Lucas: Alvarez reflects fondly on Moss

BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. – Throughout the day, Barry Alvarez was getting texts from former players. Reggie Holt. J.C. Dawkins. Lamark Shackerford. Kenny Gales. Mel Tucker, the Michigan State head coach. Meanwhile, Jason Burns and Henry Searcy made sure to spread the word Sunday to school officials.

"The word got out fast," Alvarez said softly. And sadly. "I heard from a ton of my players."

All the words expressed sorrow. Brent Moss, the Alley Cat, had passed away. He was 50.

"I'll remember him as a true football player," Alvarez said of Moss, the Most Valuable Player in the 1994 Rose Bowl, the 1993 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and the team MVP that season. "He was one of the guys I loved because he really, really liked football and he was tough.

"He embodied what we were looking for. When we came here, I drew up a picture for our staff of the type of player we wanted. I said, 'When you go out recruiting, before you sign somebody, you make sure they like football and you make sure that they're tough.' He was a true example of that.

"If it's fourth-and-1, that's the guy I want carrying the ball. Give Brent Moss the ball."

That's quite a statement considering all the quality tailbacks that played for Alvarez during his 16 seasons on Wisconsin's sideline. Or the ones he coached in two separate bowl games as the interim head coach. Or the ones who played for his successors while he was serving as the UW athletic director.

Ron Dayne, the 1999 Heisman winner, tops the rushing list at Tailback U with 7,125 yards, the most in NCAA history (including bowls). Jonathan Taylor, Montee Ball, Melvin Gordon, Anthony Davis, James White, P.J. Hill, Moss, Terrell Fletcher and John Clay round out the Alvarez era Top 10 statistically.

Moss wore No. 33. Dayne retired it.

But why would the 5-9, 205-pound Moss be the first choice to get the rock in short yardage?

"There have been a lot of backs here who can get fourth-and-1, but I'm just saying he's the guy – Brent Moss – he's going to finish the run, wherever he gets hit, if he gets hit behind the line of scrimmage, he's going to somehow run through that tackle," Alvarez explained.

"If he's stopped, he's going to get his shoulder down, he's going to twist, he's going to keep pumping those legs and he's going to find a crease and get that yard. He's just going to grind and finish. He was physical. He'd run over you. He could run around you. But he preferred to run over you."

Off the field, Moss had his troubles, his addictions. And it resulted in a suspension his senior year and a jail sentence later in his checkered past. "It's sad," Alvarez said, "because as much as he did for us and as valuable as he was for us, I know he had some demons, I know he had some issues.

"You hate to see someone as young as he was go through everything he went through."

Alvarez encouraged Moss to come back to Wisconsin to finish his degree (which he did) with the hope that "it would enable him to get a good job some place." The last time Alvarez saw Moss was during the 25^th anniversary celebration of his first Rose Bowl team in early October of 2018.

Over 70 players returned to Madison that weekend and Moss' presence was well received by everyone, according to Alvarez. "You could see how much they enjoyed having him back – he was a great teammate," he said. "And I know he was pleased that he came back."

It was Alvarez who tagged Moss with his nickname, the Alley Cat.

"We had an open date on our schedule and I gave everyone the weekend off," Alvarez said. "Brent went home to Racine and came back on Monday. He had scratches on his face and thatches out of his hair. I said, 'Brent, I used to have an old alley cat come back some mornings and it looked like that.

"You look like an old alley cat, I told him. And it stuck. He was the Alley Cat from then on."

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At Racine Park High School, Moss was a legendary hitter on both sides of the ball. A two-time league and three-time team MVP, he rushed for 4,678 yards and 78 touchdowns during his illustrious career. His coach, Phil Dobbs, even allowed him to play safety on defense to quench his thirst for contact.

"I got so excited to play defense, I forgot all about running the ball," Moss said. "I had my wrist and my arms all taped up and I was just hitting everything that moved – blockers, runners, everything. That was always one of my dreams to be a safety. I was always physical, always ready to hit."

Moss played tailback for the Badgers with that attitude. "Hit them before they hit you – that's what my father always said," he related. "Sometimes I like to give them a little move. Mostly, I try to run them over. Some of those DB's tried to hit me as hard as I hit them. And I just kept hitting back."

