Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. The
Speaker 1: NFL Draft turned dreams into reality for the Commander's twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two draft class. Upon their arrival to Ashbourne, notable
Speaker 1: Washington alumni sat down with the rookies to discuss life
Speaker 1: on and off the field. First rounder John Dotson knew
Speaker 1: from an early age football was his future. Dotson put
Speaker 1: up career high numbers his senior season at Penn State,
Speaker 1: posting over one thousand, one hundred yards and twelve tds.
Speaker 1: Former Washington wide receiver Santanta Moss welcome to Dotson to
Speaker 1: discuss his life and career before going sixteenth overall. Heydsha boy,
Speaker 1: Santanta Moss. I'm here today. What the Washington Commander's first
Speaker 1: round draft pick, John Dotson. Welcome, my brother, than How
Speaker 1: you doing it? I'm good. How are you doing? I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm great, man. How you feel on the right now? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm good. First day in the building. Just excited for
Speaker 1: the opportunity. Honestly been tering to get here. I can't wait,
Speaker 1: can't wait to see what was in store now that
Speaker 1: that that process, I mean you know when I say
Speaker 1: the process, I've been in them shoots before I understand
Speaker 1: how we are as collegiate athletes. I mean, my goal
Speaker 1: was out the gate as a five six year old
Speaker 1: and I was asked what do I want to do
Speaker 1: or what I was gonna be when I grew up?
Speaker 1: I said, a football player. I'm not sure if that
Speaker 1: was your number one goal. But now that it's over
Speaker 1: and you're here, what feeling do you have? Yeah, kind
Speaker 1: of just achievement, just excitement. Like like you said, from
Speaker 1: an early age, you knew that this is what you
Speaker 1: wanted to do, and I feel like it's the same
Speaker 1: exact way for me. Um, I've always, like my parents
Speaker 1: always told me when I was a young kid, I
Speaker 1: never really played with toys. I grew up playing with football, football, football, basketball,
Speaker 1: So I always kind of knew I wanted to do
Speaker 1: something like this, and in football, I took it serious
Speaker 1: from a young age and it's finally playing on. So
Speaker 1: it was football number one sport for you, Because I
Speaker 1: know I ran track, I did a daly with basketball,
Speaker 1: but I knew football was number one. Track got me
Speaker 1: into college. But you know, how was it like for
Speaker 1: you growing up? Yeah? Football, football was always my number one.
Speaker 1: I didn't start running track till high school, started playing
Speaker 1: basketball to middle school. But I've been playing football since
Speaker 1: like a walk. So I always knew this was what
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. So tell me you was born
Speaker 1: in New Jersey. I'm right? Did you grew up in
Speaker 1: Jersey or did you grew up in Philly or Pennsylvania. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I grew up in Jersey for about seven to
Speaker 1: eight years and then basically just moved to Pa my
Speaker 1: dad putting us in a better opportunity for me and
Speaker 1: my family, just getting away from just a toxic city.
Speaker 1: For it was good the opportunity to come to Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: And really it was a big culture shock for me,
Speaker 1: but just adapting to it, it was good for me.
Speaker 1: So how was it? I mean, like, take take me,
Speaker 1: Take me through your childhood. I remember being a kid man,
Speaker 1: and I remember, you know, I stayed in Miami all
Speaker 1: my life, but but I stayed in two different sizes
Speaker 1: of Miami. And if you ever, I'm not sure you're
Speaker 1: familiar with it, but you know, folks always talk about
Speaker 1: South Beach when they hear in Miami. I grew up.
Speaker 1: I was born and raised in Liberty City, and Liberty
Speaker 1: City is a world now known, it's known. Everyone knows
Speaker 1: what Liberty City is about. And then then I turned twelve,
Speaker 1: I think, and I moved to Carroll City, which was
Speaker 1: like rival cities. I remember those days, I remember vividly.
Speaker 1: Do you have that memory of you leaving one spot
Speaker 1: to the other, Yeah, for sure. When I first left
Speaker 1: New Jersey, I cried the whole way there. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to leave Jersey just because that's where
Speaker 1: all my family grew up. My grandmother, grandfather, cousins and uncles,
Speaker 1: like everyone was back in Jersey. So my dad moving up,
Speaker 1: so we were the first ones to really move away
Speaker 1: from the connected family. And I cried the whole car ride,
Speaker 1: a whole hour, fifteen car ride. So it was tough
Speaker 1: for me just going through that process, just because I
Speaker 1: was a very young age. Yeah, and I kind of
Speaker 1: only knew one place. But it was good for me.
