Tag: Rod Moore

2023 Buckeyes Wire Preseason All-Big Ten team: Defensive Backs

How many Ohio State players made our All-Big Ten team? #GoBucks #B1G

The 2023 college football season is right around the corner and the Big Ten is loaded with top-notch talent and predicting who will end up on the All-Big Ten has proven challenging. Not only was it hard to choose one player over another, but it was also hard to admit that some of Ohio State’s most prominent rivals have some serious dogs on their squad.

This list will dive into the defensive backfield — and as expected — the Big Ten has some dominant defensive backs that make it very hard to narrow it down to just four. This list contains two cornerbacks and two safeties and we have a Buckeye make the team at corner, but not at safety.

In the age of the transfer portal, it is possible for a complete dark horse to rise as a frontrunner, but we will do our best to provide the most educated guess based on previous performances and situations.

PFF: Michigan safety Rod Moore is a player to watch in 2023

Could he have an All-American type season?

Junior Rod Moore was not a highly-sought after recruit coming out of the 2021 recruiting class. The Clayton (Ohio) Northmonth product was a three-star recruit in the ’21 cycle and as his play has shown — Moore was extremely underrated.

Moore had offers from few big-named teams like Iowa, Kentucky, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin, but the major blue blood programs, like Ohio State, did not offer the 5-foot-11 safety. Then-defensive coordinator Don Brown and head coach Jim Harbaugh loved what they saw from the hard-hitting safety and Moore ultimately signed with the Michigan Wolverines.

Heading into his junior season, Moore is expected to lead the young Michigan secondary. NFL draft prognosticators believe Moore is a potential top-two-round draft selection. Max Chadwick, with PFF, put Moore on his top-10 safety watch list for the 2024 NFL draft. In the past four NFL drafts, there have been just three safeties selected in the first round, and the Michigan safety has a chance to make it four — if all goes right.

Moore is arguably the most well-rounded safety in the country heading into next season and was an honorable mention PFF All-American in 2022.

He was one of two Power Five safeties in 2022 who earned 80-plus grades both in coverage and as a run defender. The other, Alabama’s Brian Branch, was taken in the second round of the 2023 draft by the Detroit Lions. Moore’s four interceptions were tied for seventh among Power Five safeties.

Moore played in 11 games with four starts during his freshman season at Michigan. He had a career-high nine tackles against Ohio State in 2021.

Last season, as a sophomore, he appeared in all 14 games with 13 starts. He led all defensive backs with 71 tackles and led the entire team with four interceptions. Moore was also an All-Big Ten honorable mention.

Now that R.J. Moten is gone, after transferring to Florida, Moore more than likely sees an even more elevated role in 2023. Between his vision of seeing the football and his open-field tackling, Moore is in store for a monster 2023 season for the Wolverines.

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Report: Michigan starter has a new look by changing jersey number for 2023

Going to look sharp in the new threads! #GoBlue

Michigan football junior, and hard-hitting safety, Rod Moore has some big expectations entering the 2023 season. R.J. Moten transferred to Florida, which leaves Moore and Makari Paige to lock down the safety positions, but Moore would have assuredly been considered a lock to receive majority of the playing time.

Moore was an All-Big Ten selection in 2022, led the defensive backs with 71 tackles, and had a team-high four intercetpions last season. The Ohio native has already been picked to become an All-American once the 2023 season concludes, according to Athlon Sports.

When Moore comes running out of the tunnel against East Carolina and making big plays this season, he will have a different look.

According to Clayton Sayfie with The Wolverine, Moore is changing his number from No. 19 to No. 9 this season.

On Sunday, Michigan football players held the second annual BG Champs Camp in Chicago, Illinois. Rod Moore was one of the Wolverines to help out and be there, and he told The Wolverine that he would be changing his number to No. 9.

“I’ve always rocked with J.J., and now — I don’t know if you know — but now I’m No. 9, so we’re going to be wearing the same number, so it’s gonna be turnt,” Moore said. “Ah, I just wanted to wear a single digit for potentially my last year. I mean, 19 was cool, but as a safety …”

Former Michigan safety Damani Dent wore No. 9, but he entered the transfer portal this spring and has yet to make a deceision on where he will be playing  in 2023.

