Moffitt in the Middle (St. Pete Times)

[E.T.]

Linebacker is USF's Oak in the Middle

Ben Moffitt built strength and a work ethic hauling trees for his dad.

By GREG AUMAN, Times Staff Writer

Published September 8, 2005

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BUSHNELL - The roots of Ben Moffitt's success are here in Sumter County, in the thick old oaks that first taught him about hard work, the same trees he sees every night on his drive home to his family.

USF's starting middle linebacker isn't what you expect 20-year-old college football players to be. You don't expect them to be married with two young kids, you don't expect them to make a 45-minute daily commute to keep their family close even during the busiest part of football season.

Then again, you don't expect them to bulk up with long summers bringing down trees and carrying them off to a chipper.

"He doesn't know anything but just go to work. Get his lunch pail, put on his work boots, go out and do it," linebackers coach Wally Burnham said. You might think Moffitt got his muscular frame as a record-setting high school state weightlifting champ, but it started much earlier. When he was 8, Moffitt started working for his father's tree service, and long before he was shedding blocks and bringing down running backs, he was tackling truly immovable objects.

Clay Myles came into Moffitt's life when he was 7, long after his father had left the family when Ben was 2 months old.

"Ben called him Dad from the first day it seems, and he's always treated him like his father," Cathy Myles said. "They've always had a special bond between them."

Cathy remembers the day Myles first took Moffitt up in a crane bucket, tied him to a steady limb and showed him how to work 50 or 60 feet off the ground, then rappel safely down to the ground.

Once a big tree is down, he told Moffitt, the quickest way to remove it is cutting it into small pieces. Myles always did it that way, but as Moffitt grew, so too did the chunks of trunk he'd haul off.

"Customers can't believe you can move stuff that big," Moffitt said. "I just figure if the chipper can take it, it's not too big for me to carry."

Working with trees gave him an obvious physical advantage, such that he was only a fifth-grader when a teacher called South Sumter coach Inman Sherman to let him know there was a future football star just, well, four years away.

"He was rugged when he got to us," said Sherman, who won three regional titles while Moffitt played for him. "But his strength is his work ethic, and the mental toughness a player has to have. We always said Ben was made to be a football player, just built like a linebacker ought to be."

The Paul Bunyan aspect of his background is unusual, but ask Burnham what makes Moffitt the mature leader he's already showing himself to be, and he'll point to something else back home in Bushnell.

"When I think of Ben, I think of two kids and a wife," he said. "I don't think I've ever coached a kid that was married with two kids. That's what's special, what's unique about him to me."

Moffitt and his wife of three years, Shauna, met at South Sumter when he was a freshman playing varsity football and she kept stats. They married during Ben's senior year, and she sat next to him as college coaches made personal visits and tried in vain to convince him to travel far away from home.

He was courted by N.C. State and South Carolina and recruited heavily by Florida, which signed his friend and teammate, Earl Everett. Gainesville was about an hour from home, but he chose USF, in part because of a strong bond with Burnham.

The commute isn't easy, given the long days of a college player. He's taking 15 credit hours this fall, and while it's one challenge to have an 8 a.m. class, it's another to have a 40-mile drive to campus and know you need to get into the weight room to lift before class. He'll leave before 6 a.m. some days, getting home after practice around 7 p.m., still glad to have that time with his family.

"Even if I didn't get to see my kids awake, I get to kiss them, say good night, to see my wife," he said. "That's very important. Family's something my father and mother instilled in me. It's the most important thing you can have. They're going to have your back over anybody."

Football rarely affords enough family time for players or coaches, but Shauna sees how her husband values his time with son Trevor, 21/2, and their 14-month-old daughter, Rylan. The children have dozens of honorary uncles in the USF locker room, and Shauna said USF's coaches always recognized the influence Moffitt's family has on him.

"I think it adds stability to everything he does," she said. "(Coach Jim) Leavitt's always said it's a great thing that he's married. He knows Ben goes home every night, goes to bed. They know what he's doing; they don't ever have to worry about Ben."

You can learn a lot about Moffitt from one story Shauna tells. Moffitt was practicing with the Bulls early on, and Leavitt saw something he didn't like. "You're lazy, Moffitt!" he yelled, and while his intent was only to motivate him, the words stung the young linebacker, who stood up and fired back: "Coach Leavitt, I might be a lot of things, but lazy isn't one of them."

The Bulls know that now, and Moffitt hopes he can help USF to the same success he had in high school, where he started his final three years. His role as middle linebacker is a crucial position, called upon to set the defensive alignment and put 10 other players in the right place for the Bulls' scheme to be effective. Back in Bushnell, he's revered in his old locker room, mentoring South Sumter's current linebackers and recently rallying his old team with an emotional preseason speech.

"I can say a lot of the same things," Sherman said, "but if Ben can come in the room, put 300 pounds on the bar and lift, they'll listen to what he says. He was always rock solid, just a joy to be around. If all our kids grow up like him, we've done a good job."

[Omniscientbull]

Awesome article!  He's now moved into one of my favorite USF players of all time.

[BullGrad95]

Glad to hear more about Moffitt, sounds like a great kid.  One question though.  (I'm not asking this as a joke)  Anyone have a rough estimate of how many of our Bulls are already dads?  Seems like there are a ton of them.

[knight_fan]

Glad to hear more about Moffitt, sounds like a great kid.  One question though.  (I'm not asking this as a joke)  Anyone have a rough estimate of how many of our Bulls are already dads?  Seems like there are a ton of them.

Hey give Ben credit.  He's actually married to the woman, and he's raising his kids.  THat is a huge cry from you know who.  Props to Ben for taking care of business.

[MavTechKNIGHT2]

Edit the title of the thread please.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear the St. Pete Times did an article on Steven Moffett.

[E.T.]

Edit the title of the thread please.  ...

Thanx

[___ Eats It]

Edit the title of the thread please.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear the St. Pete Times did an article on Steven Moffett.

If they did, it'd be about how he was in the middle of a pile of USF players about 9 yards behind the line of scrimmage!   ;D

[E.T.]

If they did, it'd be about how he was in the middle of a pile of USF players about 9 yards behind the line of scrimmage!   ;D

That will be Sunday's 9-18-05 Times  8)

[BullGrad95]

Hey give Ben credit.  He's actually married to the woman, and he's raising his kids.  THat is a huge cry from you know who.  Props to Ben for taking care of business.

Not trying to take anything away from him.  God bless him for stepping up and being a man.  I'm just curious how many dads there are on our team.

[Guest S.  Bien]

Not trying to take anything away from him.  God bless him for stepping up and being a man.  I'm just curious how many dads there are on our team.

Ben married his girlfriend BEFORE he got to USF, and BEFORE they had a child.  An odd circumstance, but it works for them, and count your blessings that we got him.  He's turning out to be a good one.

There's not as many as you think, and much of the previous publicity honed in on an aggregate total during the USF tenure, and not on one particular team.  Also, as our stature has improved, so has our recruiting, and we appear to have more student athletes with less baggage than ever before.  With that being said, Mr. 95, no one polls all the players to determine what, or whom has a child legitimately, or illegitimately.   My bigger question, and one you should worry about, is how many of them deal with it like a man, or shall I say like Ben Moffitt.  Very few, and that includes most college football teams and players not exclusive to USF.