HARRISONBURG — Arthur Moats knew he needed to prepare for his post-playing career.

“It’s led to a pretty busy schedule thus far,” said Moats, the former James Madison football standout and nine-year veteran of the NFL. “But it’s a blast because I know a lot of guys that retired before me and they said they struggled with not having a purpose or an identity once they retired.”

The man, who wore No. 52 and won the 2009 Buck Buchanan Award during his time with Madison and went on to play for the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, certainly doesn’t lack one.

After retiring from the NFL this past June, Moats made a seamless transition into sports media. He hosts a show daily on Steelers Nation Radio, has appeared as a studio analyst on the Black and Gold Zone and also created the Arthur Moats Show, a video series across his social media platforms, as well as the Arthur Moats Experience With Deke Podcast.

This Saturday, Moats will check off another box when he returns to his alma mater to provide the color commentary on the NBC Sports Washington and FloSports broadcast as the Dukes host Morgan State for a 4 p.m. kickoff.

“I’m really excited about the color commentary element,” Moats said, “because when I was at the broadcast boot camp that was the one thing I enjoyed the most. Before I even thought about doing a TV show or radio show, I said, ‘I want to do color commentary’ so now that I get that opportunity, I’m excited to see how that works out for me.”

Moats will also do the color commentary for Madison’s Oct. 26 Colonial Athletic Association contest against Towson.

For now, though, Moats is enjoying all the opportunities he’s earned across sports media. Moats said even prior to his retirement and when the Cardinals placed him on injured reserved last year, he began joining Steelers Nation Radio as a guest to start gaining experience.

“Once you’re done playing football, you’re so used to being on a schedule and being on the go that now you have free time,” Moats said. “Guys really struggle with that and, for me, I was trying to make sure I took a proactive approach to that and this busy-doing-media thing is a blast and I’m really enjoying every day of it.”

Moats called JMU television play-by-play man Curt Dudley “legendary” and said he’s thrilled his first shot at doing in-game analysis comes alongside Dudley.

The NBC Sports Washington broadcast will be shown regionally. For fans outside Maryland, Virginia and Washington, the only way to watch the game will be via FloSports, which holds digital exclusivity for contest between JMU and Morgan State.