Recruiting Analysis: Taking on George Moore

My background is the NFL Draft, so I will be looking at college recruits from that perspective: not only on their immediately impact at the collegiate level, but what their long term prospects may be. 

The NFL is about three things when assessing talent: height, weight, speed, potential and motivation. I’ve based the following on new Ducks recruit, George Moore, after watching the film clips he submitted.

Triangle Numbers (Height, Weight, Speed)

Moore has been listed and reported to be 6’6 or 6’7 tall, and weighing from 308 Ibs. to 315 Ibs. Physically, he is an imposing guy with the size for a left tackle position.

I have not seen any listed or reported 40-yard dash, or shuttle run times on Moore. However, watching his tapes, he does move well for a guy of his length. I would not be shocked if he tested right a 5.0, which is pretty good for a guy of his dimensions. On tape, he appears to be a bit of a long strider.

I have also not seen anything listed about his arm length (reach). But someone that is 6’7 probably has a wingspan approaching 7’0. That’s a good thing.

Potential “Ceiling”

Run Blocking:

There’s not a lot of tape here. I’m guessing that San Mateo Community College was primarily a passing team or Moore didn’t have a lot of suitable run blocking video. From what I’ve seen, he appears to play a little high — a typical high school linemen habit, who have always been the biggest kids on the field. They tend to come out of their stance, lock up their opponent around the shoulder pads and wrestle them to a pancake, Greco-Roman style.

I saw no film of him fire out low and get an opponent on the ground. This is rare for a LT for obvious reasons, but one would like to see it as another tool in the skill set. However, he appears pretty good at the double team.

There were several clips of him running the defensive end down the field, demonstrating nice agility. It was pretty impressive for a big guy. It reminded me of Laremy Tunsil’s high school film.

Overall, he plays with good base, but he’ll need some work at the D1 level in run blocking. But all of this can be cleaned up with some coaching.

Pass Protection:

This is clearly his strong suit at this point. Scouts describe guys like this as a “Dancing Bear” — a big guy that’s really light on his feet. The athleticism jumps off the film. Moore plays with a nice base, sets up and takes on pass rushers with ease and confidence.

But I saw some areas of concern: I did not see a hand punch in the film. He will need to develop this going forward because it is an essential tool against pass rushers that are way more athletic at the D1 level than anything he has seen up to this point.

I didn’t see any redirects either. There are two reasons why this may be: The LG next to him appears to be pretty good and seemed to hold up without a lot of help. Also, we may not see a lot of stunting at the junior college level because of the rapid turnover of personnel. In my opinion, it takes some time to perfect the timing on both sides of the ball in game situations.

This is why the hand punch and redirect go hand-in-hand:

At the pre-snap in pass pro, a good set up stance is a balanced base, legs under the shoulder pads on the balls of their feet and the arms are extended. If you picture someone warming their hands over a campfire, you have the gist of it. The upper body lean and extended arms are to minimize the shock and impact of the pass rusher. That’s why long arms are coveted in LT’s — it’s to keep speed rushers at a distance and prevent them from getting in close to perform arm bars, pivots and reverse spins. The farther you keep them from you, the less effective these pass rush techniques are.

At the snap of the ball the LT wants to deliver a hand punch to the upper shoulder pad area of the pass rusher. The purpose of it is to rock him hard enough to break his momentum and knock him off balance. At that moment is when the LT (head on a swivel) takes a peek at the left guard to make sure he’s still upright and no stunts have occurred or a linebacker has shot the gap. He resets his base and refocuses his attention back on his primary threat (the speed rusher) in front of him. If not, he assists with the immediate danger inside from the stunt, twist, or linebacker shooting the gap. The protection of the pocket is constricting from the outside in — this is the redirect. The quarterback can step up into the pocket as it shrinks around him from the outside-in.

The redirect is a fundamental skill of a left tackle. And a hand punch sets it up.

Motivation “Want to”

The wild card in all of this (and any evaluation) is what I call “want to.” How bad does the player want to be great? How hard does he want to work?

That is the dilemma of every personnel guy in the NFL (or college for that matter). You can measure these guys. You can interview them. They can take intelligence (Wonderlic) tests. They’ll look you in the eyes and then lie to you about anything they think you want to hear.

At the end of the day, you can’t measure their heart. Or that big “chip” on their shoulder. Alleged or not, it’s why lightly recruited 2-star guys like J.J. Watt and Le’Veon Bell are well on their way to Canton. And it’s why there is a long and distinguished list of “can’t miss” guys sitting home on the weekends watching football just like the rest of us.

Assessment 

My impression of George Moore is this guy has elite triangle numbers. He does appear to be a bit raw. However, any shortcomings he may have are correctable with coaching. What he does have can’t be coached: size, in spades. He is a big guy that moves very well. Clearly his best football is front of him.

Depending on his work ethic, how quickly he picks up the offense, and how receptive he is to coaching, he could see the field quickly. I think this guy has a very high ceiling.

George Moore’s Bio

Hometown: San Marcos, California.

High School: San Marcos High School.

College Experience: Redshirted one year. Played one year at San Mateo Community College.

Time left to play: Three years.

Note: For what it’s worth, Hudl listed him from Antioch, California (Deer Valley High School) — no film available.

Committed to University of Oregon (February 2017)

#1 rated OT (JC) – reported

#3 rated OT (JC) – Scout.com

#24 overall prospect – Scout.com

Mike Kelly   (ChicoDuck!)
Chico, California

Top Photo from CSM Football

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