[Completely unrelated: Let's go win College Football Risk—2 days left]

When 3-star Ohio possession receiver Markus Allen committed a few weeks back I reported this will help reel in his teammate/training academy/most righteous chum Rod Moore, a safety prospect Michigan's scouts think should be ranked a top-150 player.

In awful news for several other Midwest schools who thought the same, bloggers playing whack-a-mole with users who don't look past composite star rankings, OSU media pets trying to concoct a narrative about Michigan ignoring Ohio, and most of all any receivers trying to go across the middle on Michigan in the early/mid-2020s, Rod Moore announced today that he's coming to Ann Arbor.

1000% Committed..? Next chapter, Let’s go to work❗️ @AllenTrieu @SWiltfong247 @Rivalsfbcamps @CoachBobShoop pic.twitter.com/uzqZWWgMZs

— Rod moore ? 1️⃣0️⃣ (@Rodmoorejr) May 10, 2020

GURU RATINGS

Moore's a high 3-star on all three sites, with Rivals the slow one on adding a positional/state ranking:

Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
3*, 5.7, NR S, NR OH, Not ranked	3*, 78, #28 S, #49 MW, #13 OH	3*, 89, #21 S, #10 OH	3*, 0.8839, #22 S, #12 OH, #378 Ovr

24/7 has him just on the edge of a 4-star—the #21 safety and #10 Ohio prospect in any given year is right at that 3-/4-star borderline—and at a coach-reported 180, a crucial 10 pounds heavier than the other two, though Rivals' EJ Holland said 185 recently; all three sites say 5-11. Encouragingly, Moore described UW defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard as "just 5-9" which tells me Moore is probably 5-11 not "5-11", but also quite aware his height is less than ideal for the position.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and the rest.]

SCOUTING

Allen Trieu has a pretty detailed profile report that hits on most of the points we'll get to for a prospect who's been relatively well-scouted at a Western Ohio power:

Build wise, Moore is right at the average for safeties height wise. He has some length, but needs to add weight in college. He is a true playmaker who has very good ball skills and the anticipation to put himself in position to use those ball skills. He will also get involved as a tackler. He takes good angles in pursuit and does a good job of not getting too high as a tackler. As he gets stronger, he will develop a little more pop in that department, but he is willing to be physical. He gets around the field fluidly and easily. His track times are solid, 22.17 in the 200m, 7.12 in the 60m dash. We still see room to get a little more explosive and he does need to get stronger. In college, he will likely be a true free safety but does show some ability to come down and play man to man. Projects as a high-end Power Five starter.

Moore's high school coach Anthony Broering saw the speed first:

“I’m also the head track coach, I do both sports, and he’s extremely fast. I would say what’s catching everybody’s notice the most is his length and his speed. And then you pair it with his work ethic and his transcript, where he’s got such good grades, he checks every box for college recruiting.

“I’ve coached a lot of Division 1 kids, sent a lot of kids into the Big Ten, and I noticed Rod (Moore) right away when he was in the eighth grade at track...He really stood out, he popped out, he was that fast even then. And since then, all he’s done is gotten bigger and stronger and faster.

But also sees a pick artist in the making because of skillet hands:

“My receivers coach had his clamps on him. (In practice), every five minutes, it was ‘hey Rod! Come here.’ (laughs) Because with his hand size, you throw the ball anywhere near him and he was going to come up with it. His hands are ginormous. He’s dynamic with the ball too. If you’ve seen his film, I mean, he had multiple punt returns for touchdowns last year.

Broering said Moore plans to graduate in December and enroll early. 247 Notre Dame scout Tim Prister recently featured Moore in an In the Film Room ($) column, describing a prospect Midwest coaches adore for his physicality.

Getting beyond the Thunderbolts’ last line of defense is no easy task with Moore patrolling the back end. He is decisive in attacking the line of scrimmage with superb pad level while keeping his head up through the tackling process, which means he’s been well-schooled in the art of tackling.

Moore – an appropriately-listed three-star and the No. 378 composite prospect on 247Sports’ list -- is a punishing tackler with excellent football awareness. His diagnostic abilities versus the run/pass are top-notch. He’s a dynamic open-field tackler, which makes him a prospect at safety, boundary cornerback and nickel, the latter of which is a position Broering says he’s ready to play on the next level.

