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Trey Moore didn't return to Texas to take a back seat to anyone

Eric Nahlinby:Eric Nahlin•about 13 hours
Trey Moore
Trey Moore (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Texas Football received some good news this week as Edge Trey Moore elected to return for his final season. There was some question whether or not he would but ultimately he made the choice after receiving a good push from the Texas staff. With the presence of Freshman All-American Colin Simmons, Moore understandably wanted to feel confident in his role for the 2025 squad. As IT has reported, the staff certainly wanted him back. 

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There’s a saying in football, “you can never have enough pass rushers.” The Texas pass rush has had a rough decade but we saw a return to effectiveness this season. Simmons garnered much of the headlines with his team leading 9 sacks but there were a number of games this season where Moore was actually the best Buck outside linebacker when also considering his play against the run. 

Moore’s 5.5 sacks were a steep drop-off from the 14 he had in 2023, and even the 8 he had in 2022, but there are two key points of context: He took a massive step up in competition as he left UTSA and the AAC for Texas and the SEC, and, all of his sacks came since November 16th. 

The 6-foot-2, 240-pounder (maybe on each) had an interesting season. For the first six weeks many IT scribes were defending his lack of WOW plays by mentioning he was quite steady. While that was accurate, and he was grading well on coaches’ tape, there was merit to concerns over his lack of big plays. Starting against Vanderbilt and mobile quarterback Diego Pavia on October 26th, we started to see signs of the player we saw at UTSA and heard about since Texas signed him. 

Barryn Sorrell, Trey Moore
Barryn Sorrell, Trey Moore (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Moore received consistent praise from IT sources from the moment he arrived in January. Sources lauded him for his work ethic, movement skills, and football focus. They also mentioned his versatility and how there was no evidence of length issues when going up against Cameron Williams or Kelvin Banks. 

Length was the key question many of us had of him and it’ll still be a question when does enter the draft after next season. Normally it’s my stance that players with questions over measurables should leave when they can because those won’t change. However, Moore is a different case. His late-season trend line suggests a breakout season awaits him in the greatest proving ground in the sport. If he can put up a double-digit sack season in the SEC that will improve his grade quite a bit.

A popular question, is, how much will he play with the prodigy Simmons at the same position? This past season, Moore received 674 snaps to Simmons’ 472. Even if that allocation reversed next year, that’s still a lot of snaps for Moore.

But, I don’t think it’s wise to assume Moore’s snaps will drop much if at all. Barryn Sorrell‘s departure opens up 651 snaps that won’t be entirely consumed by Ethan Burke. Yes, Colton Vasek (and others) will play more but it sounds like there will be plenty of opportunities where both Simmons and Moore are on the field at the same time. Good luck, opposing OT’s and QB’s!

Plus, if you follow Texas football, you know no matter how good you are on defense you’re probably still going to rotate.

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Make no mistake, Moore is a very big piece of the puzzle, and indeed, you can never have too many pass rushers.

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