2022 Naples (FL) 3-star S Devin Moore has been a popular recruit amongst FBS programs thus far, collecting 19 early offers, including from schools like Florida, FSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Tennessee among others.
“I’m just blessed to be in the position I am, and I won’t ever forget that,” Moore said. “Things have been slower lately since we can’t get on campus or anything like that. I’m just enjoying the process as it is to be honest. A lot of it is over the phone and virtual stuff because of the virus.
“Coaches will just contact me through my head coach since they can talk to him but can’t reach out to me. They’ll just tell my head coach to tell me to give them a call and I’ll do that and we’ll chat it up. I’ve been hearing from basically every school that has offered to be honest. They all do a great job of keeping in contact with me, just chatting it up about real stuff. It doesn’t even have to be football most of the time, we’re just talking about the world and about how to be a better person.”
One of the first programs to recognize Moore’s talent was the Miami Hurricanes, the local school that offered him last summer before he became a national recruit.
“It felt great because having a school that close to where I live at offering me is big, it gives my family a chance to attend basically all the home games,” Moore said. “Then just the program itself produces a lot of NFL talent. If you’re good enough to play right away, they’ll play you right away, it doesn’t really matter what year you are. The coaches are all pretty cool, they know their stuff. The fanbase is something special too.”
Miami outside linebackers coach Jonathan Patke has visited Naples to watch Moore workout in the past, and Moore attended a UM summer camp last June where he was able to get his first experience with the campus in Coral Gables.
“After the camp, me and the quarterback I play with toured the campus and talked to all the coaches, we got to see the locker room, the meeting rooms, things that were under construction at the time - we saw all of it,” Moore said. “I really like the indoor practice facility with the weight rooms right there by it. The meeting rooms were nice too and they said they were adding to it, so I can’t wait to go back and see what that looks like. And the campus is small enough where you can walk places a lot of the time, so that’s a big plus.”
The 6-2 175 pound prospect was teammates at Naples with Miami 2020 early enrollee TE Dominic Mammarelli, and the pair have kept a good relationship over the past few months.
“Actually, I just saw him earlier today at the field when I was doing my workout,” Moore said of Mammarelli. “I talked to him and he said everything was going good there [at Miami]. He for sure tries to recruit me - every time he sees me, he tells me something like ‘What’s up my future teammate?’ or something along those lines. He just tells me it’s a nice place and has nice people, and that everything has worked out well for him so far.”
Aside from Miami, Moore was also able to see some of the other Florida schools just before the coronavirus shutdowns, including a back-to-back-to-back tour of Florida, FSU, and USF in early March. He spoke on what his most recent visit was like, which was to the Seminoles.
“I went to FSU the day before their junior day. It was just very hands-on, I got to talk to all the coaches,” Moore said. “Obviously on junior day, there’s a lot more recruits, you won’t be able to talk to the coaches as much. So, I got to talk to them a lot more and they were able to show me around the campus a lot more too.”
Outlining a plan for his recruitment, Moore says that while he isn’t close to a decision, he does have an idea of how his process will play out.
“As of right now, it’s too early to say which schools are standing out, because I haven’t gotten a chance to get on most of the campuses and meet the coaches in person,” Moore said. “Once I do that, I’ll have a better idea.
“I think I’ll be dropping a top 5 next year around this same time right before football starts up then take my official visits, that’s the goal at least. I’m hoping to make my decision soon after and then enroll early, but my family has been giving me mixed signals about it - some say I should enroll early and some say I should enjoy high school while I’m here and I’ll never get those days back.”
Moore helped the Golden Eagles to a perfect regular season in 2019, however Naples fell to Miami Central in the 6A playoffs in the second round. With a sophomore season that included 57 tackles, 3 TFL, 4 PBU, 3 INT, 1 FR, 2 defensive TD’s and a second team All-Conference nod, Moore was able to put some big-time plays on film and raise his profile even more.
“When I step onto the field, I would describe my game as very versatile,” Moore said. “Usually I play corner, but I had to play safety due to the DB depth on our high school team, my coach wanted me to have range over the whole field. I’m just a tall corner who can run very fast and turn his hips and has ball skills. That just gives me an advantage over a lot of people, just from being tall, fast, and my length makes a big difference at corner, you can just totally shut down people.”
Which position does he prefer to play at the next level – corner or safety?
“Definitely corner, I just love locking people up to be honest,” Moore said. “Based on my film, they can see I can play some corner and I’ll be good at corner, but I’m being recruited as just a DB by everyone right now. Whichever one I want to ride out with and fit best at in college, they’ll just work with me at that position.”
