Santana Moss' Views On This Year's Hurricanes

Santana Moss, meanwhile, was much more enthused about a totally different kind of Hurricane.

Moss -- like Clinton Portis -- remains exceedingly proud of his Florida roots, and -- like Portis and Rocky McIntosh -- has also remained fiercely loyal to his college team, the University of Miami Hurricanes.

So Miami's 38-34 win over Florida State Monday night, in an instant classic that went down to the final play ... that made Moss very happy and very proud indeed.

"You know," he said in the locker room yesterday, "I worked out with those guys every day [this offseason]. So, bein' an ex-Cane, you kinda look at it and see, 'Do they have what it takes to be that?' And I've seen it in their eyes, because I remember how it was for us when we came in, and how hungry we was.

"This class they have in now, it's a class of winners. All of 'em pretty much came from dominant high schools -- and Northwestern High School, that's my rival school. My dad went to Northwestern, I had family at Northwestern, I ended up going to [rival] Carol City.

"So I knew what kind of players come out of there, and to see seven guys from that school be the stars, or come in and play early last year ... I mean, you can't even expect nothin' but good to come of that. They're gonna be something to watch., man."

And his enthusiasm for his college is matched only by his excitement for the start of another NFL season this Sunday.

"You get up for every game, but there's just something different to it," Moss said. "There's just so much going on that night, when it comes to the anticipation of that National Anthem and the choppers and the Blue Angels, or whatever they're flying over that stadium, you visualize that already. You think about all the great plays you're going to have, think about some opportunities that might get called up, and opening day will be the day that you really get to go out there and hope that dream comes true."

So the next time you're wondering if the players get as excited for opening day as the fans do ... well, there's your answer. And Smoot, for his part, can also rest easy: he's weakening over the Atlantic as I write this.



(redskins.com)