How Trey Moore's New Role Adds Flexibility to Texas' Defense

Few players on the Texas football roster have changed more over the last two years of their careers than Trey Moore.

[Join Inside Texas TODAY and get FOUR MONTHS for just ONE DOLLAR!]

In 2022, his first season starting in college football, Moore was a 230-pound outside linebacker at UTSA, playing in a 3-4 scheme where he worked mostly off the edge. Just one year later, Moore was one of the best pass rushers in the nation by the numbers, recording 14 sacks and 18 TFLs—numbers that ranked third and 12th in the nation.

Now, in his second offseason at the University of Texas, Moore has transitioned into a brand-new role on the Longhorns, entering spring camp as a 246-pound off-ball Will linebacker.

“This has been a learning curve for him this spring,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We all know he can rush the passer off the edge and do that stuff, but playing off the ball more is something that he hadn’t done in his past.”

Inside Texas has been reporting this potential switch for most of the offseason, ever since Moore decided to return for his final year in college. Ian Boyd, one of our own, wrote this back in early March:

“At which position do you tend to find blazing quick, 6-foot-1, 240-pound dudes in the NFL?

The answer is not Edge, where Moore has primarily lined up, but inside linebacker.”

Moore is making this switch for a multitude of reasons, but Ian’s first point is the most obvious one. There are currently about eight edge rushers projected to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft this year. Just one is smaller than 6’3, and Tennessee’s freak athlete James Pearce Jr. is the only one not north of 245 pounds. Only two edge rushers between rounds two and seven on PFF’s big board weigh under 250 pounds. It’s a position that typically plays closer to 6’4, 260 pounds in the NFL.

Outside of his size, Moore’s linebacker fit allows Colin Simmons and Ethan Burke to take the majority of edge snaps, giving Colton Vasek and Zina Umeozulu spots on the two-deep. Texas used three linebackers frequently throughout the 2024 season, but David Gbenda is off to the NFL. Moore enables a high-level rotation with Liona Lefau at Will while Anthony Hill can become the best Mike backer in the country.

“He causes some problems even for our offense right now because he’s played about three different positions,” Sarkisian said about Moore’s impact in practice so far. “It’s allowing the defense to do some different things and giving them a lot of flexibility.”

Sark praised Moore’s work ethic during this transition so far this offseason. After all, it takes a lot of emotional maturity to shift into a much less flashy role than what he had at UTSA, where he was the defense’s star. Now, Moore can become a jack-of-all-trades linebacker while Hill and Simmons become true stars on the defense.

“He’s having to work every day, and I’m not talking just at practice. It’s coming up and meeting with (Linebacker) Coach Nansen. It’s pre-practice. It’s post-practice, to find that level of comfort,” Sarkisian said. “The good thing about Trey is he’s a worker, and this level of discipline in his approach and how he goes about his business is allowing him to get more comfortable quicker.”

In a world where the terms edge and off-ball linebacker dominate the NFL Draft circle, Moore is really just playing the role of linebacker, and that can take on many faces. As a Will, he’ll of course be asked to work in coverage, but he’ll also be tasked with blitzing the passer, covering option plays, cheating up on the line of scrimmage, and clogging running lanes. This change is a move by Sark and DC Pete Kwiatkowski to get their best 11 on the field as much as possible, and Moore is one of the best 11 defensive players on this team.

[Order THE LONGHORN ALPHABET today and teach your little ones the A to Z’s of Texas Football!]

Changes like this don’t come overnight. Sark made sure to note that Moore is not a finished product at the position, but Moore’s efforts to become more versatile and a winning football player, no matter the position, are exactly what Texas’ defense needs following such a successful season.