There was one unforgettable example of the Moss spirit in a 1993 game at Purdue. On Wisconsin's first possession, Moss took a shot to the head from the Boilermakers safety, Pat Johnson. It was helmet on helmet – something that was accepted as part of the sport and not penalized back then.

"I was right there and I thought he was knocked out cold," UW tackle Joe Panos recalled afterwards. "But he got up and said, 'I'm all right, babe. Let's go.' That's the Alley Cat. He wants to win so bad. He gets his clock cleaned, and, boom, he's going back out there for more."

But, first, Moss had to convince the medical staff and Alvarez that he was OK to return. "His eyes rolled back after the hit and I swear he was knocked out and done for the game," Alvarez remembered. "There aren't many boxers that took a shot like Moss took. I thought it was KO in the first quarter."

Instead, it was a standing eight count and Moss was back on the field. Not only did Moss rush for 139 yards against the Boilermakers, he sought out Johnson and hit him with such force that he had to take himself out of the game. "He brought it to me and I brought it to him," Moss said with relish.

Alvarez just figured that Moss didn't want to lose any reps to Fletcher, his tag team partner. They competed with each other. Pushed each other. Made each other better. Moss would be the tailback for the first two series followed by Fletcher. And so on. While one played, the other observed.

"I study Terrell, I don't know if he studies me, but I look at the things he does," Moss acknowledged. "I try to visualize making some of the same moves when he's running the ball outside. That doesn't mean I'm going to change my style. You have to be yourself. I can't change who I am."

Moss and Fletcher formed a dynamic tandem, a one-two punch. "Total opposites as people and style of play," Alvarez reflected Monday. "Brent was a pounder, he was physical. Fletch had great quickness and he was very elusive. He had tremendous cutting ability and he could make you miss."

The very fact that they were so different in how they attacked a defense worked in their favor. "You're getting used to bracing yourself to tackle Brent," Alvarez said, "and now here comes a guy like Terrell who can dance around you and outrun everybody. It was really a good combination."

In 1993, Jim Hueber was the running backs coach on a star-studded Badger offensive staff that featured Brad Childress (playcaller and quarterbacks), Bill Callahan (offensive line), Jay Norvell (receivers) and Bernie Wyatt (tight ends). Hueber had a way with words when describing Moss.

"He's helmet, elbows and knees and he doesn't want to go down, he's not interested in going down," Hueber used to say. "Anybody who has watched him play – here or in high school – knows that he doesn't give up. In the fourth quarter, he's still trying to knock a hole in the wall."

To which Moss responded with glee, "DB's are more tempted to flinch in the fourth quarter."

To which Hueber cited Moss' affinity/passion for seeking out contact, "I don't know if you'll ever break him of that. Thing is, you get in a conversation with another coach and they'll go, 'Well, if Moss broke it back here …' instead of trying to run somebody over.

"Well, if he broke it back here, he wouldn't be the same guy who's just knocking the bleep out of the defense," Hueber countered. "He knocks it out, knocks it out, knocks it out and the next thing you know you're on the goal line. He kept knocking them backwards until they said, 'Uncle.'"

There was another side to Moss that didn't get as much attention or publicity. This was the Moss who showed up at the Atwood Community Center the day before Thanksgiving in '93 and visited with a handful of youngsters from some of Madison's most hardened neighborhoods.

In a poignant story written by John Nichols in the Capital Times, Moss shared some of his own life experiences with the eight African American youths. "A lot of people I know didn't finish high school," he informed them. "They can't find jobs. I don't want that to happen to you guys.

"I'm not saying I'm some kind of scholar. I don't like school that much. But the only way to beat the system is to do the book." Moss went on to tell them about his own frustrations in the classroom. How some people would make light of his challenges academically and how much being mocked hurt.

"I got phone calls from people saying, 'What's 2-plus-2?' – It makes you want to ball up your fists and fight. But you have to put it in another perspective. You have to prove that you can survive. University isn't just for some high-class scholars. It's for anyone who wants to work hard enough."

It was hard work being the Alley Cat. To the end. Which came all too soon.

University of Wisconsin Athletics

Lucas: Alvarez reflects fondly on Moss

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