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Multiple Michigan football players make Athlon Sports’ preseason All-American team

There may be even more when the season is over! #GoBlue

Athlon Sports came out with their annual preseason All-American teams this week and there were multiple Michigan football players who cracked the list.

During 2022, Michigan had four members get All-American honors: Blake Corum, Olu Oluwatimi, Jake Moody, and Mike Morris. The Wolverines return Corum, who is coming off an injury that sidelined him the final three games of the season, but one would figure if he stays healthy — he will be back on an All-American team.

There are several candidates on the 2023 roster who could be All-Americans at the end of the season. And according to Athlon Sports, there are eight Michigan players that will be an All American in 2023.

Here are the Wolverines that made cut.

What Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football players said upon arriving in Phoenix

Let’s go! #GoBlue

PHOENIX — Michigan football has arrived in Arizona and is set to embark on a week of practice and media availabilities with opponent TCU in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Saturday.

Upon arriving at Sky Harbor Airport, Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines were greeted by a gathering of fans on the tarmac and immediately moved into a tent where he, running back Donovan Edwards, safety Rod Moore and linebacker Michael Barrett took questions from the media.

At the end, Edwards beckoned a child-age fan to ask a question, which you can read at the end of the transcript.

Here is everything the group had to say with the College Football Playoff semifinal looming.

Michigan defense aware of challenges the TCU offense presents

It will be a huge challenge, but one that #Michigan is up for. #GoBllue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the third-straight game, Michigan football will have its hands full on the defensive side of the ball, as it faces a pass-heavy, high-flying offense.

Known for its offensive attack, TCU is quite balanced, despite running an air raid offense. The Horned Frogs are ranked No. 25 in the country in both the pass and the run, with the 16th-overall offense by yards and sixth in the country in scoring.

After facing off against Ohio State and Purdue, it won’t get any easier for the Michigan defense in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

“They’re versatile. They do a lot of different things,” fifth-year linebacker Michael Barrett said. “They have a quarterback who’s a competitor, a real competitor. He’s always gonna compete, put his team on his back to kind of get them the win. They got a really good receiving corps. They got a quarterback who can get on the ball, a good running back. And they’re just balanced with the pass and a running game. They’re pretty good, really good at both. It’s gonna be a good test for our defense on all levels.”

The biggest challenge for the Wolverines will come in the secondary, especially given how prolific the pass game can be.

TCU averages 273 yards per game through the air, which will be the third-best the maize and blue have seen behind the Buckeyes and Boilermakers. Led by quarterback Max Duggan, who can also run the ball, the Horned Frogs have a signal caller who won’t give up no matter how dire the circumstances, and he earned a trip to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist as a result.

Sophomore safety Rod Moore says that the back seven for the Michigan defense is certainly on high alert due to his capabilities mixed with his moxie.

“I was watching (the Big 12 Championship game) in my hotel room and I can see that he’s a very hard player, like he (gives) everything he has,” Moore said. “We just have to do the same thing, give him everything that we have. But I was impressed. I didn’t know that he was that good. But watching that game, I was very impressed.”

“Offensively, they’re a good challenge,” Moore also said. “I know they’re an air raid offense but we’ve seen that before. They have multiple weapons, but we’re just gonna have to stop them.”

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Just as much of a challenge is wide receiver Quinten Johnston, who is 40th in the country with 903 yards in 12 games. But even if Michigan has luck in slowing down the prolific pass-catcher, the Horned Frogs have multiple other weapons in the receiving game who can be just as big of threats.

“I’m just seeing that they have weapons on the outside, the inside, and quarterback,” Moore said. “As you can see, he was a Heisman runner-up. Quinten Johnston is a good athlete, a good player. We’ve seen good players and good athletes, we’re just gonna have to stop him.

“But I know that if we have to shut him down, there’s gonna be another one that rises up. So we’re just gonna have to go from stopping him to stopping each and every one of them.”

So, how does Michigan hone in on the breadth of weapons that TCU has? Given that the run game is on equal footing with the pass game, how does the defense prioritize?

Barrett says it’s all about staying true to what the Wolverines have done all season — preparation and anticipation — while playing sound at every level.

