Competitive tackle football isn’t something that you just wake up one morning and jump right into.
It is a sport that quickly separates its players into two separate career paths, from potential pros to guys who need to seek their livelihood with a regular 9-to-5 job.
And then, there are those who find their own niche, like those playing in the semipro venue Mississippi Elite Football League. The league consists of young working men like Greenville police officer Montavis Moore Sr.
Moore leads a team that still has a love and a passion to play the sport of football.
“The last time I played competitive football was in the fall of 2015 in high school,” he said. “The level in this league is a very high level of competition. I even have a cousin in the league, Cordell Giles,
who had offers to play at Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee.”
Moore’s team, the Greenville Grizzlies is part of a seven team league with teams in Mississippi and Louisiana. Late winter and early spring are times when the team gets itself in condition for league play which starts March 21.
By the second Saturday in March, the Grizzlies will have already completed their fourth practice.
Moore, the team’s quarterback, reviewed plays on his iPhone in each huddle before working on deep routes with his receivers.
“Guys always go back and forth when they try to decide if they want to play or not,” Moore said. “But once things get rolling, we always have a solid group of guys ready to play.”
The Grizzlies are negotiating with the Greenville School District about playing their March 28 home opener at either Charles Kerg Field or TL Weston Middle School.
