Rick Ross remembers his days as high school football player in Carol City

Rick Ross never forgets where he came from.

On Monday night, the Carol City rapper had just wrapped his 10th anniversary concert commemorating the release of his debut studio album “Port of Miami” at Jungle Island when a videographer from the Miami Herald approached him for a Snapchat interview.

Ross, known for his, um, colorful use of words, shouted into the microphone:

“Miami Herald is a part of our mother----ing tradition! That’s since we was little mother----ers. I’m talking about when we made All-Dade back in mother----ing ‘94!”

Diehard fans of Ross will understand the reference.

Back when the Maybach Music Group CEO was still known by his birth name — William Leonard Roberts II — Ross was an excellent athlete, playing football under famed coach Walt Frazier at Miami Carol City Senior High School.

The “Push It’ performer —known then as “Big Will” — started as offensive lineman (No. 61) for the Carol City Chiefs.

The Herald honors the best high school sports athletes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties annually, and he was named All-Dade first team offense in 1993.

Frazier had only good memories of the over the top performance artist, 40.

“He was a real good kid. Great personality,” the coach told Rolling Stone in 2012. “The other kids took to him because he was kind of a jokester.”

Miami Herald staffers Mario Mateo and Adrian Ruhi contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 1, 2016 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Rick Ross remembers his days as high school football player in Carol City."