Background:   Santana Moss starred at Miami, FL area Carol City Senior High School, earning third-team All-State football honors as a senior after catching 25 passes for 600 yards and 12 touchdowns as a receiver and gaining 450 yards and a touchdown on 12 kickoff returns.

The liberal arts major joined nearby University of Miami as a walk-on in 1997 before being awarded a scholarship after the season’s third game.  Moss excelled in both football and track .  In 1999, he won the Big East indoor 60-meter championship with a conference record (6.83) time and in 2002, Moss captured both the triple jump and long jump at the Big East Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  On the gridiron, Moss set a new all-time University of Miami record with 2,546 yards receiving, eclipsing the old mark of 2,423 yards set by Michael Irvin (1985-87) and as a senior he became the first player to earn both Big East Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Year honors in the same season after gathering 1,604 all-purpose yards (45 receptions for 748 yards and five TDs, six carries for 201 yards and one TD and 36 punt returns for 655 yards and four scores).

The New York Jets selected the 5-10, 185 pound game-breaker in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft with the 16th overall pick.  Moss tweaked overly-eager Jets fans, desperate for an offensive difference-maker, by tearing the cartilage in his left knee during training camp, forcing him to miss 11 games in his first season as a pro.  The former Hurricane would make significant strides in his next two seasons in New York, peaking in 2003 with 74 receptions for 1,105 yards (14.9 avg.) and 10 touchdowns, putting the fantasy football world on notice despite starting only 12 of 16 games.  His numbers would drop the following year (45 receptions for 838 yards and five scores), setting the table for a trade to the Washington Redskins in exchange for Chad Pennington-favorite Laveranues Coles in March of 2005.

Moss would taste sweet redemption in his inaugural year with the Redskins, earning Pro Bowl honors while compiling single season career bests in receptions (84) and receiving yards (1,483) with nine touchdowns, while starting all 16 games for the first time in his career.  Easily his best effort all year was his breakout performance on the Monday night national stage against the Dallas Cowboys, accumulating 159 yards and two touchdowns on five pass receptions.  Both touchdowns, a 39-yarder and a 70-yarder, came late in the fourth quarter to help rally the Redskins past the Cowboys in Dallas, 14-13, no doubt crushing Cowboys fans and fantasy teams who happened to face Moss that week and saw a sizeable lead over their opponent vanish in the wee hours of the morning.

What’s new for 2006:   Though many view Moss as still too streaky to give fantasy teams true No. 1 receiver production, he led the league last year in receptions of 25 yards or more with 18 and he’ll now have new pass-catching compadres, Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randle El to spread defensive secondaries thin, making Moss even more dangerous on the several called go routes each game this season.  Add the Al Saunders effect to the offensive game plan, and Moss appears to possess all of the necessary elements to knock on the door of the first tier fantasy receiver barn in 2006.

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