Michigan freshman DB Rod Moore watches more film 'than anyone' on the team, and it's paying off
Not an early enrollee, Michigan freshman defensive back Rod Moore arrived in Ann Arbor in the summer, and had just a matter of months before the Wolverines began the 2021 campaign. It didn’t take Moore, a three-star safety out of Clayton, Ohio, to crack the two-deep of the depth chart.
He showed his value enough during fall camp that the coaches moved him from safety to nickel, where he was able to play early, seeing 13 snaps in the opener against Western Michigan and 70 through the first nine games. In game 10, one of the biggest tilts of the Jim Harbaugh era, though, he earned an even bigger role, back at safety where he started.
He didn’t find out he’d be making his first career start until Saturday morning before the noon kickoff.
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“It was like a dream come true,” Moore said. “I really didn’t know up until Saturday morning. So when he told me, it made me excited, but I didn’t really get nervous. It meant a lot.”
He stood out, too, registering six tackles (tied for fourth on the team) and staying sound in coverage situations, yielding two receptions for 23 yards but making solid open-field tackles. His fourth-down tackle on Penn State star junior wide receiver Jahan Dotson in the fourth quarter was a pivotal play.
Moore was asked to describe his strengths and style of play.
“I like tackling in the open field,” he said. “I know I can make a hit on somebody. I love hitting. The way I learned to do that, I just watch a lot of film and a lot of people like [Seattle Seahawks safety] Jamal Adams. “He’s a really good open-field tackler, so I just watch him and I took it to my game.”
Moore’s stellar game was a culmination of the hard work he’s put in behind the scenes ever since stepping on the Michigan campus in the summer.
“He’s a really good player. He’s developed well,” Harbaugh said. Student of the game. On-field, I think his best attribute is he’s in the right places. He’s got a talent in space to get people on the ground. Really good tackler.
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“You can just tell how much he was studying from the beginning of training camp, the hours he was putting in on his iPad watching tape was the most of anybody on the team.”
When Moore is digging into the tape, he’s studying upcoming opponents and his snaps in practice, as well as different formations he’s tasked with recognizing when on the field.
“After practice, I go in and look at my mistakes,” he explained. “When I see my mistakes, I write them down and look at them over and over again so I don’t make that same mistake. And then, along with when I watch film with the team, I watch what we watch in meetings before practice, just to get a feel for what they do.”
Throughout the season, he said, he’d routinely call out plays during practice and from the sidelines in games. Through that, he built up trust with the coaching staff to the point that they put him in a playoff-type game in a raucous environment.
He and second-year freshman R.J. Moten are still competing for time on the back end of the defense, and that will continue as the week progresses. Now, though, he should have a bit better of an idea as to what his role could look like going forward. Still, he doesn’t care when he finds out what it’ll be.
“I’m fine with finding out every single Saturday, because I don’t want to overthink it before I get to the game,” he said. “I just want to go out there and do what I do, and get ready for the game.”
