Magnificent 7: Moore will be a Cav like his dad

One of the greatest football players in Virginia history put his job on hold to play the role of father over the past 18 months.

Blessed with a son that landed offers from over 30 football powerhouses, Shawn Moore made it clear to his son, Mike, that support was unconditional. There would not be added pressure from the Virginia wide receivers coach to have his son in uniform with the program that made the elder famous.

That meant the world to Mike Moore — a four-star defensive end at DeMatha Catholic School in Maryland — during a straining process that with unofficial visits, countless phone calls from the nation’s best football coaches and thousands of letters rolling through the mailbox.

While at Virginia from 1988 to 1990, Shawn Moore broke nearly every passing record, vaulted the program to a No. 1 national ranking and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1990 as he received more votes than any player in ACC history had to that point.

“I talked to him about it and he said he was just going to help me make the best decision for me and he said he was going to try to be a father more than a recruiter,” Mike Moore said. “Having him be there and talking to me about schools was just great.”

One could only imagine the added pressure that Mike Moore felt in continuing his father’s legacy in orange and blue, but Wahoo nation made a bold statement early in the process.

“I didn’t feel any pressure from the UVa people,” Mike Moore said. “Everybody was wishing me good luck and everybody wanted me to pick the best school for me.”
Ultimately, Mike Moore felt a comfort level at Virginia that was unmatched by any of the schools that offered, a list that included Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Southern Cal.

“Moore is a player that is rated much lower than his offer sheet would suggest,” Wahoos247.com publisher Jamie Oakes said. “He is still a four-star guy but we are talking about a 30-offer guy that had Florida State, Miami, Tennessee, Clemson, Notre Dame … they all came in with offers.”

Virginia won the battle for Moore for a host of reasons.

“I just felt the best school at the end of it was UVa,” he said.

Ranked as the nation’s 9th-best strong-side defensive end and the No. 6 recruit in Maryland by 247sports.com, Moore landed an invitation to play in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl in Phoenix earlier this month. As a senior, Moore was an All-State selection after registering 89 tackles, including 17 stops for a loss and nine sacks. He also had two interceptions and forced four fumbles.

Prior to his sophomore year at DeMatha, Moore was leaning towards playing college athletics in a different sport.

“I started to realize I could play college football when I was one of the few guys as a sophomore and made the varsity team and played,” Moore said. “That showed me that I could be pretty good.

“I was really a basketball guy. That is what I really liked.”

Currently listed at 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds, Moore admits he made the right decision with a football future at Virginia looming.

While the Cavaliers boast a large crop of defensive ends already in the program and others, including five-star Eli Harold from Ocean Lakes High in Virginia Beach, set to sign on Wednesday on National Signing Day, Moore said he appreciates the system that defensive line coach Jeff Hanson utilized this year during an eight-win season.

“As a recruit you watch the rotation and you see how Coach Hanson is trying to play as many defensive linemen as he can and that is what I saw the most,” Moore said. “That is what I really liked to see. There were a lot of guys getting in the rotation and seeing that can give you a lot of hope that they will give you a chance to be a part of it.”

Moore has aspirations of playing as a true freshman, a dream that a host of players in the highly-touted Class of 2012 share.

“Basically with this class I think we are all hungry and can’t wait to get to Virginia and do what we can and as early as we can,” he said. “We just want to get out there and get ready to play.

“I think it is a great program right now and everybody knows that we are getting better and we are just going to keep getting better. We are going to be in that Top 25 and we are going to be contending for that ACC Championship soon.”