Post by Pennyroyal_Tea (admin) on Jan 26, 2005 18:04:58 GMT -5
Jarrell Moss is not like most prep wrestlers.
Whereas most of his colleagues in the sport got into it because of an influence of amateur wrestling, Moss got into it because of Vince McMahon.
Moss grew up a big WWF (and later WWE) fan. After watching Kurt Angle talk about his exploits as an amateur and Olympic wrestler, Moss decided to try out for the Acadiana wrestling team.
And the heavyweight Moss has been a fixture on the team ever since.
"I just loved professional wrestling," Moss said. "I loved watching WWE, I love watching RAW. I've just always been into wrestling. Even though it's not the same thing, it's close."
Moss certainly fits the part of professional wrestler. It's easy to imagine his booming voice calling out Triple H or The Undertaker.
And in fact, if you attend the Ken Cole Invitational this weekend at Comeaux High, you may hear that booming voice cheering on his teammates.
"I get into it," Moss said. "I just like helping out some of the bigger guys, because they don't get as much coaching as the little guys."
Moss is one of three heavyweights from the Acadiana area to advance to the semifinals of the Lee High Invitational last week. Teurlings Catholic's Benji Hebert and Lee High champion Quentin Goodie were the other two.
"You know what they say, in South Louisiana, we have those big corn-fed boys," Moss said. "We just like to grow them big and mean."
Moss, who also played football for the Wreckin' Rams, says it took him a while to adjust to the rigorous training of wrestling.
"It was hard to adjust to the conditioning," Moss said. "It's a different type of conditioning. All of your contact is taken without a helmet or pads on. It's kind of a wakeup call to make you toughen up a little bit."
But Moss is thankful for his wrestling career, and hopes his extracurricular work will help him land on a college roster next year in football.
"I would love to play football in college," Moss said. "I'm not getting any offers yet, but I'm interested in any school that's interested in me. I just want to keep playing."
Originally published January 20, 2005
Credit: acadiananow.com