and day out. Running my routes, running precise routes. Catching the ball. Running past guys using my technique. Doing all the right things to stay consistent and doing it on a consistent basis. That’s something that I’ve been doing since I’ve been here. Just every day going out there and proving something. Everyday. Just proving something to the coaches. Never being complacent. Never being satisfied with just being on an NFL team or just being on the NFL Roster. I’m not satisfied with it. I would never be satisfied with just being in the NFL. That’s what a lot of guys need to understand. Okay, I made it to the NFL, okay so now I want to keep working, to work on things I need to work on to better myself so I can become a great player. Not just be happy with the fact that I’m on a team, or I’m on a roster. That doesn’t satisfy me and would never satisfy me so I just try to stay consistent. Each day I step on the field I try to make a play, I try to do things, so coaches can say okay this guy is working and we can do this with him and we can do that with him.


pC: What position have you been practicing most in the off-season and going into mini camp? The slot? The outside?
SM: It’s still up in the air who’s still going to be starting for our receiving crew. So this past spring in the OTA and mini camp, they had me in the slot sometimes, they had me outside, so just being able to work either inside or outside will be good for me. It’s being on the field period and having an opportunity to catch some balls and help this team is a big plus for me so it really doesn’t matter where they put me at, I just want to be out there and help the team the best way I can.

pC: Are you going to be playing at all any special teams?
SM: Yes. I’ve been doing punt returns and kick-off returns since I’ve been here so I’m just waiting for the green light. That’s all I’ve been doing, basically, waiting for the green light.

pC: Last year you had some limited playing time and that one game where you had two touchdowns. You’ve made the most of your opportunity. Do you feel because the receiving crew is now kind of young with losing Plaxico and Amani Toomer, now’s your opportunity, now’s when you can really make a difference?
SM: I feel like now I have a bigger opportunity to show people the player that I can become. The past 3 years when I was in the league, when they called my number and put me in the game, I made the play. When they threw the ball my way, I made the play. And even though it was very, very limited, there’s nothing I can do about that. I can sit here and complain and fuss but I’m not going do that. I’m going to keep working and keep showing the coaches why they need to put me in the game and when my number is called, be ready. So when I get the opportunity, I’ll be ready.

Click here to read Part II of our interview with Sinorice Moss and see what he has to say about Coach Coker, being a Giant, Eli Manning and much more!