No stopping Mo
Bradford focuses on career after NFL hopes stopped by pandemic
Former Lakeside standout linebacker Maurice “Mo” Bradford had aims at going pro, but his chances to showcase his skills at a Pro Day were stopped short after the events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With three years on the varsity squad at Cornell, Bradford finished this past season second on the team in tackles for a loss (6.5) while garnering 48 total tackles, 2 sacks, a forced fumble, an interception and 7 pass breakups.
“My plan was to take my shot at the NFL and to be honest, I think I had a really great shot,” Bradford said, noting that since the Ivy League does not redshirt players, he has expended his eligibility. “It’s just really unfortunate going to a smaller type school or at least a school that’s not on the radar athletically for football. That really kind of made it difficult to get exposure and be able to talk to scouts and things like that. … I never got the opportunity to have a pro day and get in front of scouts.
“Also, soon after those got canceled, visitations to facilities got canceled, so really the whole sports world is on a lockdown, and that really hurts small school kids like myself. Basically, where I’m at now is post draft, and I haven’t been able to hear anything. I’m transitioning from athletics to getting ready to make some career moves.”
Those ‘career moves’ involve city planning. During recent summers, an internship at the
non-profit Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Inc. has been able to help him form connections and develop his ideas for a post-football life.
“Urban development is ways in which that I can design policy regulation programs to basically help build equitably for social, for business or for the environment,” he explained. “A number of different things — the way a city is set up is designed by a city planner, so that’s essentially what I’ll be doing. It’s really a difficult decision to make. My plan has always been to have a career in city planning. Of course, I wanted to be in the NFL; that’s my dream, but that was always a temporary thing. After coming to school, I’ve really learned the type of impact I can have doing city planning, so my decision for right now is really just focus on the career path now that this wave of the NFL is passing. I think I’m mostly gonna stick to that.”
Following his graduation later this month, Bradford and his girlfriend of 5 1/2 years, Marissa Bearss, have prospects of moving from Ithaca, N.Y., into a more populous city where he will have the opportunity to learn and make a larger impact. That move will have to wait until after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stayat-home order is lifted.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have really great financial aid to kind of support living expenses at least until the end of June, and she works, and she has her own spot,” Bradford said. “She’s been able to fend for herself as well. … That’s been able to support us, and (we) still have a few friends here as well, so it hasn’t been super isolating.”
While his studies at Cornell came first, Bradford said that a significant growth in his life came by way of being an integral part of the football team.
“Especially here because you’re really a student-athlete, and the student part really comes first,” he explained. “Maybe because there’s not much of a culture of sports here, or maybe the culture’s that athletes are first students. That type of thing. It’s really been interesting learning how to manage my time and really figure out how to prioritize. Being in football specifically spurred the greatest growth I’ve ever experienced in my life as far as maturing and understanding challenge, adversity, persistance and doing all that with other people on the team — shared pain but shared payoff as well. It’s just been a really great experience. Obviously, I’ve had the same normal type college experience, … but it’s a really different experience getting out of Arkansas.”
After a freshman year with no varsity experience, Bradford played in all 30 of the Big Red’s games his last three years, starting all 10 of his senior season. However, his most memorable moment came in his first career start as a sophomore.
“We were playing against Brown, and it was homecoming,” he said. “There were several thousand people in the stands, and it was like ‘Wow, now I’m really on the stage. I’m the starting guy out there. Let’s see what I can do.’ Fortunately, I had a really great game, and I earned Defensive Player of the Game. I was a sophomore, and in the program that I’m at, not a lot of young guys get the opportunity to play early on, so it was a really great step-off into the rest of my career.”
Bradford has been able to take advantage of the support of family and friends, while making meaningful connections through the university.
“I think that’s what’s been really great about my experience is that I’ve been able to connect with extraordinary people — teammates and doing above to faculty, staff of Cornell, and then in my career, people I’ve connected with as well,” he said. “I’ve been able to take advantage of that. It’s shown in my maturity and how I’ve progressed in my career at Cornell. (For my parents), it’s harder for them to travel and get all the way to New York, given my specific family circumstance, so they haven’t been able to visit us as much as we would like. It’s kind of the cards you’re dealt. It’s good being able to visit back home for periods at a time.”
Even though he’s found a home in Ithaca the past four years, he’ll always have a place in his heart for Spa City as he tackles life head on.
“What really makes someone’s experience in Hot Springs is the people you surround yourself with, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have some really good friends back home,” said Bradford. “Coming home is an experience in itself. A lot of my friends work for Bubba’s Catfish, one of my best friends included. For the first summer I came back to Hot Springs, I worked at Bubba’s for a little bit and worked the snow cone stand. Being in an environment around your best friends while working at Bubba’s — I mean, everyone loves it, and it was just a really great time. I have a lot of really great memories in Hot Springs, so I mean it’s really great to come back and visit when I can.”