Speaker 1: But it was a better life though, better lifestyle, just
Speaker 1: better opportunities. Around what age did you start playing you know, football,
Speaker 1: or rather the organized football? Yeah, so I started playing
Speaker 1: around four. I started playing flight football around four years old,
Speaker 1: and I pretty much been playing ever since. Got You
Speaker 1: Got You, You Got You? So high school yep, And
Speaker 1: I know we all go through it. You know, you
Speaker 1: started whether you started ninth grade or you started TIM grade.
Speaker 1: I started tim grade and I started straight out the
Speaker 1: gate to varsity. Yeah, how was your journey in high
Speaker 1: school knowing that my goal is to get to college
Speaker 1: doing what I'm doing I love to do. What was
Speaker 1: it like for you? Yeah, my early years of high
Speaker 1: school were tough. Um. I went to a very small,
Speaker 1: small high school and I was always like kind of
Speaker 1: the best player on my team. So my ninth grade year,
Speaker 1: they moved me right up to varsity just basically threw
Speaker 1: me in with the big dogs, and I was I
Speaker 1: was about thirty five one hundred thirty five pounds, just
Speaker 1: ready to make plays. But it was it was really
Speaker 1: a shock to me to realize that, like, there's so
Speaker 1: much more than just your talent that will get you there.
Speaker 1: So just really having to understand throughout high school putting
Speaker 1: the work in, um, it's going to enhance your ability
Speaker 1: to play on the field. Was it always a given
Speaker 1: that you knew that what you was doing at that
Speaker 1: time was going to allow you to or allow your
Speaker 1: parents not to have to pay for, you know, for college.
Speaker 1: For you I'm not sure how you got into Penn State,
Speaker 1: but you know, I knew the process for me was
Speaker 1: a lot different. I remember it got down to my
Speaker 1: last year and I was like, well, you know, I
Speaker 1: look like I would be not going to school and
Speaker 1: then things just drastically changed. How was that journey like
Speaker 1: for you, Yeah, so basically my sophomore year of high
Speaker 1: school was basically my breakout season started again. I probably
Speaker 1: had around forty offers after that year, and going into
Speaker 1: my junior year, I was highly highly recruited. And that
Speaker 1: year I had broke my leg. That was the first
Speaker 1: injury I've ever faced, and it kind to seem like
Speaker 1: everything just shut down. Everything went downhill. A lot of
Speaker 1: schools stopped talking to me. Um, it's not getting recruited
Speaker 1: as as I was the previous year. So it was
Speaker 1: tough going through that and knowing that like football isn't everything,
Speaker 1: there's much more to life than just football, and I
Speaker 1: really just had to hone in on on daily life
Speaker 1: and just really let it take me. And I'm glad
Speaker 1: you spoke on that because I remember going through something
Speaker 1: going into my junior year. Football was taken away from me.
Speaker 1: They said I had scoliosis. They said I couldn't participate
Speaker 1: in anything of that sort. And I remember now thinking,
Speaker 1: like when I'm just out here to the park with
Speaker 1: my friends and the life that I knew, that I
Speaker 1: that I loved dearly and wanted to have, you know,
Speaker 1: pursue and and go pro in it might be over
Speaker 1: from me, What was it like keeping your faith? Because
Speaker 1: I remember what it was like for me. I kind
Speaker 1: of it was a roller coaster from me. But what
Speaker 1: was it like keeping that mindset and just knowing that
Speaker 1: I can overcome this and still have the opportunity. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it kind of just made me hungrier. Yeah like that,
Speaker 1: Like you said, that was the first time football had
Speaker 1: ever been taken away from me, And that's when I
Speaker 1: realized how much football really meant to me and how
Speaker 1: much I really love the game. Like I wanted to
Speaker 1: get back out there so bad. It hurt me. I
Speaker 1: tell everyone the thing that hurt me most was sitting
Speaker 1: on the sidelines watching and not being able to participate
Speaker 1: with my guys. Because football is really somewhere where I
Speaker 1: kind of bring out who I am and expressed myself.
Speaker 1: So it's tough. It was really tough for me to
Speaker 1: go through that. I'm you know, I'm just sitting here.
Speaker 1: Things you're seeing is just I'm connecting with it because
Speaker 1: you know, I tell folks all the time, I suffer
Speaker 1: from I guess social anxiety. I'm not good in the crowds.
