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]

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Stats and Measurements

The first thing to know about Hayden Moore is he tackled everything in Colorado. Wiltfong characterized him as a "tackling machine." Brice Marich called him "simply a tackling machine" who will outplay his ranking. The machine's numbers are eye-popping:

• The state’s leading tackler in 2022 with 197 total stops (95 solo), an average of 16.4 per game
• Also contributed seven sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble
• As a junior, made 111 tackles with 11 for loss and five sacks
• A two-way player who also contributed as a wide receiver for the Raiders

Jesuit coach Danny Filleman said he thinks the recruiting world literally didn't believe the numbers, and also they weren't there because they moved Moore from edge.

“Recruiting is a crazy world right now with the portal and COVID kids. Hayden always had a lot of interest, but schools didn’t really didn’t know what their numbers were. That had to do with some of it. … He moved positions from defensive end to linebacker. His film wasn’t maybe as refined as a junior, but all the physical traits were there. He had a little bit of rawness last year, but Coach (Jim) Harbaugh and Coach (George) Helow did a good job of looking past that and more at the physical traits.”

Harbaugh confirmed he was all about the physical traits, comparing Moore to Jimmy Rolder.

“Very much the same. These are three linebackers that look almost identical in length and athleticism. Hayden grew up playing basketball," Harbaugh said. "I can imagine he was a very aggressive rebounder. Also a pitcher who throws 90 mph-plus. Jimmy Rolder — all three of these linebackers are going to remind you a lot of Jimmy Rolder. And they’re all multi-sport guys that play really hard, tremendous motor. They all have really good measurables. Hayden: Great measurables, very physical.”

Nobody however is claiming those measurables are, like, Hewlett measurables. EJ Holland called Moore "a bit of a 'boring take" that we'll be happy to see on the roster in a few years.

While he’s not amazing in any one area, Moore does a lot of things well. Moore has adequate speed, is comfortable playing in space and is physical. … Nebraska wanted to keep Moore, and from exchanging messages with their insiders, the staff felt he was severely undervalued. At the time of me writing this, Moore is ranked as the No. 1,248 overall prospect nationally, per the On3 Consensus, which is definitely too low. I have Moore graded as a high three-star prospect that should probably be ranked somewhere from 400-550. Again, he doesn’t necessarily have elite traits, but he is a solid take overall.

Holland's counterpart at HuskerOnline focused more on how Moore seems to get the job done.

There is a lot to like about Moore’s film. He is a very active linebacker and is capable of beating offensive lineman on their angles to pick him up. He has the capability to make plays behind the line of scrimmage as well as pursue inside out and make plays.

The Denver Post, in naming the Regis star to its 1st team all-state, said "Moore was like a coach on the field."

Is being 205 pounds one of those measurements?

Going by the sites, Moore is shrinking. Several of them had him at 230 pounds when he was committed to Nebraska, all of them had dropped him to 210 by the time he flipped to Michigan in December, and now Michigan has him listed at 205. He looks about 215-220 at least on his film though.

What gives? Sam Webb said on our podcast that Moore trims down for baseball season, noting Joey Velazquez also came in at 205, and ranked around the same spot. That's where the similarities end though; Velazquez is exactly my height (thanks for high-fiving my kid, Joey!), and was already cut; Moore is long and young and at least 6'3" according to the program. And while Moore plans on playing baseball as well, it sounds like he's not married to it.

“I wanna try it out freshman year. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, then it’s not the end of the world. I’ll obviously fall back into playing just football. Right now, I’m a starting pitcher, [not a relief pitcher]. But I can see myself falling into either category.”

Positional Fit and Versatility

One of the reasons it maybe took so long for these schools to prioritize Moore—other than playing for a Colorado high school that's produced as many Apollo astronauts as 4-stars—is he was playing a weird position. Regis runs a 3-3-5 stack, with Moore slicing through blockers and often lining up outside. The spot his high school was using him is the "Quick."

That strongside linebacker in a stack often has fair bit of defensive end in him, but the ideal is more of a defensive fullback—think Michael Ferns or Noah Furbush. The thing about Furbush though is he was there to collect blocks, not tackles.

The fact that Moore led the state in tackling from this position, which delivers blockers to him on the regular, is some kind of astonishing. It's also a sign that he's really an ILB, and that his school got away with using him there because blockers don't really matter to him.

That affects his scouting, but not what the schools see Moore playing in college. Wisconsin and Iowa both offered him as a WLB/MLB. On3's Tim Verghese says Texas A&M was recruiting him inside as well. HuskerOnline's staff often specified that Moore was the "off-the-ball" linebacker in the class, and Bryan Munson described a versatile modern ILB:

The scouting report on Moore is that he projects to play either MIKE or SAM as more of an off-the-ball linebacker. Moore shows good athleticism, instincts, and has that length that Nebraska is moving towards with their middle linebackers.

Filleman thought Moore should be "more of a WILL backer,"

…where he can do different things for them. That will suit his playing style. You can send him off the edge and let him come downhill.

That was also the plan at Nebraska.

Moore has been told he will be manning one of the inside linebacker positions for Nebraska, but he has the speed and athleticism to be moved around in order to attack from several spots on the field. He also has the capability to be an EDGE rusher for NU should the coaches choose to utilize him in that capacity.

