8/9/2002 - Football
Navy Football Practice Report Day 4, Practice 1
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Senior offensive tackle Grant Moody (Eureka, Kan.)
Q. With your success here academically and athletically, how have you been able to find that balance.
A. I think when you come out to football practice, you want to do the best that you can. But then when you are back in the classroom, you focus on classes and you try and do the best you can there.
Q. Is there a similar competitive drive in both for you?
A. I think so. You just want to do the best you can, whether it?s in the classroom, on the football field, with your family, or just in life in general.
Q. Your brother is here now as a plebe, does it make you feel proud that he wanted to follow in your footsteps?
A. Yes sir. It will be nice to have him out here on the same practice field, playing with me. I was a senior when he was an eighth grader; I went to Pittsburg State for a year, so we actually never got to play on the same team together. It will be great to do that this year.
Q. Have your parents been able to come out the last couple of years?
A. Quite a bit. They haven?t been able to make it to every game; they have been pretty busy and then with my brother playing high school sports too. Whenever they can they try and get out here. I am sure this summer and fall with my brother being here as well they will get out here a lot more.
Q. How were your parents able to split the time, to devote the time to both of you guys to follow your careers?
A. That?s tough. I know before the Notre Dame game my little brother had a high school football game on Friday night so they went to his game and then drove all the way from Eureka to South Bend. It was a pretty good drive, about 10 hours.
Q. Did they drive straight through the night?
A. Yes sir. They were pushing it hard.
Q. What did you tell your brother when he asked you about the Academy.
A. I knew he had looked at it for a couple of years, but especially last fall and in the spring when he got his letter of acceptance. He talked to me quite of bit on the phone. We talked about academics, the military side and the football side. I just told him straight up it would be difficult, but if that was what he wanted the opportunity was there for him.
Q. You had gone to Pittsburg State for a year, how did you wind up here? Had you thought about the Academy before you went there?
A. Actually, I received an appointment out of high school, but my heart wasn?t in it yet, so I chose to go to Pittsburg State for a year. Once I was at Pittsburg State, my feelings really changed and I was ready to make that commitment. I just thought I was missing a big opportunity if I didn?t come to school here.
Q. So your first year at Pittsburg State did you have a lot of second thoughts going through the year thinking about the Naval Academy?
A. I don?t think I regretted that year at all. I made some great friends down there, I just knew I was missing something. I knew if I didn?t come out here, I would never have that chance to play Division I football and to see how far I can go in life.
Q. What are you going to do after graduation?
A. Right now I plan on going to flight school, that is my first choice. I also looked into medical school, but I am kind of behind the eight ball. I need to take some extra classes. Maybe that will be something I look at down the road.
Q. Did you talk to Terrence Anderson about going to medical school?
A. Yes sir. He has come back a couple of times and I have talked to him about Baylor Medical School and how things were going for him. It seems like he is doing well.
Q. What did you do over the summer
A. The first summer cruise block I was out in Hawai?i. I was on an aviation cruise at the Marine Corps base. We got to fly helicopters; it was kind of a nervous experience flying those things right after they got done telling us it is a 30 million-dollar aircraft. Second block I did a medical internship at the Bethesda Medical Hospital. We got to see a lot of stuff there. From cancer tumor removals, to babies being born to actually getting to help cast broken arms and broken legs. It was a really good experience.
Q. Do you know what your brother is thinking about doing, is he as strong a student?
A. I think he is really serious about medicine. I told him they only have 16 billets per year for medical and dental school, but there is no doubt in my mind that if he applies himself he can get one of those billets if he wants it.
Q. Is there a medical background in your family?
A. My dad was a dentist in the Navy. He was a lieutenant.
Q. How long did your dad serve?
A.About five years. He did the Health Professional Scholarship program where they paid for his dental school and then he had to serve five years.
Q. So did you grow up in one place?
A. Yes sir, all 20 years in Eureka, Kan.
Q. Where is Eureka?
A. It is really rural, about an hour east of Wichita or about two hours southwest of Kansas City. It is in the middle of nowhere.
Q. Did you have a chance to get back there this summer?
A. I got a chance to go home for a couple of days between blocks and then about 10 days before practice started.
