Left Wanting Moore
Photo Credit: PurdueSports, 2018
When Rondale Moore had a change of heart during his Senior year in high school, and committed to Purdue during the during the All-American Bowl, many in the college football world took notice. Instead of signing with Texas or one of the elite programs that had offered him, he chose to come play for Jeff Brohm . His decision was one of the worst-kept secrets during that late recruiting season, as most Purdue fans knew it was coming. His scholarship offer sheet got my attention, in spite of my ongoing effort to ignore recruiting; this was an elite group. His lack of prototypical size kept him from being the big boys’ highest priority…but he was undoubtedly the jewel of Jeff Brohm’s first full recruiting class.
His reputation of being almost impossible to tackle in traffic was on display immediately during camp prior to his Freshman season. His impact was so noteworthy that Brohm and company all but guaranteed that Rondale Moore would make an instant, sizable impact in Purdue’s 2018 season.
I don’t think the most optimistic Purdue football fan could have predicted how great the first thirty minutes of Moore’s career would be. Moore finished his first half of a college football game with nearly 300 all-purpose yards and two TDs (one a 76 yard TD run, the second a 32 yard reception). He finished the game with 313 all-purpose yards, a Purdue program record. In that close loss to Northwestern, Purdue made a ton of mistakes…but the imagination and attention of Purdue fans had been captured by what I believe is the most electric Purdue football player that I have ever seen.
Moore was lightning in a bottle for Jeff Brohm’s program. Right out of the box, 100-plus yard receiving games were the norm for Purdue’s 5’9” do-everything wideout. It wasn’t just that he caught a ton of passes, it was what he did after the grab that was stunning and difficult to describe. From shrugging off a BC would-be tackler and changing direction to score from 50 yards out, to blasting a squared-up aOSU cornerback with a devastating shoulder, then stiff arm combo, only to keep the play going and score with ease, to a full-speed spin move versus Wisconsin that split two defenders and left them dumbfounded, Moore’s combination of athleticism, strength, elusiveness and incredible talent are unlike any Purdue football skilled player that the program has ever seen. I think you could make a claim, without being someone merely looking through gold-colored glasses, that Moore was one of, if not the best receiver in the nation in 2018…and he wore the gold and black.
I love college football, but absolutely view it through a Purdue-centric lens. Moore wearing a Purdue uniform, even for one of the shortest successful careers that I can remember, has a tremendous legacy for the program.
His legacy will be that he took a pair of solid QBs in Blough and Sindelar, and allowed them to become great, for a time. Brohm’s offensive genius, plus the Sindelar/Blough combo, plus Moore and the Purdue receiving corps created one of the highest octane offenses in the nation. And last year, when it was just Sindelar’s job to start the season, Elijah looked like one of the best QBs in America, until injury ended both he and Moore’s season on the SAME. DAMNED. PLAY.
That sucked.
In 2018, he was the B1G’s Freshman of the year, a Consensus All-American, the Paul Hornung Award Winner (most versatile player) and the Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year…as a true Freshman…a Purdue true Freshman. Moore was on everyone’s Pre-season All-American, Heisman and Belitnikoff Award lists in 2019 before the hamstring injury during the Minnesota game ended his season. We now know that was the last time we will see Moore in a Purdue uniform.
That’s heartbreaking.
For me as an individual, the single toughest thing to witness is unrealized potential. It kills me. Rondale Moore’s potential as a football player is seemingly limitless…he has barely scratched the surface with the exciting, game-changing plays that we have all witnessed in his mere 16 full contests in gold and black. As he begins his 8 month NFL draft preparation, his spot in the first two rounds seems to be almost a lock. He will, almost assuredly, do the amazing, again and again for a lucky NFL franchise if given the opportunity. But his potential impact on Purdue’s football program is not at all what any of us thought it would be following the incredible game v. Northwestern two years ago.
Purdue history might tell the story in a few years, that Moore’s greatest legacy for Purdue football is not what he did on the field, but instead, is the receiving corps that we will hopefully be able to watch in a little under a month. Moore’s explosion onto the scene told the story that Brohm’s coaching staff will put true Freshman on the field right away…and they absolutely will make an impact, if they are ready to play when they arrive on campus. David Bell stepped up when Moore was no longer available to play last season. And history repeated itself- yet another Purdue receiver was the B1G Freshman of the year in 2019. A host of highly-touted receivers and skilled players are now awaiting their turn to become the next Rondale Moore.
Truth be told, none of them will be the second coming of Rondale Moore. None will combine a 600lb squat, 4.3 40 yard dash and 40 inch vertical leap along with a relentless work ethic. To be the most talented, and the hardest working guy in the locker room is rare. As Aneesh always often says about Moore, he is a generational talent…there is no doubt about that. Sadly, his stats and the mere seven wins that he helped Purdue earn, do not reinforce the story that he should be regarded as one of the greatest Purdue receivers ever, in my opinion.
His 1258 yards receiving as a Freshman, ranks him second all-time behind John Standeford’s Senior season at Purdue. His 12 receiving TDs in 2018, have him tied in fourth place all-time for a single season. His 220 yards v. Vandy rank third behind performances from Chris Daniels and Selwyn Lymon. Both his total yardage and TDs place him outside of the top-10 in the program’s history. As we all know well though, stats don’t tell the entire story. Moore’s YouTube highlights paint a truer picture of just how dominant he was for most of his 16 games in God’s Country.
A hamstring injury followed by a pandemic now leaves Purdue fans like me lamenting that Moore’s career was way too short…even shorter than most realists thought it would be. We (BS writers) were often asked if there was any circumstance that might lead Moore to return for his Senior year. I all but guaranteed that Moore would be heading to the NFL as soon as the rules allowed him to do so. The question came from a hopeful (if not wishful) place that all Purdue fans had in their minds. Most just wanted to see Moore play as many games as possible at Purdue…but we all really knew early on, that his time in West Lafayette would be limited. The extenuating circumstances of the worst decade ever, the year 2020, abated Moore’s career to an even greater extent.
Before listening to Jeff Brohm’s football schedule reaction press conference on Wednesday afternoon, I was all-but-positive that we wouldn’t see Moore play another down for Purdue. After listening to Brohm say that Moore was a “man on a mission”, my hope was renewed. Yesterday’s announcement kinda blindsided me in the wake of Coach’s optimistic outlook…writing this post has helped me quickly mourn this loss.
Whenever Moore was asked what his motivation for his high-level work ethic, he would always answer, “My Mom.” After a conversation with his Mom and the rest of his family, he decided that yesterday was the time to call it a career.
Moore is preparing to graduate in December, of 2020, a mere 2.5 years into his academic career; that’s pretty incredible. As it turns out, Rondale is fast in the classroom as well. He has been an excellent representative of the university on and off of the field. He’s a Boilermaker.
Looking Ahead
Anthrop, Neal, Smiley and Hermanns will probably be joined by Karlaftis and Bell in leadership roles as the younger guard. But the loss of Moore’s lead by action example and the attention he drew from opposing defenses will be impossible to replicate.
In spite of Moore’s departure, I believe this offense will be one of the best in the league. The line is more mature and much deeper than last season, there are multiple experienced RBs along with the talented pups, and the QB battle (Plummer vs O’Connell vs Burton) will yield one or two guys that will see the field regularly, and will be able to do the job well. Oh yeah, have I told you about that receiving corps?!?!
Camp starts today…Let’s Play Football.
