Michigan safety Rod Moore: 'I'm really getting my confidence back'

Michigan Wolverines football junior safety Rod Moore was ready for a big 2023 season, before he went down with a knee injury midway through fall camp. He didn’t see the field until Week 4, the team’s Big Ten opener against Rutgers. He missed a tackle on the third play from scrimmage, leading to a touchdown. Eight weeks into the year, though, Moore has shaken off a lot of the rust. He’s played in five consecutive contests, having totaled 8 tackles and an interception.

“I feel like I’ve progressed a lot,” Moore said Tuesday. “Health wise, I’m 100 percent, but on the field, I’d say I’m still getting better. I kinda feel like I’m behind, because I was out from probably mid-camp to Week 3, so I was behind. But getting these game reps, especially at Michigan State, staying in longer and getting those reps helped me get better, and I feel like I’m getting better.”

The missed tackle against Rutgers set him back a bit. He came off the bench and played just 17 snaps the following week against Nebraska, before seeing more time the last three outings.

“Especially coming back at Rutgers, when I missed that tackle for the touchdown, I’m not gonna lie, I lost a little bit of confidence,” Moore continued. “And coming off the bench, I think it helped me because you’ve got guys in there that are in there before you that are pushing you to be better. It makes you want to be at a high level so you can get that starting spot back. It wasn’t really odd, it just helped me be better.

“It was not being on the field as much, and then come back and it’s really the first or second play I’m back and I miss a tackle. I’m like, ‘Oh, is it my leg or me mentally?’ But I think the reps of practice and then these few games, I’m really getting my confidence back.”

Moore is bulked up this season. He currently weighs 190 pounds, he said, after getting up to 200 at the beginning of fall camp. He realized that was too heavy and trimmed down. He was listed at 185 last season.

“I feel like I’m stronger,” Moore said. “I feel like I got a little bit faster than I did last year.”

He’s playing on a deep Michigan defense that doesn’t have a single player averaging more than 36 defensive snaps per game (winning each contest by 24-plus points also helps, with backups closing things out). As a freshman in 2021, Moore started four tilts. This season, no freshmen have opened any games and there’s an increased level of depth at each position.

“I think it helps us a lot, being deeper,” the Michigan defensive back said. “Two years ago, even last year, we played, what, almost the whole game at the beginning of the season. But now you’ve got the twos and threes deep good enough to play with the starters. It helps us with our legs. I like it a lot, because I still feel fresh. Even though I started late, I believe everybody else feels fresh right now. It’s just a good thing that the team has.”

The Michigan secondary hasn’t been tested all that much this season, particularly by a drop-back passer. In a sense, even though it’s eight games in, the group is unproven. Moore believes it has a high ceiling.

“I think as good as we make ourselves be,” Moore said of the Michigan defensive backfield’s potential. “We’re in control of our own destiny, so as hard as we work, we can be as great as we can be.”

Rod Moore gunning for Michigan’s turnover buffs

Michigan’s 2022 ‘turnover buffs’ — Cartier shades — reside somewhere at Moore’s place of residence. He earned them last season, coming away with 4 interceptions. That’s the most any U-M player has had in a season since cornerback Channing Stribling in 2016 and most by a U-M safety since Dewayne Patmon in 1998 (both with 4). Moore got a late start to this season but is still looking to take home the buffs again.

“Oh yeah, I’m gunnin’ for ‘em,” Moore said.

Graduate defensive back Mike Sainristil is currently in the lead with 3 picks. Sophomore safety Keon Sabb is second with 2. Moore, senior defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, sophomore defensive tackle Kenneth Grant, sophomore cornerback Will Johnson, graduate safety Quinten Johnson and junior cornerback Ja’Den McBurrows all have 1 a piece.