hayden moore

Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill, HSP/LB Jason Hewlett.

Aurora (Regis Jesuit), CO – 6'3"/205
		247: 6'3/210                   3.56*	3*, 86, NR overall #106 LB, #6 CO
		Rivals: 6'3/210                   3.40*	3*, 5.5 Not ranked
		ESPN: 6'3/210                   3.47*	3*, 77, #228 Midlands #70 OLB, #9 CO
		On3: 6'3/210                   3.48*	3*, 87, NR overall #98 LB, #9 CO
		Composites:        3.58* / 3.48*	3*, #1163/#1179 overall #94/#111 LB, #8 CO
		MGo Avg:                   3.48*	3*, #694/786 Ovr, #72/76 ILBs since 1990
		YMRMFSPA	Nikhai Hill-Green
Other Suitors	Nebraska (decommit), Wis, Iowa, A&M
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello by yours truly.
Notes	Two-sport athlete (pitcher).
Film:
Senior Highlights: Hudl.

Perhaps as vengeance for all the unfair comparisons made between Harbaugh and Scott Frost, Michigan used Nebraska's coachless period last winter to do violence to their linebacker corps. The headliner is Ernest Hausmann, and we'll get to him, but that wasn't the only Husker LB to flip to Michigan over Commitmas '22. This one actually went down after Rhule was announced.

It also went down after the old Wisconsin staff was out, but the pre-Fickell Badgers were pursuing him, and Iowa was trying to move in late as well. The other team vying for a visit when Moore came up to Ann Arbor was Texas A&M. The recruiting sites never caught up, but it says something that when Nebraska was coming unraveled, the sharks targeted Moore.

[After THE JUMP: A Big Ten West linebacker]

No, this is not the 2022 WLB prospect who is transferring from Nebraska, but a bona fide 2023 WLB prospect who visited Michigan during the Night of All the Commits and promptly decommitted from Nebraska.

At that point this point seemed a foregone conclusion:

We are sorry, Nebraska. If it makes him Rhule feel any better, Moore was talking to Wisconsin a lot after Frost was fired, and Michigan got the Denver linebacker/starting pitcher to cancel a visit in College Station, Texas, in favor of snowy Ann Arbor.

You wouldn't know he's a linebacker with Wisconsin/Iowa/Texas A&M offers from the way Moore slipped under the raters' radars. There seem to be two reasons for that, other than his whole class's sophomore season being wiped out. For one, Moore is a dual-sport prospect who wants to play baseball at the next level, and stayed in pitching shape during the season, which explains why he sometimes showed up to camps closer to 200 than a more linebacker-ideal 220.

The other reason is he grew into a linebacker (and tight end) later in his high school career; Moore's COVID season workout videos all show him running routes, not covering them, and he was still being listed as a receiver on recruiting lists as late as September 2021. His junior season was good (11 TFLs, 5 sacks), but he came a long way as a senior. That A&M offer hit in early October.

A third may be his position at St. Regis was kind of a hybrid OLB in their 3-3-5. Moore often had his hand in the dirt as a DE, and collected quite a few of his prolific sack numbers coming off the edge, not doom squirreling through an A-gap. But he did that too. In fact, other than tackling everything in sight, the versatility seems to be the main theme.

GURU RATINGS

Last row is my conversion to a five-star scale. Links are to profiles.

[After THE JUMP: Sorry, I was thinking about how Michigan uses Junior Colson]