Safety Rod Moore talks possibility of return to Michigan in 2024
LOS ANGELES — Michigan junior safety Rod Moore got off to a slow start early in the season after a knee injury slowed him, but he picked it up and was playing his best football by the end of the season. His interception to seal the Ohio State game was one of the biggest plays of the season for the Wolverines, improving him to 3-0 against his home state Buckeyes.
Moore, a former three-star prospect, has become a legitimate NFL draft prospect with his play over the last three seasons. While some seem to be leaning heavily toward entering the NFL Draft — as reported, edge Braiden McGregor and senior receiver Roman Wilson among them — Moore is considering a return to Michigan for a fourth season and a chance to go 4-0 against the Buckeyes with another win in Columbus.
“It is a possibility,” Moore said Thursday in addressing the media in one of his pre-Rose Bowl press conferences. “I’ve thought about it a little bit, but I just really want to focus on what’s going on right now, especially this game that’s coming up. I don’t want to cloud my mind with my personal future. I just want to do what I want to be able to do for this team at the time being.”
And that’s win a national championship. With what they’ve been through this year, from head coach Jim Harbaugh missing 6 games — three due to an incident involving alleged illegal contact with a recruit and the aftermath and three more for alleged on-site scouting for which there was no evidence he had knowledge — they’re more intent than ever on winning it all and proving people wrong.
“It brings a team together … Michigan vs. Everybody with everything that went on from the coach to that whole other thing that was going on,” Moore said. “It just brought the team closer together to go keep that one tack mind of national championship, national championship, national championship.”
Others could lean toward leaving if they do win it, of course. But as of now, Moore believes after speaking with several of his teammates that many of those with eligibility remaining are considering returning, too.
“I think some guys are already set on leaving because they already know what they’re going to be able to do,” he said. “But some guys are in the same boat as me.”
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Another “One More Year” fund could help. Last year, collectives raised plenty of NIL money for seniors like back Blake Corum and guards Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter to return, among others. Moore raked in some cash for merchandise sold after his big pick, among other revenue streams, and is hopeful it will continue to pay off.
That could also help make a difference when it’s time for him to decide. The collectives would need to step up, of course, after having lost some momentum recently.
“I like it because you get rewarded for what you do, especially on big stages like this,” Moore said. “When there was no NIL, I think it was kind of messed up. You’re playing on TV … even when they had NCAA , people in the game didn’t get paid for it. I love it, especially because you get paid earlier than what you could have … it was you went to NFL, then you get paid. There are chances to get paid now.”
He’ll have a chance to weight that and other factors after the season. For now, he and his teammates are ready to play their best game in the Rose Bowl and try to advance to the Jan. 8 National Championship Game in Houston.
