How Louisville QB Miller Moss put USC behind him to keep chasing his NFL dreams

THE NIGHT MILLER MOSS learned helium was nary longer the starting backmost for the USC Trojans, helium went home.

Moss was raised little than 20 miles from field successful a beauteous modern location successful Pacific Palisades. His thoroughfare was lined by different beauteous modern houses and red-flowering gum trees connected a hillside that hangs implicit the ocean. He came location often during his 4 years astatine USC.

For arsenic agelong arsenic helium tin remember, Moss has liked to locomotion retired to the bluffs, a parkland adjacent his location wherever helium could look down connected Pacific Coast Highway and implicit to the Santa Monica Pier and retired connected the waves rolling successful from the horizon. It's peaceful. The presumption of the h2o expands successful a mode that invites its visitors to beryllium wildly ambitious. Moss loves that view.

Late connected the archetypal Sunday nighttime of past November, Moss stopped astatine In-N-Out to prime up a 3x3 burger and walked retired to the bluffs to process the nonaccomplishment of his imagination job. He was aggravated astatine the world, disappointed successful himself. He replayed each the things helium could person done differently, and each the tiny crippled points that had they breached different mode mightiness person led to a antithetic story.

He sat successful the acheronian for hours, looking retired astatine the tiny lights of the pier successful the distance. He came to the bluffs seeking the comfortableness of thing familiar, a spot to rediscover the condemnation of his biggest dreams.

He hasn't been backmost since.

MOSS IS DRIVING SOUTH done an eight-lane conception of the 405 Freeway erstwhile helium brings up his speechmaking habits. It's a weekday greeting successful precocious May. He's wearing achromatic Adidas sweatpants and a matching grey T-shirt down the instrumentality of his BMW X3, hemmed successful by factual barriers connected 1 broadside and postulation connected the other. His cleats are resting connected the backmost spot arsenic helium motors to his archetypal grooming league of the day, an hour's thrust connected a bully day.

He says helium has precocious picked up "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius. Moss had heard from a person oregon a podcast -- he's not rather definite which -- that helium should cheque retired a publication called "The Obstacle Is the Way" by Ryan Holiday, a staple of the modern self-help-adjacent genre aimed astatine men who privation to harness the powerfulness of their adversity. When helium learned that galore of Holiday's ideas are rooted successful the Stoic doctrine astir famously captured by Marcus Aurelius, helium decided to commencement with "Meditations."

It's benignant of crazy, helium says with 1 manus dangling implicit the steering wheel, however overmuch helium tin subordinate to the passages that a Roman emperor wrote astir 2,000 years ago.

"It's funny," Moss says. "I similar speechmaking present that I don't person to bash it for school. I benignant of hated speechmaking successful school."

His slightest favourite publication to work successful schoolhouse was "The Catcher successful the Rye."

"I couldn't basal that guy," Moss says of Holden Caulfield, the book's protagonist. "He was conscionable truthful down connected everything."

The BMW's rearview reflector frames a presumption of the hills, greenish trees and bluish h2o interrupted by a sprawling achromatic void wherever Moss's vicinity erstwhile stood. He precocious completed his outpouring semester astatine Louisville, and present he's backmost for a little clip to spot his household and sojourn his favourite spots. I'm present beside him to recognize what it's similar to beryllium a backmost successful assemblage football's transportation portal epoch -- really, to retrieve however it feels to beryllium 23 years old, chasing a dream, figuring retired which parts of your past to transportation with you and which to permission behind.

When wildfires ripped done Southern California successful aboriginal January, Moss had already packed his luggage, having resolved to enactment his USC benching down him and reset astatine a caller schoolhouse successful a caller metropolis for his last assemblage season. His formation was scheduled to instrumentality disconnected a week later. He hated to permission his parent and small sister down successful California, but helium boarded the level arsenic planned.

Moss archetypal returned to Los Angeles during outpouring interruption successful March and planned to thrust done the aged neighborhood. Then helium saw the achromatic spot of ash from a region portion driving connected the highway. The water was a unusual color. The formation was empty. His parent told him it was jarring to spot piles of rubble and the burned-out husks of their washer and dryer strewn successful what utilized to beryllium the beforehand yard. He decided helium wasn'...