Sio Moore not wasting days, says destined to be drafted by Raiders

I am not usually one to just post a raw question and answer session by itself. But this interview with Sio Moore is one I think is worthy of being read in its original form. There is nothing in here NOT worth reading. I have been in interviews with Moore since he was drafted by the Raiders and he is always a great personality to speak with, but he never ceases to amaze me with the way he speaks and the things he says.

If you can't draw inspiration from a person like this, check your pulse.

Q: Pads came on first time yesterday and you missed it. How hard to just watch?

Moore: Ah, man, it sucked, because I wanted to get out there with the guys. They told me to take the day off and I came out here today and I just wanted to try to execute and do everything that we're focusing as far as coaching and technique-wise. I've just got to get better.

Q: DA talks about building day by day, bricks in a wall, to miss even one brick, do you feel behind?

Moore: Yeah, you really do. Missing one day of camp is almost like missing three or four days. The pace that camp is going, as much information as we're taking in, as much as you have to know to get out here on the field, it's a boatload, and you've got to really play catch-up, and I don't want to be in that situation. I want to come out here and try and put it all together.

Q: The coaches are careful about building anyone up too much, but it's clear they're expecting things from you, both as pass rusher, as a LB. Are you feel pressure of early expectations?

Moore: I mean, if you're in the NFL and have an opportunity to play, there should be an urgency and an expectation you should have on yourself as well as the guys around you. The biggest thing with me, I don't feel pressure, we got a great group of guys, senior guys, we got C-Wood, Tyvon, Kevin (Burnett, Lamarr, Andre, you go down the list. There's a bunch of veteran guys around and they're on me about just continuing to work and to keep building on each play. As long as I take it upon myself to get better every day, everything is going to work out for itself.

Q: When they held you out of practice, was it precautionary? In a normal week in NFL could you have practiced?

Moore: Probably so, probably so. It's not really something I can talk about it much. But everything is fine, I came out today.

Q: Felt 100 percent today?

Moore: Yeah. It's going to take a lot more than that.

Q: Did you have that pinch-yourself moment, like ‘Man, I'm in camp with the Raiders'?

Moore: No, no, the other day we were in walkthrough and I told them to pass me the ball. I looked at the ball, the NFL shield is on it. I'm like, man, I always looked at this stuff as a little kid, and now I'm like I'm here at practice. It's kind of surreal still, but the biggest thing about it is nobody's got time for the surreal moments and the wide eyes. You can sit there with your jaw dropped and somebody's going to end up running past you.

Q: Saw story in New Haven paper about moment when you were 14, bullet whizzes by your head, is that still a seminal moment for you?

Moore: Yeah, man. 100 percent. My life could have been changed multiple times. That was only once. I had Civil War broken out in 1990, I would have never came to the U.S. There are so many things that I'm thankful for, blessings and things around me.

Q: So you don't want to waste a day?

Moore: "No. You waste a day and why are you here? Because somebody else is gonna be here for sure to come take your spot and I'll be damned if that happens right now."

Q:You told us you'd be the best linebacker in this draft?

Moore: "No, I said I am the best. I am."

Q: Has there been anything that's transpired to make you back off that statement?

Moore: "No."

Q: What's it like having vets like Charles Woodson and Andre Carter talking to you every day?

Moore: "Man, they've given us some really good speeches as we go into our team meetings. Some of that stuff it raises the hair on your skin because you can see a lot of passion, you can see a lot of dedication oozes out of those guys. Where a guy like myself, I could only dream to wish to have that type of longevity and that type of production and that type of an impact. Not even as a football player but as people. Because those are great guys and when you get to a point in your career, you wanna look back and say that you had a storybook career like one of those guys.

Q: Have you had that moment where one of those guys says ‘we see something in you and we're gonna get it out of you'?

Moore: "I talked to them all the time. I them every day I'm gonna have a notebook and he's gonna be my cheat code as far as getting everything from him. I'm with Dre all the time because he's working with me all the time as far as using my hands and so I'm soak up as much as I can from all the old guys. Nick Roach is another guy who I really look to just being an all around player and a leader and great person. It's just about soaking up information so that I can take it and utilize it and make it into my own."

Q: Is there a sense of ugency because you won't have that typical rookie arc?

Moore: "I really don't know what a typical rookie arc is but it doesn't matter what the situation is, my sense of urgency is gonna be there because I wanna be able to do what I can to contribute. Whatever the situation is I wanna work and I wanna win. The thing about it is, it's about building the trust between my teammates because when I go in especially as a rookie, they need to be able to trust me to know what I'm doing as well as the coaches. If you don't build that early and have a sense of urgency to build that early, you go into the huddle and they're gonna look at you like ‘we can't play with this kid' and I don't want that."

Q: When you look at everything you went through and you wound up getting pulled onto the senior bowl with this coaching staff, do you see it you were destined to be here?

Moore: "I know I was. Everything happened the way it was supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to go in the first round, wasn't supposed to go in the second round. I was supposed to go at 66 to the Raiders, I was supposed to be put in the situation I was in, and how it's all fallen in, I couldn't be more happy. Because it's put me in the hungriest position that I can possibly be in. That's exactly what this team is. We are hungry and we're willing to work and that's me."

Q: When's the last time you had a day you thought ‘I'm not gonna do it today'?

Moore: "Uh, a while. A good while. I know I gotta come every day."

Q: The coaches are so big on that here

Moore: "You gotta come out here with... it's not even about saying it, it's about living it. Saying it is gonna get you halfway through. Living it is gonna get you all the way through it. That's one of those things C Wood was saying to us in the meeting room. He loves the game the same way he loved it when he first started playing. And that's how I think about it when I step out here. I need to love it the same way when I was playing Peewee ball and having fun but just taking it more seriously and putting more into in any way. I mean I come out here and I look at Dre and it'll be 30-45 minutes before practice and he's getting lifting in and he's stretching and doing the right things to keep him looking the way he is. I mean, he looks like he just did the movie 300. Built like I don't know what."

Raiders fans should be extremely excited Sio Moore was available in the third round of this draft. You won't find a more passionate, intelligent, and driven person than him. Those qualities are the foundation upon which greatness is built.

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