Indianapolis • If someone went to their car and popped the trunk, Zack Moss knew it was time to run. Basketball was his outlet, an opportunity for him to put his mind at ease while growing up in Liberty City, a neighborhood in inner-city Miami. But for as much bliss as those concrete courts provided, the park was no safe haven.
The games were fierce. Hard fouls and trash talk were expected — part of the game, as were the guns kept in the trunks of nearby cars.
“I had uncles that was in that lifestyle, cousins that was in that lifestyle and still probably (are) to this day,” Moss said. “I played ball with dudes or had friends that would rob a house and then come play ball just like that. It was like, ‘What y’all just did? Oh, OK, cool. I guess we’ll just play ball now.’”
This was a part of life in Liberty City, Moss said. He didn’t allow it to faze him, though, instead focusing on the games that were only intensified by monetary stakes.
“You got family, friends, random people kind of just betting on games,” said Moss, who was a teenager at the time. “… Personally, I think it helped me, just to kind of be in those pressure moments, which, obviously, now I’m in kind of almost every day.”
Moss’ life has changed a lot since the last time he played in those games. As a running back for the Indianapolis Colts, who’s stepped up alongside rookie QB Anthony Richardson in the absence of star Jonathan Taylor, Moss has made a living playing with that same bruising style he had to play with to conquer the courts of Liberty City. The difference, of course, is that in the NFL, there are rules, and officials there to enforce those rules.
But on the courts of Liberty City, there was no rulebook. The rules were unwritten, you learned them from experience.
For example, if someone lost money while betting on one of the games and an argument broke out Moss “knew what it meant” if someone said they were going to the trunk of their car.
“The park that I used to go to, there was always a lot of shootings,” Moss said. “I mean, it would be little league football games going on (nearby) with kids 8, 9 or 10 years old, but these things was normal all of the time.
“But I knew that’s not what I wanted. That’s not where I wanted to be.”
Moss would hightail it home, running as fast as he could toward his biggest inspiration and greatest motivation: his mom.
Cassandra Moss was his lifeline, the person who molded his character and ignited his dreams. She always reminded her son that there was better out there if he was willing to reach for it. But her middle child never chased success solely for himself. His drive was fueled by her sacrifice.
She was his engine.
“I can only imagine the feelings that she had and all of the things that she’s gone through in her life, and being in that situation and all of that type of stuff,” Zack said. “And now seeing where we’re at years later, through perseverance and hard work — nothing that I’ve done could’ve been done without the sacrifices and things that she had to go through physically, mentally and emotionally. My job is to try to pay back as much as I can.”
Zack remembers the five-bedroom house he lived in with his parents in Miramar, Fla. There was space for everyone to call some part of it their own.
That changed after the divorce.
Cassandra became the breadwinner for four of her five children, with her oldest son, Anthony Jr., splitting time with her and their father, Anthony Sr. As much as Cassandra wanted to keep her kids away from certain environments, she had to accept reality. She couldn’t afford for all of them to continue living in Miramar on one income, so when the courts awarded her a property in Liberty City that was previously controlled by her ex-husband, she took it. Zack was about 10 years old at the time.
“We went to an apartment with only two rooms, but it was still all five of us,” Zack said. “My mom had her own room, and then it was me, my little brother, my little sister and my older sister. Plus, my older sister had two kids at the time, so we were all in one room. It was crazy.”
They’d move three or four more times, Zack said, by the time he reached high school, including one stint at a hotel and another when he lived separate from his mom. Zack moved in with his grandma, while his mom lived a few minutes away with his aunt because “we didn’t have housing.”
Regardless of how tough their circumstances became, Cassandra always had a say in where her children laid their heads at night. It was the environment around them that worried her, though.
“It was always known for being troublesome,” Cassandra said. “A lot of fights or either drug usage. You get to see it more and have that visual of the people doing it. Zack didn’t see that when he was younger.”
She did her best to shield her children from those horrors. One way to do that was to keep them going to church. Often.
