Call it "The Catch," if you want. Whatever you want to dub the 64-touchdown grab Seth Morales made vs. Ohio State in 2000, it catapulted him into Purdue lore forever.
"How often am I asked about it?" Morales said. "About once every two days."
No doubt, it came up when Morales spoke last week to the Purdue football team about life after football. That 64-yard bomb from Drew Brees that Morales caught on that cool October night in 2000 that led the Boilermakers to a 31-27 win en route to the Rose Bowl gave him credibility with current players.
"I told Rondale (Moore) I’m tired of having this crown (of being part of the biggest play in school history)," said Morales. "Someone needs to dethrone me and take the catch away."
Morales' mission was to educate players about preparing for the future. Football won't last forever. And Morales is as qualified to speak on post-football success as he is football glory. He started The Morales Group with his father 15 years ago. It's an Indianapolis-based company that has thrived.
"It's a staffing and recruiting company," said Morales, who began his career at Butler before walking on at Purdue. "We help people find jobs, blue- and white-collar. We are over $125 million in sales, so we have a good footprint. We staff a lot of people and recruit throughout the Midwest. Just trying to be a bridge between the company and employer and the talent coming out. We are basically a middle man for helping people find jobs."
The Morales Group, which also has a small office in Lafayette, has 160 full-time employees and 4,500 contractors weekly.
"There are a lot of moving parts," he said. "It’s purposeful. We give back. We support a lot of folks from diverse communities that are under-served."
Morales was invited to speak by Sean Pugh, Purdue's director of football player development.
"Purdue has a program to help with academics and also life after Purdue," said Morales, who has 4- and 2-year-old boys. "I had an opportunity to talk about what a career after Purdue looks like after football. I don’t think a lot of those guys get a lot of good direction. Even back when I was coming up, you didn’t get a lot of counsel. There is more to life post-football. I shared about that."
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Morales' message was simple and to the point.
"I told them simple things," he said. "Leverage your network. There are so many great alumni and student body classmates. Instead of putting on your headphones and putting up your hoodie and being too cool in class, take those things off and meet that guy down the aisle from you. He could (one day) be the CEO of Disney. Take the time to meet someone who is running a business who is a Purdue alum and get that internship. Guys just not being proactive.
"Second, I told them to think of themselves as a business. I talked about brand and how you position yourself, whether it’s social media, getting out in the community. There is a lot you can do to build your brand through football and outside of football. A lot of guys have tunnel vision."
Morales had a solid career in West Lafayette, making 72 catches for 965 yards with six TDs. That 2000 season was his best, as the Indianapolis native made 35 grabs for 556 yards and two scores--including that huge TD catch vs. Ohio State. But Morales is making an even bigger impact off the field.
"I think a lot of what we learn in school isn’t applicable to what we do in the real world, and I told them to focus on their strengths and raw skill-set they have," said Morales. "Do you have good time management? Can you connect to people? Are you hungry and humble? Things like that transfer over to all jobs. That was my encouragement to the guys."
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