Leaner, meaner Derrick Moore ready to dominate
Derrick Moore had a solid freshman year at Michigan, showing flashes of being a potentially outstanding pass rusher. He was in the backfield a lot, though it didn’t show in the stats a year ago. The next step is to turn pressure into sacks, and he took steps this summer to make it happen.
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Moore dropped 20 pounds of bad weight, changing his diet and becoming more explosive off the ball. He’s watched clips of former Wolverines Aidan Hutchinson and his “get-off,” determined to improved his explosiveness … and judging by the spring and fall, he’s done exactly that.
“I feel way better,” Moore said. “I feel quicker, faster, more twitchy, more explosive. I don’t feel (weaker or) anything, I just feel way, way better than I felt in the last year.
“Going into camp, I’m setting up my rush stuff. I’ll bull rush, and then I’ll play off-speed with it. So I’ve been just trying to like set all my pass rushes. Especially having the guys that I have in my room — I’m the youngest edge guy in my room — having guys like Jaylen Harrell, Braiden McGregor, Josaiah Stewart, just having those guys in my ears telling me, ‘you need to do this, you need to do that, you need to do that’ … how to set up and game plan my pass rushes. Having those guys has been helping and just working for me.”
So has watching Hutchinson and Mike Morris last year — “he was good with his hands,” Moore noted — and his other teammates.
“Even guys like Braiden and Jaylen and Josaiah — they’ve got a lot of things I can learn from them and watch out from them,” he said. “I watch a lot of guys. Even NFL guys like Joey Bosa. I understand he’s an Ohio guy, but I watch him because he’s a good guy with his hands, so I feel like if I can watch them and study them, that can help me become a better player.”
He’s getting there quickly. Camp reports have been positive, and the edge position will play out there and in the first few games of the year, head coach Jim Harbaugh said this week. He’ll have every opportunity to secure more playing time, and he appears ready for the challenge.
“I will say the biggest difference is my confidence,” Moore said. “I feel like last year I just wasn’t as confident. Coming in as a freshman and you’re playing, you’re thinking, ‘if I mess up, I’m probably never going to get back on the field.’
“This year, I just feel more confident. I want my teammates to be able to have my trust to go out and perform — even if I mess up, if I could come back and redo it the next play and just be there for my team. That’s all I really have going into this year.”
