Nov. 27, 2007

By Mike Nelson, Athletics Media Relations Staff

COLLEGE PARK, MD. - Some players were just made to play football. Senior Dre Moore is one of those individuals.

Moore did not pick up the game until 2001, his junior year of high school, but quickly established himself as one of the premier defensive prospects in the state of North Carolina. That year, Moore finally gave in to the encouragement of a teacher to try out for the squad. It took very little time for him to make up for his lack of experience.

"I was lost with play calling and reading plays, but I was so much bigger than everyone that it didn't even matter."

After only one year on the varsity team at Independence High School, Moore was the leading vote recipient for defensive linemen on the North Carolina all-state team his senior year.

Moore's high school experience could not have better prepared him for his college career. Not only were his teammates college-caliber, but the atmosphere was as well.

"Everyone else would play on Fridays, but we would play Saturday nights. We would play in front of thousands of people, and some of the [Carolina] Panthers would come out to watch us."

Moore's high school team was no joke, winning the state championship while going undefeated and outscoring opponents by an average of 43 points. His college-level teammates include a pair of current Georgia Bulldogs and former Florida quarterback Chris Leak.

A Carolina native, Moore turned down four schools from his home state to come to Maryland. "They came down here and told me I was their man no matter what. Other teams were not so sure about me; they thought I might be a fluke."

At Maryland, Moore quickly proved he was no fluke. By his sophomore season he had ascended to the top of the depth chart at defensive tackle. Overall, he has appeared in 38 career games, starting 20 of the last 23.

Defensive line coach Dave Sollazzo said that Moore's sheer bulk is his greatest strength as a player, but it's far from his only asset.

"He's very strong and we get a lot of double teams and play against some pretty stout offensive linemen," Sollazo said. "Because of his size and his strength, he's able to really do a good job at holding at the point of attack, and he's gotten a lot better fundamentally so he can get off blocks."

Moore finished neck-and-neck with Jeremy Navarre for most tackles and sacks by a defensive lineman in 2006, setting career-high totals in tackles, tackles for loss and sacks. Those achievements came in only 10 games as a starter.

In his final season as a Terp, Moore took his game up a notch. He led all Terps with six sacks, the most by a Terp since 2004, and also recorded 59 tackles to lead all defensive linemen.

Sollazzo has seen the jump in Moore's game this season as well.

"He's always been a good athlete," Sollazzo said. "He's been very strong and he's always had good speed, but now he's working on the intangibles, and that's really developed him into a complete football player and a complete person. He's really developed as a leader by example, and I think he's really starting to become a mature person as well. His focus has really gotten a lot better as well."

Indeed, Moore relies on more than his size to bully opposing offenses around. The 300-pound star defensive lineman uses another tool as much as his body to get the job done on the field: his mouth.

In addition to the typical game week preparations, Moore spends a little extra time studying his opponents' weaknesses so he can tell them all about it on game day.

"I can make them mad to the point where they want to kill me; they're so worried about going back and forth with me that I can take advantage of it," Moore said.

But the senior lineman has a softer side as well. He spent this past summer working with sick children at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

"It was a humbling experience. I got to hang out with so many young kids with different illnesses, and they were all just happy to spend a day outside the hospital. That's something we all take for granted."

As a family studies major, Moore wants to work with kids more in the future. His passion to help them at their most vulnerable ages stems from the support he had from his role model growing up. The senior has a firm appreciation for his father's presence in his life and at games.

"In my eyes, he is exactly what a man is supposed to be: selfless. At the time I didn't realize how good he was to me, but now that I look back I see that there aren't a lot of families like that."

Being an only child, Moore was somewhat shell-shocked when he was adopted by the Maryland football family. The senior received some positive reinforcement in his early years from Randy Starks and D'Qwell Jackson, now of the NFL's Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns, respectively. Like his former teammates, Moore likely has big things in store for him at the next level.