“I’m just blessed to be in the position I am, and I won’t ever forget that,” Moore said. “Things have been slower lately since we can’t get on campus or anything like that. I’m just enjoying the process as it is to be honest. A lot of it is over the phone and virtual stuff because of the virus.
“Coaches will just contact me through my head coach since they can talk to him but can’t reach out to me. They’ll just tell my head coach to tell me to give them a call and I’ll do that and we’ll chat it up. I’ve been hearing from basically every school that has offered to be honest. They all do a great job of keeping in contact with me, just chatting it up about real stuff. It doesn’t even have to be football most of the time, we’re just talking about the world and about how to be a better person.”
One of the first programs to recognize Moore’s talent was the Miami Hurricanes, the local school that offered him last summer before he became a national recruit.
“It felt great because having a school that close to where I live at offering me is big, it gives my family a chance to attend basically all the home games,” Moore said. “Then just the program itself produces a lot of NFL talent. If you’re good enough to play right away, they’ll play you right away, it doesn’t really matter what year you are. The coaches are all pretty cool, they know their stuff. The fanbase is something special too.”
Miami outside linebackers coach Jonathan Patke has visited Naples to watch Moore workout in the past, and Moore attended a UM summer camp last June where he was able to get his first experience with the campus in Coral Gables.
“After the camp, me and the quarterback I play with toured the campus and talked to all the coaches, we got to see the locker room, the meeting rooms, things that were under construction at the time - we saw all of it,” Moore said. “I really like the indoor practice facility with the weight rooms right there by it. The meeting rooms were nice too and they said they were adding to it, so I can’t wait to go back and see what that looks like. And the campus is small enough where you can walk places a lot of the time, so that’s a big plus.”
The 6-2 175 pound prospect was teammates at Naples with Miami 2020 early enrollee TE Dominic Mammarelli, and the pair have kept a good relationship over the past few months.
“Actually, I just saw him earlier today at the field when I was doing my workout,” Moore said of Mammarelli. “I talked to him and he said everything was going good there [at Miami]. He for sure tries to recruit me - every time he sees me, he tells me something like ‘What’s up my future teammate?’ or something along those lines. He just tells me it’s a nice place and has nice people, and that everything has worked out well for him so far.”
Aside from Miami, Moore was also able to see some of the other Florida schools just before the coronavirus shutdowns, including a back-to-back-to-back tour of Florida, FSU, and USF in early March. He spoke on what his most recent visit was like, which was to the Seminoles.
“I went to FSU the day before their junior day. It was just very hands-on, I got to talk to all the coaches,” Moore said. “Obviously on junior day, there’s a lot more recruits, you won’t be able to talk to the coaches as much. So, I got to talk to them a lot more and they were able to show me around the campus a lot more too.”
Outlining a plan for his recruitment, Moore says that while he isn’t close to a decision, he does have an idea of how his process will play out.
“As of right now, it’s too early to say which schools are standing out, because I haven’t gotten a chance to get on most of the campuses and meet the coaches in person,” Moore said. “Once I do that, I’ll have a better idea.
“I think I’ll be dropping a top 5 next year around this same time right before football starts up then take my official visits, that’s the goal at least. I’m hoping to make my decision soon after and then enroll early, but my family has been giving me mixed signals about it - some say I should enroll early and some say I should enjoy high school while I’m here and I’ll never get those days back.”
Moore helped the Golden Eagles to a perfect regular season in 2019, however Naples fell to Miami Central in the 6A playoffs in the second round. With a sophomore season that included 57 tackles, 3 TFL, 4 PBU, 3 INT, 1 FR, 2 defensive TD’s and a second team All-Conference nod, Moore was able to put some big-time plays on film and raise his profile even more.
“When I step onto the field, I would describe my game as very versatile,” Moore said. “Usually I play corner, but I had to play safety due to the DB depth on our high school team, my coach wanted me to have range over the whole field. I’m just a tall corner who can run very fast and turn his hips and has ball skills. That just gives me an advantage over a lot of people, just from being tall, fast, and my length makes a big difference at corner, you can just totally shut down people.”
Which position does he prefer to play at the next level – corner or safety?
“Definitely corner, I just love locking people up to be honest,” Moore said. “Based on my film, they can see I can play some corner and I’ll be good at corner, but I’m being recruited as just a DB by everyone right now. Whichever one I want to ride out with and fit best at in college, they’ll just work with me at that position.”