Speaker 1: But when I'm on that field, no matter how many
Speaker 1: people in that stands, I'm at home. I don't feel
Speaker 1: no one around me. I don't care what's going on
Speaker 1: between the white lines. That's my safe haveing. So to
Speaker 1: hear you say that, I mean I feel you. I
Speaker 1: feel I'm in the same boat. But tell me something,
Speaker 1: in college, it's a different ball game. You know. You
Speaker 1: get there, you seeing it these guys and nothing like
Speaker 1: the guys that you played with in high school. That's
Speaker 1: one thing we get away within high school. We play
Speaker 1: against You might have a Blue Chipper or a five
Speaker 1: star here or there, but the team sucks, you know,
Speaker 1: to be real, you know, and you take advantage of
Speaker 1: everybody is in front of you. That sucks because it's
Speaker 1: not your fault that this guy can't, you know, live
Speaker 1: up to the competition. What was it like when you
Speaker 1: first introduced the Penn State and you realize this is
Speaker 1: a different ball game. Yeah, enter in the Penn State
Speaker 1: once again the same thing. I was light. I was
Speaker 1: real light, probably about one hundred and fifty five pounds
Speaker 1: going in there. And that was the first first adversity
Speaker 1: I facing, just because that was the first time I
Speaker 1: realized that there's guys out there that can do what
Speaker 1: you can do. So that was that was a culture
Speaker 1: shock to me again and it really made me honing
Speaker 1: on my skills, honing on my abilities, and really just
Speaker 1: want to be that guy. I had a guy in
Speaker 1: front of me by the name of kJ Hamler, tremendous talent,
Speaker 1: and it really like it. It dug at me that
Speaker 1: he was that guy, like that was my brother and
Speaker 1: he was that guy because I wanted to be that
Speaker 1: guy so bad. I was that guy in high school.
Speaker 1: So it really dug at me and just made me
Speaker 1: just want to go harder, always be that guy. When
Speaker 1: did it come to the realization that you can go pro? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, we all get that nod. It might be
Speaker 1: a coach, it might be somebody that's watched you play
Speaker 1: that say hey, bro, you got potential to go to
Speaker 1: next level. You know, I got it. I got it early,
Speaker 1: like I played out the gate. But by my sophomore year,
Speaker 1: folks are telling me, hey, you're gonna be a first rounder,
Speaker 1: and you know, being that guy listening to it, I'm
Speaker 1: just one of those guys. Didn't want to hear the noise.
Speaker 1: I wanted to go out there continue to produce. When
Speaker 1: did you stop believing or even hearing that you can
Speaker 1: go pro? I would probably say after my sophomore season
Speaker 1: that's when I really I really just took it in
Speaker 1: an account. Like I had talks with a coach, Franklin,
Speaker 1: and he was like, listen, like, if you you have
Speaker 1: the ability to be a first round pick, you have
Speaker 1: the ability to be successful at the next level, but
Speaker 1: you really got to take this, take this to the
Speaker 1: next step, and that off more. After that sophomore season,
Speaker 1: going into my junior year, that was when I really
Speaker 1: just enhanced my game. I started really taking the weight
Speaker 1: room real seriously, just getting that extra working, and I
Speaker 1: just I really started feeling in love with it and
Speaker 1: just never got tired of it. So your game grows,
Speaker 1: I mean every year we get better. And then you
Speaker 1: hear those noises, you hear the sounds, and you hear
Speaker 1: everybody just you know, chopping in the whispers. Of Man,
Speaker 1: this guy has potentially who is that one guy you
Speaker 1: looked at, you know on that nixt level one, say
Speaker 1: this is who I I basically resembled this guy? Who
Speaker 1: who was that one one whit received me that you
Speaker 1: watched growing up? Yeah? Um, I watched a lot of
Speaker 1: Sean Jackson growing up. He was always kind of a
Speaker 1: guy who's right there in that Philly area, right in
Speaker 1: the Philly area. Wasn't very big in stature, but he
Speaker 1: made it happen. Um, And then that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: how I've always been, just trying to trying to make
Speaker 1: it happen. Uh, you you can't. You gotta deal with
Speaker 1: the cards that you're dealt with and you gotta make
Speaker 1: it happen. That's great, man. Well not you're here, man, Um,
Speaker 1: I want to first, and I'm pretty sure I'm sure
Speaker 1: I'm not the first, but I want to congratulate you.
Speaker 1: But I will say this, and I don't have no
Speaker 1: more questions for you. I want you to know that
Speaker 1: we all been in those shoes. Most of the guys
Speaker 1: that you see that's gonna be doing this, you know
Speaker 1: throughout the year is gonna you know, be former players
Speaker 1: or we've been in them shoes. But keep that hunger
Speaker 1: that's first and foremost, whatever it was that got you here,
Speaker 1: continue to let that, you know, build up in you, man,
Speaker 1: and just have fun with the process. Trust me. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a journey, it's gonna be a task,
Speaker 1: But if you're having fun with it, man, you're gonna
Speaker 1: be able to do something the same things you did
Speaker 1: on the collegiate level. All right, thanks, thanks, yes, sir.
Speaker 1: For all your Commanders news and analysis, be sure to
Speaker 1: tune into Command Center weeknights at five thirty ten pm
Speaker 1: on NBC Sports Washington. And while you're at it, follow
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Speaker 1: on the team held to the Commanders