Redskins Santana Moss On the Brotherhood of the “U” and a Better Season by Diane Chesebrough

Anyone who’s been a football fan – especially a Redskins fan –for any length of time (five years or more) knows something about the reputation that the University of Miami (“The U” or UM) has of raising up talented football players.  These players have been known to grow close during their time there and stick together long after they’ve graduated. There’s a phrase, “Brotherhood of the U” and it describes a fraternity of football players whose connection to one another has become well-known.

Ever hear the phrase, ““Once a ‘Cane, always a ‘Cane?”  That refers to former Miami Hurricanes.

“Everybody knows it’s a family-type situation at the University of Miami,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said according to ESPN.com. “Once you’re a ‘Cane, you’re always going to be a ‘Cane. It’s been that way since I was a player. It’s always going to be that way.”

“I think it’s part of the culture at the University of Miami, the one players grow into and grow up in, that bond,” former Miami coach Larry Coker said. “It’s been that way for a number of years. Why it’s that way, why it’s different here, I don’t know — but it is.”

The Washington Redskins have definitely benefited from the football talent that the university has coached up.  Recently re-signed wide out Santana Moss attended ‘The U’ as well as former Redskins running back Clinton Portis and the late (great) safety Sean Taylor. Former head coach Joe Gibbs brought the three here to Washington.

Taylor, the youngest of the three, was drafted by Gibbs in the first round (5^th overall) of the 2004 NFL Draft. Portis was drafted by current Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan to the Denver Broncos in 2002 in the second round (51^st overall) and Moss was drafted in the first round (16^th overall) by the New York Jets in the 2001 NFL Draft.

The bond between the three players was noticeable and when the Taylor passed away, Moss and Portis pretty much held the city of Washington together – along with Gibbs.

I remember the playoff push that the team made after the tragedy and how intensely Portis and Moss played in the game against the Minnesota Vikings late in December of 2007.

Portis logged 76 yards on 20 rushing attempts, five receptions and two touchdowns; and Moss grabbed 4 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown in that game but it was more who they were than what they did that inspired the Redskins.

“Like all of us, Clinton and Santana really want to get in and do this thing for Sean.  But with them all being from Miami, and as close as those guys were, I think they’re carrying more on them[selves] to try to get it done,” Redskins’ former defensive end Phillip Daniels had said to reporters after the game. “Since that happened, since what happened to Sean, they have really stepped it up a lot. Clinton is running as hard as I’ve ever seen him run.  He’s looking like the young Clinton again, and Santana is catching everything.  He’s making great catches, going up over people, and you can just see something in both of those guys.”

Here we are in August of 2011 and Taylor has been gone for four years (it seems more like 4 weeks).  Portis was released back in February and Moss was a free agent at the end of 2010.  Fortunately for Washington, Moss re-signed and will be in the burgundy and gold for – God willing – another three years. Basically, he has become the “Last Mohican.”  He is the last of a famous trio of Hurricanes that collectively had become the faces of the franchise.   I don’t mean to take anything away from linebacker Rocky McIntosh, who is also from Miami. It’s just that when I thought about Redskins players from “The “U” during that time, Taylor, Portis and Moss always immediately came to mind.

Now that he is back in the fold where he belongs , I asked Moss if it had occurred to him that he was the last of the legendary “three” still on the team.  Typical of his thoughtful optimism, he isn’t looking back for any reason than to use history for the advantage it can provide. He is concentrating on the future and where this team could go, but you can’t deny that being a former Hurricane allows for certain, shall we say, attitude.