“It just makes us focus in on our fundamentals,” Barrett said. “It’s more anticipate than guessing. In a sense, you can’t really kind of guess what they’re doing just based off of alignments and things like that. We’ll just kind of dig deeper into the film and kind of get a deeper look into kind of things that they do and different formations and stuff like that. But that’s kind of the hardest thing, just kind of not trying to guess and just anticipate.”

Michigan and TCU will kick off in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl at 4 p.m. EST on Dec. 31.

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Michigan football secondary undaunted by Ohio State pass game

If #Michigan can slow down Ohio State’s pass game, it would go a long way. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — While most of the college football world is focused on what it might mean if Michigan football RB Blake Corum is either limited or doesn’t play vs. Ohio State, perhaps the more important battle that will decide the game is how the Wolverine secondary will handle the Buckeye wide receivers.

Despite winning 42-27, the maize and blue allowed OSU QB C.J. Stroud to pass for 394 yards a year ago, his sixth-best game in terms of yardage of the season, and 53 yards more than his average of 341 at the time. Though the talk about Ohio State’s epic passing offense has been centered around Marvin Harrison Jr., Stroud isn’t quite as prolific as a year ago. Thus far, he’s passed for 2,991 yards and his best game to this point was a 367-yard, five touchdown performance against Toledo in Week 3, followed up by Week 6 at MSU when he passed for 361 yards and six touchdowns. Last season, his worst game was when he played a partial game against Tulsa and threw for 185 yards, with the next worst being 266 against Indiana. This year, Stroud has had multiple sub-300-yard games, with that benchmark being topped six out of his 11 game appearances compared to nine-of-12 last year.

Ohio-native Rod Moore will have something to do with Stroud’s production this year, as he had last year. The second-year safety came on strong late in 2021, but has been a full-time starter this year.

He’s not particularly happy with how the Michigan secondary performed in The Game a year ago, and looks forward to potentially limiting the production on that front.

“They’re going to try to pass the ball like every team does,” Moore said. “But we just have to — I would say we have to cut that in half. 400 is way too much. And we don’t have to do that and continue to lock in and execute everything that we do.”

When it comes to the Buckeye receivers, Moore is leery, but isn’t writing off Ohio State’s biggest strength as a surefire win for the team down south.

Harrison leads the team with 1,037 yards and 11 touchdowns this year, while Emeka Egbuka has 914. The third option, Julian Fleming, the former No. 1 overall recruit, has 415 yards. It’s unknown whether or not Jaxon Smith-Njigba will be available, considering he’s missed most of the season with a hamstring injury.

Comparing and contrasting that to last year, in 13 games, Smith-Njibga led the team with 1,606 yards, Garret Wilson had 1,058, and Chris Olave had 936. Essentially, it’s as if the Buckeyes are missing all of Smith-Njigba’s production while retaining what Wilson and Olave were able to do a year ago.

Still, Moore knows what OSU can do, and he’s optimistic about the Wolverines’ chances to slow things down in the passing offense.

“They present a big challenge, just like any other team,” Moore said. “They have good receivers. I mean, there’s not one in particular, all of them, everyone there is good. So we’re just gonna have to do we do in the secondary and stop them.”

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Regardless, it’s a challenge he knows is coming. The best passing offense that Michigan has seen thus far have been Penn State (44th nationally) and Maryland (45th). The Nittany Lions passed for 157 yards against the Wolverines while Maryland posted the most that Michigan has given up, with 269. Inexplicably, Iowa, the worst passing team in the conference, posted the second-most yards allowed with 246 yards. Through 11 games, the maize and blue feature the nation’s fifth-best passing defense to Ohio State’s 17th-rated passing offense.

In terms of the team’s confidence entering The Game, it seems palpable. In years past, the Wolverines appeared hopeful, but it was more an ‘if we win’ rather than a ‘when we win.’ That changed last year, but this year it’s been even more evident that Michigan has an expectation to emerge victorious.

Still, despite winning last year, the Wolverines aren’t resting on their laurels, more so looking toward potentially starting a win streak in the rivalry for the first time in more than two decades.

“It hasn’t changed at all because that’s just one win,” Moore said. “And I would say I think it was 11 or 10 years before that we hadn’t beat them. So we just want to keep doing that and flip the script and do that every year from now on. Keep the streak going.”