This was also Moore's plan with Helow, which was confirmed with Partridge when Moore visited for the spring game. If you read my writeup on Hewlett, I mentioned his versatility is a big part of his upside because of how Michigan's Ravens-like system uses the WLB to disguise their looks. Nebraska's ideology was similar, and they envisioned Moore in a similar role.

One of the things to like about Moore is his versatility. There is good film of him from his junior year playing with his hand in the dirt and playing more of an EDGE/DE spot. He definitely has some pass-rush ability coming around the corner and getting after the quarterback.

Filleman obviously concurs, since he was purposely putting Moore in a position where he could do all of it.

He can do it all. He has some nasty pass rush moves when we send him off the edge. He’s quick twitch off the ball. He’s long. He’s 6-foot-3. He’s a long, lanky kid that can run. He’s a great competitor. He doesn’t like to lose, and he refuses to lose, which is dangerous. You don’t get to coach kids like him every year.

That is Many Moores. At least Rod, Derrick, Sherrone, Hayden, Fredrick, and the award the OL wins every year can be distinguished by their first initials. Take note, Pollards.

Etc. Also lettered in track and played basketball. Likes the outdoors.

Why Nikhai Hill-Green? A bit undersized B+ athlete whom you're very happy to have on your roster. Versatile but not a standout in any one area. Smart and competitive, and good at using his length to stay disengaged.

One of my first football Takes en route to being the kind of obsessive who does this for a living was thinking Roy Manning wasn't playing enough in the early 2000s. Moore is a very similar prospect—their recruiting rankings average out to an identical 3.48, and Manning was 6'2"/210 coming out of high school, with a variable skillset that wasn't an A in any one area. It was Manning who told me last year that Hill-Green reminds him of himself. In all of these cases these guys found it hard to wow the scouts, who get super excited when you have one standout trait like bone-jarring hits or crazy top-end speed (if you have shoulder dip you go to Edge and you stay there until the quarterbacks cry mercy).

I think those guys are really the floor for Moore as long as he gets up to weight, since he's already doing the stuff they did. The ceiling is TJ Edwards of Wisconsin, who was another underscouted, five-B tools guy who dominated the Big Ten by using his length and competitive fire to beat every block thrown at him.

Guru Reliability: Very low. Committed to Nebraska quickly and was a quick flip so there was never enough drama to send the scouts out. No camps, no scouting from any national folk, so everything we have is second-hand from the two staffs that got him to commit.

Variance: Medium-low. Moore does need to add about 20-25 pounds but that seems pretty likely given he's on the young side for his grade and was in baseball shape.

Ceiling: Moderate-plus-plus. All-B10 type who contributes early but is also constantly fending off better athletes for his position. Drafted late.

Flight Risk Level: Moderate-plus. The depth chart is the thing to worry about here, Colorado is far away, and Moore's not so invested in baseball to stick around for that (or if he is, everyone needs pitching). The other concern is he already lost his primary recruiter and position coach—multiple sites noted that Helow "played a big role." The story's coming out of Moore's spring visit were all about the necessity of hitting it off with Partridge (they say he did, but fluff stories always say that). On the other hand, low-drama recruitments are often a sign of a player with more staying power. Moore committed early to Nebraska, and cut off communication with other schools until Scott Frost was fired. From the tenor of his and his coach's quotes, it sounds like Moore is committed to Michigan as long as Michigan's committed to him.

General Excitement Level: Moderate-plus. Baseline 5; +1 for Old Wisconsin wanted him; +1 for Iowa wanted him too, and those schools know linebackin'; +1 for that is a seriously huge amount of tackles in a defense that was doing the opposite of defenses built to spill to their best tackler; –1 for athletic ceiling; –1 for is coming in at 205 pounds.

Projection: I'm in love with Moore's tape, but don't trust my judgment as an internet scout enough to significantly deviate from the consensus. Highlights are highlights, but if there's a special something about linebacking that we plebes can put a finger on, I think it must be something like Hayden's. Competition level isn't the greatest, but at some point linebackerin's linebackerin', and a guy who's constantly pinballing towards the ball regardless of block attempts is exactly what good linebackerin' looks like.

Like Holland, I think they have him way too low ranked down there in the 1,000s, but top-350 is probably reasonable. An arsenal of pass-rushing moves on top of it. But has anyone seen the guy cover?

The steep learning curve of those coverages at Michigan and coming in at 205 probably assure a redshirt season, but I think Moore could be ready to compete as a redshirt freshman (NHG had some memorable coverage breakdowns that year as well). If Michigan loses Colson and Barrett next year, someone from the pile of current freshmen and sophomores is going to have to step into the two-deep at MLB/WLB, which aren't wholly interchangeable, but I think Moore could project as well to either.

The depth after the current top four isn't insurmountable, but with Partridge on the recruiting trail there's always a danger from below, not to mention the threat from his high-floor and a high-ceiling classmates. I can see then why Moore was itching to get on the field so much at the spring game—the sooner he puts on weight and establishes his spot on the two-deep, the tougher time everyone's going to have in keeping him from grabbing a role.