“Sunday twice, Tuesday nights and Thursday nights,” Zack said, laughing. “Even on school nights, that didn’t matter.”
Cassandra’s philosophy while raising her children in that environment was simple: The less control you had over your life as a youngster, the less likely you were to lose it. That message was reinforced, even beyond the countless prayers and scriptures they recited over the years, whenever she came from work in her green uniform.
That outfit, along with a .45 caliber firearm, was her attire as an officer for the Dade County Corrections Department. For decades, she saw young men and women placed behind bars after poor, and sometimes life-altering decisions.
She wanted so much better for Zack and his siblings, and, fortunately for her, in addition to leaning on their faith, her middle child also leaned on football.
His prowess on the gridiron was his path out.
“I didn’t pay a lot of attention when he was playing (little league) ball,” Cassandra said. “But when he got over to high school, that’s when I really saw how good he was. … I always knew he had that strength.”
Seven yards.
Zack saw the hole, the open field in front of him at Rice-Eccles Stadium and the Utah record books. When he took a handoff in the fourth quarter against Arizona State in 2019, all Zack needed to eclipse Eddie Johnson as the Utes’ all-time leading rusher was seven yards.
He gained 32 on a game-sealing touchdown run.
“My mom was there to see me play, so that was special,” Zack said. “I can’t really put it into words when I think about it, but it was special just because the year before, I tore my meniscus before a game she was supposed to come to against Oregon, so she didn’t get to see me play in 2018. Instead of seeing me play, it was, ‘OK, we’re flying to L.A. to go get surgery.’”
That season-ending knee injury derailed Zack’s plan to enter the 2019 NFL Draft as a junior, but it never derailed his “mission.” He was determined to use football as a way to provide for his mom, so when he returned as a senior and broke Utah’s all-time rushing record with his mom in attendance, it felt like a movie script.
“When he was running, I was running,” Cassandra said, laughing. “I was running down the stands while he was running to the end zone. … A lot of players don’t come back like that. He came back, and he was stronger.”
Cassandra always knew her son had the potential to be a special football player. Partly because of his work ethic and partly because of his bloodline.
Zack is cousins with Santana Moss and Sinorice Moss. Santana Moss was a second-team All-Pro wide receiver for the Washington Commanders in 2005 and racked up 10,283 receiving yards in his 14-year NFL career. Sinorice Moss, also a receiver, played six NFL seasons and won the 2007-08 Super Bowl with the New York Giants.
Zack Moss first caught the eye of college scouts as a linebacker and running back during his junior season at Mater Academy, committing to the University of Miami after the season ended. But it was his senior season, after he transferred to Hallandale Magnet High School and fully committed to running back, that was most memorable. A punishing ball carrier, he racked up 145 carries for 1,098 yards and 17 touchdowns, plus 25 catches for 425 yards and four scores in a season punctuated by an upset of two-time defending Class 5A state champ American Heritage in the playoffs. After that, Zack and his hard-nosed style of play attracted even more attention from colleges.
“This man had the body of God in high school. It came naturally. He was one of those guys,” said then-Hallandale coach Dameon Jones. “… He was just always physical with that body. He always used to knock people out no matter if he was playing defense or if he was running the ball. He was just always physical. If you tried to tackle him, he was gonna make you pay for tackling him. Even blocking assignments, he used to kill defensive ends. But it was crazy because his personality isn’t like that. But in between those lines, he was.”
Zack eventually de-committed from Miami after landing more Power-5 scholarship offers, most notably from Utah and Tennessee. He strongly considered the Volunteers, but ultimately committed to the Utes because he was more likely to play as a true freshman.
Salt Lake City also gave him the chance to adopt a new environment and view his life through a different lens.
Utah is where he became the first college graduate in his immediate family. Utah is where Zack met his wife, Jesse. This past June, the two welcomed their first child, a son named Zavien.
“I got family and friends and people I grew with and still talk to, and their whole mentality is only Miami,” Zack said. “They can’t see past that because they just don’t get a lot of opportunities to.
“I had to make the most of mine.”
