I’d stop running these, but the kid keeps finding the endzone. Fabian Moreau’s latest tape lists him at 6-0 185 with a 4.38 40. Even with hand-held high school 40 time inflation, all those touchdowns suggest maybe he’s fast enough to be a pretty good wide receiver/Tazer, and he keeps catching footballs. Oregon could use a couple of guys who reliably catch the football, so who knows.
Regular visitors to The Duck Stops Here know about Moreau, a lightly-recruited tailback/wide receiver/athlete from Western High in Broward County Florida. He’s a two-star prospect who got little attention as a lower classman, undersized and unheralded. Flash forward to senior year, and the young man grew an inch, gained twenty pounds, posted some good results in summer camps and combines, and now he’s the feature back for a 4-2 school, making big plays in gobs. A few smaller schools offered him, Western Michigan and Florida International.
Back in August he sent us a polite email and a junior highlight tape. With just under a 1000 all-purpose yards as a junior, the tape showed some promise, but it wasn’t eye-catching. “My dream is to be a Duck,” he said, though he wasn’t high on Oregon’s radar. Chip Kelly and Gary Campbell were pursuing bigger-name talents like D.J. Foster and Byron or Keith Marshall.
But already in his senior year, with the added work and improvement, he’s scored a dozen touchdowns, running, receiving, returning kicks. His 40 times have improved, and he’s visibly faster on film, finding the end zone with regularity.
On hia first touchdown play he lines up wide in an empty backfield set, makes a nice adjustment to the ball thrown behind him (something the Ducks coHuld have used Saturday) and a nifty cutback to make the first defender miss, then accelerates to outrun pursuit for a long touchdown on a simple five yard out. He has a nice fluid stride.
Second play, he takes a ball in over the middle thrown a little high with one hand, cradles it softly and beats a drawn-in defense for a long score, pulling away from the defender.
The third is a 90-yard kichoff return. He sees a seam up the right side and dashes past the defense. Moreau’s been well-coached, as it’s one cut and go to end zone, doesn’t waste moves, trusts his speed. Next comes a simple pitch left from the tailback spot, cuts hard up into the hole, sheds a tackle and bursts free for a 60-yard score. Don’t like that he slows down at the ten and cadillacs into the end zone, one-handing the ball in celebration. At the next level there are safeties that could turn that into a seriously embarrassing highlight the other way.
From the slot he takes a skinny post for a touchdown, then at tailback he goes off tackle left, bounces outside, and scores again. Keep in mind this is a kid who ran for just a few hundred yards as a junior. His improvement has been exponential, with growing confidence. Again he wastes little time with his cuts. He reminds me a little of Kenjon Barner or Josh Huff in that way, about the same size as a high schooler. Not sure how he do in a foot race against either, but he isn’t having any trouble outrunning Broward County defenses. Recently he picked up a scholarship offer from UCLA.
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