Demetri Moore decided to give up football following his freshman year of high school. The reason? Moore, who now stands 6’6” and weighs close to 290 pounds, didn’t think he had the size to make it far on the gridiron.

“When I stopped playing football my freshman year, it was due to a lot of things. I started playing football when I was seven. I was playing Pee-Wee football. I loved it, but when I was around my family I was always the smallest in my family. I was just told football was not the way to go. My freshman year, I saw that. I didn’t have the size,” Moore said.

A growth spurt prompted Moore to give football another shot. Following his junior year of high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, Moore moved in with his grandparents, who lived in Birmingham, Alabama. He attended Huffman High School his senior year and played on the varsity football squad.

“Later on, when I was a junior, God blessed me with size. My head wasn’t right, but my grandparents got me right and made sure I had a good head on my shoulders,” Moore said.

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