Zack owned six school records when he ended his career with the Utes, including the most rushing yards and total touchdowns.
“He’s a bruiser. He’s a volume running back,” said Colts safety Julian Blackmon, another former Utah player. “Over time, he just gets you. Over time, he just wears teams down. It’s exciting, because I’ve known him since 2016. It’s been fun watching him grow.”
Cassandra was looking at places to rent in Florida. She knew her son recently had been selected by the Buffalo Bills in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and his rookie contract would change his world, but she never asked for it to change hers.
He did that on his own.
“I talk about this a lot in church,” Cassandra said. “I still had his young sister and younger brother with me at the time, and I was still having some financial troubles. So, the whole time we were going from place to place to rent, Zack showed up and bought me a house.”
It was the first big purchase of Zack’s career, a three-bedroom, two-and-half-bathroom complex in Hollywood, Fla., that his mom and siblings moved into during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That was one of the purest moments of joy I’ve had,” Zack said. “But that was something I felt I had to do. I always knew what the goal was, so it was like checking something off your list versus waking up like it was a surprise on Christmas. I don’t reflect on that much and I won’t. Not until I get to where I want to get to in this league and walk away from this game. Then maybe I can look back and see where I came from and all of the odds we beat.”
Another reason why Zack prefers that type of tunnel vision is because aside from the house he bought his mom, his stint with Buffalo never really worked out. After the Bills drafted Josh Allen in 2018, they built their team and offense around their eventual superstar quarterback. When Zack joined the mix in 2020, how he fit into their pass-first scheme wasn’t always a priority.
“The year before I got there, they had a Frank Gore, so I was brought in to play that Frank Gore role and be that short-yardage dude,” Zack said. “But during my rookie year, Josh became what he is now. That happened during my rookie year, and for a running back, that’s not always the greatest thing for you individually when you have a quarterback with that kind of arm talent and (dual-threat) versatility. … (In two and a half seasons) I didn’t have one game with 15 carries, so any back is gonna struggle with that.”
Zack never cracked the starting lineup in the 31 games he appeared in and never ran for more than 81 yards in a game for the Bills. He and a fifth-round pick were traded to the Colts in exchange for Nyheim Hines at last year’s in-season trade deadline.
“I was telling all of the DBs when we traded for him I’m like, ‘I don’t think you understand what kind of back we got,’” Blackmon said before turning his attention to this season. “Him, JT and AR together? That’s something really dangerous.”
After Taylor re-aggravated a nagging right ankle injury in a Week 15 loss at Minnesota that forced him to miss the remainder of the 2022 season, Zack finally got an opportunity to be the starter and quietly showed he was more than a placeholder. He averaged 17.2 carries and 83.5 yards over the last four games of the year, culminating with an 18-carry, 114-yard outing in the season finale against Houston. It was the first 100-yard rushing game of his career and a glimpse of what was to come.
Taylor underwent ankle surgery in January, requested a trade in July after not being offered a contract extension and was on the physically unable to perform list until this week. The 2021 rushing champion and first-team All-Pro returned to practice Thursday with the possibility of making his season debut as soon as Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
“At the end of the day, JT is a hell of a player,” Zack said. “Everyone knows that, right? So, it’s not going to be any type of negativity, obviously, when he comes back. It wasn’t like that anyways last year. He’s a great guy. I’m happy to go get back out there with him in this style of offense.”
Zack missed the season opener due to a broken right forearm he sustained during training camp, but since his return in Week 2, he’s averaging 22 carries and 111 yards per game, while scoring three rushing TDs, a receiving touchdown and a 2-point conversion for the Colts.
Colts wide receivers coach Reggie Wayne calls him a “bowling ball of butcher knives” because of his knack for gaining extra yards and falling forward. Linebacker Zaire Franklin simply calls him a “dog.”
As for what Zack calls himself?
Thankful.
“I’m a strong believer in God, so I just try to show up every day and be consistent,” he said. “However things shake out, God already has a plan, so it’s already done. I’m not worried. I just have to do the work.”
— This article originally appeared in The Athletic.