The Irish were interested in his length and speed. Lorenz had Moore one of the six prospects Michigan likes more than the evaluators($), though that was when Moore was rated a lowly 84 on their scale.

OFFERS

This was a classic, albeit short Michigan-Notre Dame battle—247's Tom Loy had Moore one of seven top Irish targets in the Midwest that Michigan's also pursuing hard. ND's new DBs coach Mike Mickens is from the Dayton area and was working to get Moore to Cincinnati until the job switch, so the Irish were heavy contenders. ND appeared to be recruiting Moore as a cornerback/nickelback.

Wisconsin, Pitt, Iowa, MSU, Northwestern, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa State, and a lot of other academic-y and Midwest-y programs hoping the two winningest schools would go pry a five-star out of SEC land instead. Wisconsin believed themselves in pole position before Michigan and Notre Dame turned the heat up in late March.

HIGH SCHOOL

Unlike teammate Markus Allen, Moore was around to know 2019 Michigan freshman Gabe Newburg. The two train with 2022 top-100 cornerback C.J. Hicks, who since the Allen writeup has committed to Ohio State, but who knows maybe a CFB Risk victory this week could change that.

STATS

85 tackles, four interceptions, and three forced fumbles last year.

FAKE 40 TIME

He has a listed 4.41 from a camp last year, but his head coach wants you to know the legend goes further:

“In college, he’ll get on the field very quick because he’s so fast. I mean, he got clocked at a camp last summer – I think it was Pitt – running a 4.38. Our track program is shut down right now because of the coronavirus but he can run a sub-11-sec. in the 100-meters and a 21.7 in the 200. So, he can move.

FWIW Moore qualified for states in the 60m and 200m. On the other hand it doesn't really show in the tape so the 4.41 gets three FAKES, and this mythological 4.38 gets four FAKES because that is some pretty like dang speed for a safety. He's probably pretty fast.

VIDEO

Single-game highlights from last year are on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

As some of the scouting mentioned, the raw speed doesn't show on the tape. The Michigan safety he reminds me most of on film is Thomas Gordon, who arrived a far more raw prospect than Moore, but played a hybrid nickel position early in his career before transitioning to a good but not NFL-good Cover 2 safety for the early Hoke teams. Gordon also had a knack for generating fumbles that was part luck and part borne from excellent tackling technique. Tyree Kinnel is another nickel-ish free safety comp if you want to imagine how Michigan plans to deploy Moore. You don't want me delving any deeper into Michigan safety history.

If you add elite speed to all of that you get Minnesota's Antoine Winfield Jr., a gnat with long arms who played down in the box to pester your run game because he could still get back to a deep zone from there and was best in the slot. Winfield was 5'10 and topped out at 204 lbs. I also thought of Wisconsin's D'Cota Dixon but Dixon tested in the 4.8s in the combine and went undrafted; Winfield ran an official 4.45 at the combine and went in the 2nd round this year. Don Brown has a very good track record with safety recruiting that's been somewhat tarnished recently by the run on long dudes in 2017, though that hardly applies to Moore.

The path to playing time isn't that daunting. Michigan brought in a couple of four-stars this year in RJ Moten and Makari Paige, plus likely vipers Quinten Johnson (2019) and Jordan Morant (2020) who will be Moore's primary competition for Brad Hawkins's spot in 2021 or Dax Hill's in (I'm guessing) 2022. Moore will also compete with all the cornerback types for Michigan's dimeback position, which has typically gone to the next safety up under Don Brown. Given Moore's size I would expect a redshirt before he has as good a chance as anybody at the 2022 opening.

The Wolverines are still recruiting a bunch of high-level safeties for 2022 after the recent decommitment of Andre Seldon's brother Myles Rowser, though Rowser remains a potential re-addition.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Moore is the 13th player in the class and the new highest-rated commit in the 2021 defensive class, coming in 26 spots higher than yesterday's linebacker commit Tyler McLaurin. Michigan would love to pair Moore with tall-and-lengthy Pennsylvania four-star Donovan McMillon (NTDM), who's ranked lower than Moore but probably shouldn't be what with the national interest he's been garnering. The Wolverines would still like to add two or three cornerbacks to this class out of a pile of 3- and 4-stars they're after. They also could really use a pass-rusher, a true defensive tackle or three, and another speedy linebacker. With a bunch of crystal balls for RB Corey Kiner recently swinging to LSU it looks like Michigan will go 2/3 on their top Ohio prospects this year.