Linebacker [Moffitt] Covers Ground

[Jim Johnson]

From the Hartford Courant:

Linebacker Covers Ground

Family Man Moffitt Has Long Commute

October 6, 2006

By DESMOND CONNER, Courant Staff Writer

South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt doesn't know how his junior middle linebacker does it. But the coach knows this much: "I couldn't do what he does. No way."

Ben Moffitt, who lives in Bushnell, 55 miles north of Tampa, is a married father of two and commutes to school every day in order to be with his family. He sometimes leaves the house before 6 a.m., so he can lift weights before classes, and he arrives home from practice after 7 p.m.

"You just have all this responsibility and yeah it's tough, but you get used to it," Moffitt, 21, said by phone after practice Wednesday night. "You've got to buckle down and you have to stand up to your responsibilities. You've got to get it done. You can push your body and mind to do a lot of stuff that you think you normally couldn't do. You just try to work as hard as possible."

That's what Moffitt is all about: hard work.

"I've never seen anybody work harder," Leavitt said. "He's just terrific, a terrific kid, terrific father, terrific husband and a great football player."

Moffitt led the Bulls in tackles last season with 96, including a huge night in which he registered 14 in a stunning 45-14 blowout of Louisville in Tampa. He's tied for the team lead this year with 39.

Being the quarterback of a Bulls defense that has a lot of bite up front is Moffitt's job. There should be no doubt the 6-foot-2, 240-pound Moffitt will be ready to do it Saturday night when UConn (2-2, 0-0 Big East) steps on the field at Raymond James Stadium.

USF (3-2, 0-1) let one get away last Friday night in a 22-20 loss to Rutgers when the Bulls couldn't connect on a two-point conversion pass with 15 seconds left. And it still hurts.

"It hurts to lose any game," Moffitt said. "And you don't want to lose a conference game. But I believe we've just got to keep working, keep doing what we're doing and get a little better and things will work out."

Of course, that is Moffitt's approach to things off the field, too. He's knows it's the right approach because he's been living it for a long time.

His stepfather, Clay Myles, came into his life when he was 8 and instilled the attitude that hard work pays off.

"He taught me how to work, be responsible," Moffitt said. "He had a tree business, so I cut trees every summer, anytime I had off. I was always working, always had a job and had to do that hard, physical labor. I think having that mind-set and having that taught to me has helped me to push through the tough struggles."

Moffitt's mother, Cathy, instilled the values. Myles helped him become a man.

Moffitt's biological father left the home when he was very young. Cathy was a single parent for eight years. Moffitt said his real father has entered the picture again but can't take Myles' place.

"He decided to come back and he's been a part of my life for a few years," Moffitt said. "But growing up it was just Mom and then stepdad. He became the father I hadn't had for a while. I really have to give him a lot of credit. He was there for me, always has been."

And that's the main reason Moffitt says he will be there for his children - every day, 110 total miles to and from the small town of Bushnell, where his wife, Shauna, is a property appraiser for Sumter County.

Nine years after Myles married Cathy, Moffitt married Shauna. He was a senior at South Sumter High School. Shauna was three years older. Their first son, Trevor, 3, was born at the end of Moffitt's final year in high school. Their daughter, Rylan, is 2.

Moffitt was not making the commute at first. The family lived in Tampa. When Rylan came, Moffitt said, he and his wife decided to move back to Sumter County because Shauna worked there and with two children, they felt it was best to be close to parents who could watch the children during the day.

"I knew she was the one and we just decided to get married," Moffitt said. "It was sort of crazy with the families, how they took it and stuff, but it worked out. It was good and we're still very much in love. I wouldn't do it any other way if I had to go back, and I've been married almost five years now."

Contact Desmond Conner at

dconner@courant.com.

[E.T.]

Thank You BIG Ben !

Go BULLS !!!

[GetAHobby]

I could never imagine doing what he does...

[E.T.]

It is incredible when you really think about it ... amazing !

Go BULLS !!!