If Michigan is to officially start a win streak, it will come on Saturday at Ohio Stadium, where it hasn’t won since 2000. The Game kicks off at 12:14 p.m. EST on Fox.

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Players of the game: Michigan vs. Indiana

Extremely impressed with these guys!

Michigan improved to 6-0 on Saturday by beating Indiana in Bloomington, 31-10.

It was a tale of two halves for the Michigan offense on Saturday. The Wolverines scored 10 points in the first half and seven of those came on the first drive of the game. But the maize and blue came out on fire in the second half and moved the ball efficiently — mainly through the air.

J.J. McCarthy threw for 304 yards, his first 300-yard performance as a Michigan Wolverine. The sophomore threw his first interception of the season when he forced a ball to Ronnie Bell in the end zone, but McCarthy had another nice performance completing 78% of his passes.

The defense started out slowly as well trying to deal with the Hoosiers’ tempo offense. But the pass rush was as dominant as it has been this season. Michigan sacked Connor Bazelak seven times and knocked him down several other times.

The Hoosiers were held to 29 yards of offense in the second half. Indiana punted the ball five times and had a turnover on downs during the final two quarters.

Here are our six players — three offensive and three defensive — of the game from the Wolverines’ win against Indiana.

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Michigan football players not surprised by stellar defensive debut

It was really, really good on Saturday! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There were a lot of skeptics about the Michigan football defense entering the 2022 season. After Saturday’s debut, chances are, many of them are dying off.

But inside Schembechler Hall, what we saw against Colorado State is exactly what the Wolverine defense was expected to be.

“All the time, every day,” sophomore safety Rod Moore said. “We all compete and the whole team’s really good, so some days offense wins, sometimes defense wins. The defense is pretty consistent, like what we saw on Saturday, that’s really what we expect and what our goals have been.”

Moore particularly had success, netting his first-career interception after edge rusher Braiden McGregor forced CSU quarterback Clay Millen to step up in the pocket and make a quick throw.

The Michigan defense swarmed all over the Rams, with seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss. In fact, the Wolverines had just one sack in the 2021 season opener against Western Michigan one year ago.

One thing that stood out in the game was just how fast it was, with winged helmets surrounding the football on nearly every play. One factor in the game was linebacker Michael Barrett, formerly the VIPER in Don Brown’s defense. Barrett says that the team speed is in large part due to it being the second year of the system, even though there’s a new defensive coordinator in Jesse Minter.

“Yeah, I want to toot my own horn — a little fast. I feel like we were flying around just as a whole,” Barrett said. “I feel like we got a lot of guys that can move, a lot of guys who come off the edges, or in the secondary or in the  interior. I feel like we got to just a lot of guys who are just flying around.”

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That said, while the defense looked fast and perhaps better than expectations in the season opener, even if it looks good again — as anticipated — in the next two weeks, it doesn’t matter much to the current players.

They know what’s ahead of them, in terms of the nonconference schedule vs. the Big Ten teams they’ll face for the majority of the season.

“Yeah, I mean, everything but just faster. Especially when we get to playing these the better teams,” Moore said. “Right now these are just kind of warm-up games, if you want to say. But when we get to playing the Penn States and the Michigan States, we want to have the same, where we play Saturday throughout every game of the season.”

Michigan’s next game will take place on Saturday night when it hosts Hawaii. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

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Iowa Hawkeyes 2022 schedule breakdown: Michigan

Last year’s matchup against Michigan was a mismatch. How will the Iowa Hawkeyes shape up against the Wolverines in 2022?

Here it is: The first really big test for Iowa this season. The first four games will not be easy—there are no easy games in college football—but, undoubtedly, the Michigan Wolverines are the first big step on the schedule and certainly a game every Hawkeyes fan has circled on their calendar.

Everyone remembers what happened the last time Iowa crossed paths with the Wolverines. It wasn’t pretty for the Hawkeyes at all in the 2021 Big Ten championship game as Michigan routed Iowa, 42-3.

Both teams have a bit of a roster shakeup, especially Michigan with two star defensive ends off to the NFL. As they are nearly every year, Michigan will be as tough as they come in the Big Ten. Here are the players that Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh is counting on to get them back to the College Football Playoff this season.