When Sacramento Mountain Lions wide receiver Otis Amey isn’t catching passes from Daunte Culpepper, he is busy writing inspirational music for local children.

Amey grew up in Union City and was the youngest of four boys. During high school, many Pacific-10 Conference and Western Athletic Conference schools recruited Amey.

However, Amey suffered a knee injury during his last game senior year, and decided to attend Sac State because they were the only school that maintained a full scholarship offer.

On the football field, Amey walked away with nearly every receiving and kick returning school record.

Amey earned All-American honors twice at Sac State and finished with 4,049 career receiving yards, 248 career receptions and 27 career touchdowns. Amey led the team in all-purpose yards, kick returns, receiving yards and punt returns all four years he was there.

After high school, Amey played professional football with the San Francisco 49ers for one season as their kick returner.

During Amey’s time with the 49ers, he received inspiration from his mother, who was a teacher and counselor to children. Amey saw the difference his mom was making in so many children’s lives and thought he could make a similar difference.

“All the kids loved my mom, so I knew what she was doing was a positive thing and an avenue I wouldn’t mind taking,” Amey said.

Amey’s latest event was in early September, volunteering at Destiny Ranch where they dedicated a new facility for “At-Risk Youth.”

“Reaching out to these kids can be the difference between life and death for them,” Amey said. “I had no help growing up, so I have to give back. My parents both worked extremely hard to provide for us, but I never had any external guidance.”

Amey has recently begun to put his messages in the form of hip-hop music as an alternative way to reach out to children.

“I’m a music artist and make what I call, “Kingdom Music’ – uplifting, inspirational and motivational music that tells the whole truth and gives life lessons,” Amey said. “Music is something that children relate to and understand. It allows me to connect and get my message through to them.”

Amey has worked his way into a starting position this year and has proven himself to be one of the Mountain Lions most reliable players both on the field and in the locker room.

“Amey is a very solid character guy,” said Mountain Lions’ Offensive Coordinator Mike Kruczek. “He takes his job very seriously, and has been a great surprise for me. I’m real pleased with him and couldn’t ask him to do anymore than he is already giving to me.”

Amey is appreciative of his opportunity to play with Culpepper and recognized how much he can learn from him.

“He’s been through it all already, so his information is important,” Amey said. “He tells me what to look for in certain coverages. Other than that, I just start running and keep running, then catch one of his 70-yard bombs.”

Culpepper knows the importance of having a guy like Amey on his team.

“Otis is one of the proven guys on the team that has spent some time in the NFL,” Culpepper said. “He’s a leader and someone that the young guys can learn from.”

Brad Schmidt can be reached at [email protected]