SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. -- Whether it's selling insurance or real estate or even working as a personal trainer, nothing replaces the adrenaline rush of being on the football field for former players. That's why four former professional players overlooked the 90-plus temperatures to work and play with 74 youths ages 7-12 on Monday.
Between teaching fundamentals on the first day of a weeklong youth camp at South Pittsburg High, the four former University of Tennessee and pro athletes -- Eddie Moore, Eric Westmoreland, Troy Fleming and Steven Marsh -- let the kids chase them around and hang off them like human jungle gyms.
"I think I had more fun than the kids did," Moore said. "Today was a reminder of just how much I miss being around the game and the kids. You can't get that feeling anywhere else."
Only Westmoreland, a Baylor assistant, is still working full time in the game, but Fleming lives in Knoxville and has applied at several high schools in hopes of being hired as an assistant or even as a volunteer coach.
"I'll do a few of these a year, and when Eddie called and asked, I didn't hesitate because it was a brother who needed me to help out," said Marsh, who is a trainer for D-1 sports in Greenville (S.C.). "And it was a chance to work with young kids, which is a passion for me. To me giving your time, especially to kids, can be more important than giving X amount of dollars to a community."
All four players admitted they keep an eye on their alma mater, and they said they hope new coach Derek Dooley will return the program to the success they enjoyed while playing there. They also were unanimous in their opinion of former Volunteers coach Lane Kiffin.
"What I didn't like about the staff last year was that they only seemed to sell getting players to the NFL," said Marsh, whose professional career ended when he tore an ACL in the second half of the 2005 Grey Cup, the Canadian Football League's championship game.
"I'm somebody who knows firsthand that your football career can end in just one snap, so I appreciate the importance of education. I didn't hear Kiffin say much about coming to UT because it's a good school or a good program. All I heard him talk about was getting kids to the NFL."