We did it, guys. We got a MAC player into the Hall of Fame. No, not that one. Ours. The cool one.
Oddly enough, it was not this particular blog who nominated him but rather Smoking Musket, the West Virginia blog, who is technically a MAC blog thanks to men's soccer. (But it was probably because he, y'know, played in the same state). Moss earned enough votes from the committee to put him straight into SB Nation's inaugural Hall of Fame class.
No argument needed here, but as a refresher here's what he did: he was a consensus All-American in 1997 as a sophomore. He won the Biletnikoff Award, which goes to college's top wide receiver. He helped Marshall win a I-AA national championship in 1996 thanks to an undefeated season, then proceeded to assist in claiming a MAC title in their first I-A season. In '97 he was also a top-five Heisman Trophy voting finisher.
If he was on your NFL team, he might've been downright aggravating to contemplate between Monday and Saturday. On Sundays, few teams were able to keep him from running down the field at will and getting open. Suddenly all that fan angst would dissipate. He had speed, swagger and success. He will probably also be the first Pro Football Hall of Famer to make it in as a player from the MAC since Jack Lambert.
He might not be somebody I'd want to have a conversation with, but few athletes are. I'd try to stay on topic with his days at Marshall, because in my formative football-liking years, he was one of the first players on which I fixated.
But for MAC and especially Marshall fans, he was a shooting star. Here and gone so quickly. We could argue that only Freddie Barnes's 2009 season even comes close for a MAC receiver. He and Greg Jennings are the only players to win the Vern Smith, the award for the MAC's top overall player. And his 25 touchdown catches in '97 may be a record that stands for quite a while. I salivate to think what career records he would have held had he stayed two more years in the conference.