Randy Moss Says What Makes West Virginians Special on Kelce Brothers Podcast

West Virginia, as you know, is a very unique place. Anytime someone who was born and raised in the Mountain State makes it big in any career field, the 1.8 million who reside within the borders have tremendous joy for that person and feel a connection to them, simply because they, too, are a West Virginian. That's not the case everywhere else.

A West Virginia-Marshall rivalry has never really materialized because WVU plays at the Power Four level and Marshall in the Group of Six. For the longest time, Marshall was not even in the FBS, and in their twelve matchups on the gridiron, the Mountaineers are a perfect 12-0.

When the game is played in any sport, there's naturally going to be some smack talk, but it pales in comparison to the Backyard Brawl of the rivalry with Virginia Tech. Marshall's most recognizable alum, Randy Moss, is the greatest wide receiver to ever walk the Earth, and while Mountaineer fans rooted against him when he played for the Kelly Green and white, they pulled for him to be successful in the NFL because at the end of the day, he is one of them, a West Virginian.

Recently, Moss joined the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, and the subject of his home state came up, mainly because Jason wanted to know why West Virginians are so down-to-earth.

“What is it about guys from West Virginia?" Kelce asked Moss. "I golfed with this dude (Jason Williams) and had the most fun outing of my life at the Jerome Bettis golf outing this past year. It feels like you’re the same way. Nick Saban, even hearing him talk. There’s an authenticity and a realness…I don’t even know how to describe it. It feels like I love everybody that I meet from West Virginia, and I don’t exactly know why. What is it about West Virginia that it feels like guys that come out of it, they’re not trying to be anything, they’re very grounded in who they are. They’re proud of who they are, and they don’t take s*** from nobody. That’s pretty much the vibe I get from everybody I’ve met that’s from West Virginia.”

“I just think that if you come from humble beginnings, I think that’s what keeps a person grounded," Moss responded. "I think that everyone that I’ve seen from West Virginia, all of the celebrities, just being humbled and keeping grounded, because one of the things I said in my Hall of Fame speech back in 2018…just growing up and nobody caring about who I was or who we were. I grew up in an unincorporated community, and still to this day, my community is still unincorporated. Being able to group up in some real type of surroundings and understanding what’s real in life, you learn that at a very young age coming out of the state of West Virginia. Not just where I’m from and the county, I think it’s the state as a whole. And what you see is what you get. I know there’s a whole lot of people struggling back at home, and that’s one of the things that kept me grounded. Going back and doing charity events, and going back, and I even took my Hall of Fame jacket back home, and the reason why is because I wanted to give the kids something real to see, something real to touch. I just want to be able to give hope to people who grew up like I did.”