By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

As Carolina receiver Steve Smith and Washington receiver Santana Moss flew through defenses last year on their way to the Pro Bowl, one Miami Hurricane watched with particular interest.

As “undersized” receivers, Smith and Moss proved that in the NFL, size doesn’t matter, at least not for pass catchers. Smith and Moss tore through defenses all year on their way to the Pro Bowl, giving up to pint-sized receivers everywhere.

With this year’s NFL Draft low on big-name or big-time receivers, there are plenty of future wideouts with something to prove. Florida’s Chad Jackson and Ohio State’s Santonio Holmes have grabbed most of the headlines for this year’s crop of receivers; Miami’s Sinorice Moss is poised to follow in the footsteps of Smith and his older brother Santana.

“Watching my brother and Steve Smith this year, they opened a lot of people’s eyes,” Moss said. “They showed that smaller receivers can make big plays and they can do the things that 6’3 receivers or 6’2 receivers do. A lot of times in past years everybody wanted a big receiver, that was the main thing, ‘I want a big receiver, I want a big-frame guy.’ But smaller receivers get the job done also.”

Growing up in the shadow of Santana would wear on most players, but Sinorice never allowed it to bother him. Santana Moss starred at Miami before Sinorice got there and was an established NFL star well before Sinorice entered this year’s draft.

Instead of growing jealous or fading in the shadow of his older brother, Sinorice Moss embraced the opportunity to watch and learn from his brother.

“He had a tremendous impact on my career,” Moss said. “Watching my brother making it in college now in the NFL, just watching that and working on my things to better myself has had a tremendous impact on my career. Just talking to him every day and him giving me different pointers on how to run routes and the things I have to do to be successful in the NFL (has been huge). I talk to him every day.”

And Sinorice’s love for his brother isn’t just lip service. While the Moss brothers certainly had a competitive drive with each other, there really wasn’t much of a sibling rivalry. Even at Miami, Sinorice never had designs on breaking his brother’s records.

Santana Moss dominated at Miami, racking up the school record for yards with 2,546. Sinorice Moss finished his career with 1,106 receiving yards.

Santana Moss was taken 16th in the 2001 draft by the New York Jets. Sinorice Moss is being projected to land somewhere in the late first or early part of the second round.

Even though teams are well aware of what Santana has accomplished, Sinorice still faces the permanent questions about his size and ability to hold up against bigger competition.

But Sinorice believes his size (or lack thereof) can be used to his advantage.

“A lot of big guys can’t adjust to that, they really don’t know what to do with a smaller receiver,” Moss said. “If I am coming at you 100 miles per hour, if you are able to move or not to move you have to find different ways to adjust. By me coming off and knowing what I am doing and running different pass patterns, then it’s hard for a taller cornerback to adjust to that.”

At 5’8, 185 pounds, Moss is even tinier than his brother and Smith. Many scouts believe that Moss will be best suited to play in the slot in the NFL and can’t hold up to the rigors of being one of the top two players on the outside.

But, like Smith and his brother, Moss has the type of game breaking speed that can change games. He clocked in at a 4.41 in the 40-yard dash, but has the same type of elusiveness and quickness of the aforementioned receivers. In fact, one AFC scout believes that Sinorice has more top end speed than his brother.

Of course, nobody knows for sure who would win in a race between the Moss brothers. Sinorice maintains that they haven’t raced since he was in sixth grade and Santana was in high school. Now that the duo is on a similar plane as far as speed and strength, this race would be much closer, but the brothers still refuse to race.

“They never tried to bribe me,” Moss said. “It’s never been an issue. Me and my brother talk about it a lot, but we don’t have anything to prove to each other. He’s fast, I’m fast. We keep it all in the family.”

It won’t be long before the NFL adds another Moss to the family tree.

“He’s Santana and I’m Sinorice,” Moss said. “Both of us play football and that’s what we love to do.”