CHARLOTTE — Years ago, during a time known as the 90’s, Muhsin “Moose” Muhammad II bought a JUGS machine. It required a decent bit of his first NFL paycheck, and he spent a long time with Panthers equipment manager Don Toner to decide on the best one, but the NFL rookie was determined to gather any edge he could.
“It was my first purchase when I was drafted here back in ’96,” Muhammad shared recently. “I still own that same JUGS machine. It was the first thing I bought.”
Five years into Muhammad’s NFL career, Muhsin “Moose” Muhammad III was born. Once he was old enough to catch a football, he stepped in front of that same JUGS machine and the equipment that helped his dad become a first-team All-Pro, two-time Pro Bowler, NFL receiving yards leader (2004), NFL receiving touchdowns leader (2004), the NFL receptions co-leader (2000), and a member of the Carolina Panthers Hall of Honor, began to raise his son as well.
“From the time he was, five or six years old, we’ve been throwing those footballs and signing up for flag football and getting involved. I mean, throughout the whole process, and even as he got to that sort of middle school age, his buddies would come by and shoot JUGS on the JUGS machine,” Muhammad II said.
“The same Jugs machine I grew up in front of…he grew up in front of that. And he still uses it, uses it almost every day.”