NU's Moore looking for more

 No comments  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

BYSTEVENM. SIPPLE

Nebraska defensive end Jay Moore makes no bones about his objective during spring football practice.

"I'm trying to fight for that starting job right now," said Moore, listed No. 2 at left end on the Huskers' two-deep chart.

If Moore manages to overtake returning starter Benard Thomas, Moore will have come from seemingly nowhere to do it.

A sophomore from Elkhorn, Moore suffered cartilage damage in his right knee making a sharp cut during a scrimmage last spring - the same knee he had injured seriously as a high school senior. His injury last spring never required surgery, but plagued him throughout the 2003 season. Slowly but surely, Moore faded from the picture.

After playing on the scout team a redshirt in 2002, Moore never even suited up for a game last season.

"I really wasn't able to do much - a few things here and there in practice,"Moore said. "It was like a day-to-day thing. But a decision was made that because I'd missed so much practice time . . . that I wasn't really useful."

Moore had undergone surgery on his right knee in the fall of 2001 after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament during the fifth game of Elkhorn High School's season. His rehabilitation progressed well enough that he was able to play in the Shrine Bowl in July of 2002.

However, the Shrine Bowl ended up being the last game in which Moore appeared.

Nonetheless, Moore said, he wasn't surprised to see his name listed behind Thomas on Nebraska's two-deep chart, not after the hard work Moore put in during winter conditioning.

"This is probably the best shape I've ever been in," Moore said.

What's more, Moore said, he feels stronger mentally, citing Nebraska's 6 a.m. off-season workouts for improving his overall toughness.

"You really get your mind right by getting up and doing all that running," he said. "It makes your mind tougher, and it makes your body feel that much better. So you know you can go through so much more, because your mind is much stronger."

The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Moore spent ample time with the first-string defense last week during the first week of spring drills. As one might expect, he's had to shake off some rust, he said.

Moore said that as an incoming freshman, his strong suit was defending the run. But he said his pass rush has improved under the guidance of new Nebraska defensive line coach John Blake.

"Coach Blake is probably one of the best at teaching pass-rush techniques," Moore said."He's been around the NFL a lot and knows what to do.

"I feel good.I'm starting to feel comfortable with everything again. My confidence level gets boosted up every day."

Blake describes Moore as "a tremendous young talent."

"He has a tremendous 'up' side," Blake said. "But he has to get stronger, and he hasn't played much football. He has to learn some techniques, and he has to learn how to play when he's tired. That keeps a lot of really good players from being great ones. So you have to push him and let him play good and execute when he's tired."

A gifted athlete, Moore was a dominant running back in high school. In 2001, before injuring his knee, he carried 92 times for 822 yards, an average of 8.9 yards per rush. He attended the Big Red Football School and scored 2,040 points in performance testing, which then was the fourth-highest all-time mark by a camp attendee.

Moore expected big things from himself at Nebraska. Then came the knee pain.

"It's tested my patience big time," he said. "The way I looked at it, things couldn't have gotten worse.

"Now, Ijust want to play some football."

Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@;journalstar.com.