It's no laughing matter for quarterbacks when University of Virginia recruit Michael Moore reaches the backfield.
File photo by Dan Rosenstein
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Michael Moore is known as a jokester off the field. But on the football field, the
DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) senior is no joke.
The University of Virginia commit is 6-foot-4 and weighs 250 pounds. He's a star defensive end who can bench press 335 pounds, squat 450, has a vertical leap of 32 inches and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds.
Moore, the No. 50 player on the
MaxPreps Top 100 Football Recruits List, has the ability to bull-rush quarterbacks and chase ballcarriers down from behind. In two varsity seasons he has compiled 14 sacks, 63 solo tackles and 22 tackles for a loss.
"Michael is a ferocious specimen," DeMatha head coach Elijah Brooks said. "He moves extremely well; like a power forward in basketball. He has great moves as a pass rusher."
Those moves are enhanced by what his coach calls an "uncanny awareness on the field, which allows him to use his physical skills to his advantage."
It's the student part of being a student-athlete that separates Moore from others who are similar in size and agility. Moore credits hours of film study — including watching game tapes during free periods at school — with helping him develop into a student of the game. And it also helps that Moore was raised by a coach.
"He's been around the game and me so long he instantly picked up tidbits every time he saw it," said his father, Shawn Moore, who played quarterback at the University of Virginia and just began his second season as the Cavaliers' wide receivers coach. (When asked who his athletic idols were growing up, Michael listed his father as No. 1, followed by Julius Peppers and Ray Lewis.)
Michael, who played only travel basketball until eighth grade, says his father never pushed him to play football. His father agreed, saying, "I never pushed him to play. Mike hated football until he realized all his friends were playing it and then fell in love with the game."
Despite what many might think, Michael says his father's link to Virginia really had nothing to do with his decision to become a Cavalier.
"It wasn't him being there at Virginia, just more me knowing the coaches," said Michael, who received more than 40 scholarship offers. "It's a real family atmosphere at Virginia. I'm close to everyone up there. I love the coaches. They are good people and I know they'll take care of me."
Michael is projected to play on the defensive line at Virginia, but like most high school superstars he plays both ways and will line up this season as a tight end for the Stags. He can catch, he can shake tackles and he can block. During his high school career he has caught 27 passes and scored three touchdowns, and it has been as a tight end during practices this summer when Michael has dazzled his coach in ways he has never seen before.
"He has great hands for a tight end," Brooks said. "You don't see many guys his size who are going to school for defense leaping up and making one-handed grabs down the field. And he's been doing it like it's second nature."
But as graceful as he is with his hands, it's the collisions on defense that Michael loves the most.
"I love that I can take my anger and my desire for physical play out into the sport," he said.
His coach added, "He possesses an unmatchable mean streak, which I knew would make him a dominant player."
Away from the field, Michael is anything but mean. He says the teammate he admires most is fellow defensive end Brian Wilkerson. "I admire the way he plays and we are always competing," he said.
Brooks described his captain as a natural leader with an outgoing personality: "He'll always crack jokes to his teammates and even his coaches. He's a delightful kid to be around."
Back on the field, it's a different story. Brooks recalled one play in particular that sums up Moore's ability: "In a key game against one of our rivals he was playing defense and it was a key third-and-long play. He came off the edge, got his helmet knocked off during a block, but then chased the play down for 20 yards without his helmet and made the tackle. That maximum effort epitomizes Michael's motor and will for the game."
Michael said his favorite athletic memory is when he played in his first meaningful varsity game as a sophomore. Now, two years later, he's set to begin his senior season on Sept. 3 when he'll have a game-day feeling he describes as "nerves going wild." He says he gets his mind set for the game by picturing what's going to happen in the game.
Most likely, it won't be a pretty picture for opposing ball carriers.
And that's no joke.
Jon Buzby is the sports columnist for the Newark Post, a freelance writer, and on the broadcast team for the 1290AM The Ticket High School Football and Basketball Games of the Week. You can reach him at jonbuzby@hotmail.com.Saturday: Centerville (Centerville, Ohio) speedy linebacker Ifeadi Odenigbo, the nation's No. 49 recruit.
