The Rock Sacked Charlie Ward Straight Into the NBA: “I Don’t Want to Mess With the NFL Anymore”

Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, used to play football during his college days. During his time as a footballer, he created a memorable highlight moment by sacking Charlie Ward.

When one hears the word “sacked”, they immediately think of unemployment. However, the term has a separate meaning in football, and that is to tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage before they can throw a pass.

Coming back to The Rock and Charlie Ward’s moment, this ended up being an important moment in both their lives.

The Rock sacked future Heisman winner Charlie Ward while at Miami

Back in 1993, Florida State Seminoles and Miami Hurricanes went up against each other. Dwayne Johnson was a part of the Hurricanes and Ward a part of Florida State.

During that match, Ward was sacked only once. This was when Dwayne Johnson tackled him. The play was rather quick and Ward didn’t even get a chance to move or make a quick throw before getting tackled by Johnson.

Dwayne Johnson spoke about that moment with Peyton Manning and Eli Manning on the Manning Cast. He revealed that when he was getting up after tackling Ward, the latter told him that he wasn’t going to pursue NFL further and would move to NBA.

“It was at this point when I got up, I heard Charlie tell me, ‘Listen. I’m going to make a career in the NBA now. I don’t want to mess with the NFL anymore.’ I said, ‘OK buddy, good luck.’”

Read More: The Rock Surpasses George Clooney, Adds Unbelievable Record to His Name

Charlie Ward won the Heisman Trophy in 1993. He went on to play for the New York Knicks as a point guard from 1994 to 2005.

Dwayne Johnson wanted to pursue a career in the NFL

Johnson’s fans know him primarily from his WWE career, where he played the character of ‘The Rock’. However, before he came to WWE and found stardom, Johnson really wanted to pursue a career in the NFL.

Unfortunately, his NFL career didn’t take off following his college football days. He didn’t make it to the NFL because of growing injuries and lack of playing time. Hence, he walked away from the game he truly loved and pursued a career in WWE, and thank god he did!

Today, he owns the XFL which was founded by Vince McMahon. Johnson revealed that working towards the XFL launch to provide a platform for everyone who loves the game is a way to make his football dreams come true.

Read More: The Rock Looks Back on Broken Dreams as XFL Debut Nears: ‘My Dream of Making It to the NFL Never Came True, This is a Full Circle Moment for Me’