“It’s just a blessing to even still be here,” he told me, sitting under one of the tents with Lake Lewis of SportsJourney after practice. “Not thinking about the UM guys that have been here and gone but we have a lot more guys that have been coming in… I think right now we have [four] guys on the team total.  So just to be a part of that new era of our ‘U’ guys, it’s just a blessing. I get to give them a little bit of what I know just from being in this league – period.  As far as the team is concerned, I feel like the kind of pride that we take on the field, and being where we’re from, it used to ignite us. We used to feel like, ‘yea, we’re playing for the team’ but we were [also] playing for each other. So when we stepped on the field, we had Redskins uniforms on and we were trying to win but we almost felt like we were at home playing in Miami because that’s the kind of brotherhood we had… that’s the kind of chemistry we built coming from that school.  So I’m pretty sure it’ll rub off on these guys.  These guys bring the same kind of swagger in here and, I’m always one of those guys. I reach out to everybody regardless of what school you’re from but those guys – they’ll get a special earful from me every now and then because that’s just the [kind of] things that we do.”

Moss being back here is such a plus for Washington.  He made grasping Shanahan’s system look easy and ended up having a really good season in 2010 (16 games started, 93 receptions for 1115 yard and six touchdowns). He clearly has confidence in his fellow wide receivers and the team in general. When Lewis asked him about his teammates – specifically the additions of receivers Jabar Gaffney and Donte Stallworth; and second year man, Terrence Austin – Moss was very positive.  He embraces the competition.

“It’s funny you ask me that,” the Pro Bowler chuckled. “Because last year they wrote us off and we ended up doing an alright job as a corps. You know, we didn’t have a great season so it kind of got overshadowed by [that] but you never really know.  I just feel like the more you bring in, the more help you have. That betters us.”

“You’ve gotta look at it like this,” he went on. “T.A.’s (Terrence Austin) a special kind of talent. He’s talented in a lot of ways when it comes to being a receiver and being a guy with the ball in his hand, period.  You like to see that guy with the ball in his hand, y’know?  He’s going to get his shot so you’ll get a chance to see that in the preseason he’s one of those guys that, last year he impressed us and that’s why he’s here.”

“I’m just hoping that this year we all have room to shine so that no one will be left out of having the opportunity, y’know?”

The depth chart for the coming game has been released and the wide receiver position is loaded. The way it stands right now, Santana Moss and Jabar Gaffney are starting with Anthony Armstrong and Leonard Hankerson shown in the second string position.  Terrence Austin and Donte Stallworth make up the third string and rookies Niles Paul and Aldrick Robinson fill the last two slots.  That is a lot more talent than Moss had last season.

“Me and Armstrong took all the weight last year,” Moss commented. “Every time something had to be done, it was me and him. I feel that with these new additions, that just makes our corps that much more potent.  I think when we step out there on the field; if someone needs a breather, that next guy coming out there might be as worthy as the guy that was out there before you. So you can’t really take time off with this new corps that we have.  And then the young guys that we have… those guys are going to be groomed and they’re going to learn from under us and just know what it takes to be a pro. So I think we’re going in the right direction when it comes to how we’re pretty much forming this team and what goals we’ve really set to be better than what we’ve been the past few years.”

I do not agree with the widespread notion that the 2011 Washington Redskins will not be successful because they have no franchise quarterback. Obviously, the fact that neither Grossman nor Beck is “elite” is cause for concern. But, Shanahan must have enough confidence in these guys to manage the game and the rest of the team to think they can win.  He certainly is not stupid and he wants to win.

Needless to say, I was anxious to get the answer to my next question from Moss.

You know,” the Miami alumnus said about why he returned to Washington, “You hear around in the whole off-season, ‘Well, you need to go get a ring’. Well, who’s to say I’m going to go somewhere [else] and get a ring?  I feel like we’ve been building something so long here and I’ve been a part of the ups and the downs, why not try to be a part of something when they’re trying to turn it around?  And, with the way that they handled the situation last year, it wasn’t the best of situations.  It wasn’t the best season but you can see the difference in our team.  Our team held each other accountable a little more and we had guys out there that, even though we didn’t win games, it was right there.  We were right there in those games and, a couple of plays here and there and you don’t know what our record would have been. So, I just feel like, with the guys that came in this last year with Coach Shanahan; his staff, his core of coaches, they all have us on the right path to being a better Redskins team than we’ve been in the past.”

I can certainly live with that.

Hail.