An Interview with Byron Moore

Submitted by TomVH on

Byron Moore (6'1", 205 lbs) is a junior college safety in an interesting situation. Moore was a USC commit for the 2009 class, redshirted his freshman year and decided to transfer to Los Angeles Harbor Community College for this season. As many other players did, Byron left the program after the NCAA sanctions came down. His situation is unique because he is not at the junior college because of grades or any other reason than the fact that he didn't want to sit out another year of football. He's now going through the recruiting process again, and here's what he had to say about Michigan:

TOM: I know it's still early for you, but how will Michigan play into your recruitment this time around?

BYRON: Michigan has called my coach and my dad a few times. They're really handling everything for me right now. Back in high school I had a real good relationship with Coach Dews, so I'm looking forward to talking with him again. 

TOM: This is a different situation for you. You had an offer from Michigan initially, but do you have one now? Do they need to re-offer you?

BYRON: Yeah, they technically need to re-offer me I guess. The coaches there told me that if I want to come play for them then I just need to let them know. I basically have an offer from them.

TOM: Are you going to take all your visits again?

BYRON: I'm not sure where I'm going to go yet, but I do get to take my visits again. I'm looking forward to maybe setting up a visit out to Michigan though.

TOM: What other schools are you hearing from now?

BYRON: I'm hearing from Washington State, they came by last Friday, UCLA is calling, and I know Penn State has sent me a few emails. I'm mainly focusing on school right now to make sure my grades are in order. I'm just trying to make it through this year until June and get on my way.

TOM: What are you looking for this time around? Does it help to have experience going through the process once before?

BYRON: I'm pretty much looking for somewhere that I can play right now, and get a good education. Going through the process before helped me a lot. It helped me know what to look for and what questions to ask. It will just make everything easier for me.

**I also spoke with Byron's current head coach, Brett Peabody, who had nothing but good things to say about him. 

Byron is a first class human being. He has great parents, and a great home life. I've known him for a while now. He plays both corner and free safety for us right now, and there's no doubt he could play that at a D1 school. There's a reason he was a US Army All American out of high school; he's an exceptional athlete.

He's focusing on his season right now, but Michigan could definitely use this type of player, and someone that could come in to compete right away. Since he's at JUCO for different reasons than most it will be interesting to see if Michigan is a realistic opportunity for him. From everything that I've been told it doesn't sound like it would be much of a problem, but you never know.

Football
TomVH
Byron Moore

Comments

pee on freep

October 6th, 2010 at 3:25 PM ^

 it will be nice to see the defense improving significantly each of the coming years, with the development of our youth and the recruitment of top-notch and ready players such as Bryon Moore, and other solid defensive recruits...  we have some exciting years ahead of us gentlemen...

Joined: 02/26/2010

MGoPoints: -1789

Rabbit21

October 6th, 2010 at 6:26 PM ^

For proof refer to WAC/MWC/pretty much any team from a non BCS conference as nearly all of them are big recruiters of JUCO players.  Juco's are able to come in and play the next year without sitting out, think high school recruits just with less eligibility.

Joined: 11/12/2009

MGoPoints: 30303

teldar

October 6th, 2010 at 3:53 PM ^

The reason for going this route is that he won't have to sit out. The juco take a year of eligibility, but he doesn't have to go without playing for a year. See also, the dude from oklahoma who transferred after getting caught getting paid to not work. He transferred to aNon-FBS school and played the next year.

Joined: 07/14/2009

MGoPoints: 8230

Wolverine0056

October 6th, 2010 at 3:32 PM ^

Anything can help right now, especially a guy that has more experience playing football period. Even if the experience is not necessarily against D1 teams, he has more experience than incoming freshman. It would be nice to pick Moore up and some of the recruits we are trying to get (Walls, Crawford, and others).

Joined: 08/02/2010

MGoPoints: 7773

Yooper

October 6th, 2010 at 3:34 PM ^

A perfect fit. As a qualifier before, and assuming he did the work at USC and the CC he attends, this should be a situation where the JC thing shouldn't be a problem. One question-why wouldn't he enter school in in January?

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 11269

Needs

October 6th, 2010 at 5:42 PM ^

The only question would be whether his credits from community college would transfer. I suspect that depends highly on what his course load looks like, but I'd be surprised if he could get all of his CC credits accepted by M. Don't know if that has any effect on eligibility.

Joined: 08/05/2008

MGoPoints: 11636

Gene

October 6th, 2010 at 8:03 PM ^

It won't have any effect on eligibility, although it may have an effect on desirability (as in, he may wish to go to a school where all of his credits are accepted.) Still, he has a year at USC and those credits shouldn't be a problem, so he should be on course to graduate in 3 more years at M regardless; I would expect JUCO credits would be a minor issue at most.

Joined: 07/01/2008

MGoPoints: 443

tf

October 6th, 2010 at 3:35 PM ^

For those who care (and are too lazy to go look for themselves), Moore was a 4*, #6 safety, and #92 overall to Scout; a 4*, #6 safety, and #98 overall to Rivals; and an 82, #3 athlete, and #70 overall to ESPN.  Also, he went to the same high school as Sean Parker.

Joined: 02/05/2009

MGoPoints: 506

profitgoblue

October 6th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^

Can someone explain how Byron would go to a junior college AFTER a year at USC?  I understand how he would have his entire eligibility left, but why would he go to a JUCO after redshirting?  Wouldn't it be better to stay at USC and practice with the team as a redshirt than transfer and play for a junior college and the (assumed) inferior talent and coaching?  I'm missing something here . . .

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 19559

WolvinLA2

October 6th, 2010 at 5:20 PM ^

I don't exactly understand what you're asking, but it might be because you don't understand what happened.  He went to USC and redshirted his first (and only) year there.  He then decided he didn't want to play for USC anymore.  His choices were (a) pick a school immediately and sit out his true freshman season due to the transfer and be eligible for the 2011 season, or (b) go to JUCO, play football in 2010 (not just practice with the scout team) and take 6 months or so to decide what school he wanted to spend his 3 remaining years of eligibility.

If he would have known for sure which school he wanted to transfer to, he might have done that.  Instead, he gets to actually play for a year and do his due diligence again when picking his school.  Not a bad way to go, IMO.

Joined: 11/13/2009

MGoPoints: 58191

Meeechigan Dan

October 6th, 2010 at 5:49 PM ^

Man, how could there be a better situation than here? Blanket media attention on DRob the next two years, desperate need for safeties - certain playing time, expecially for a skilled player who will be probably 20 and mature. Why can't we just have him now?!

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 2319