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Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the offensive future of the B1G.
Amid the buzz and din, and who doesn’t want to be a part of something when both buzz and din are involved, of the Saturday night game between Purdue and Ohio State at Ross-Ade Stadium two in-game situations warranted a collective gasp of anticipation from the crowd.
The moments came when Ohio State kicked off or punted. Besides the anticipatory volume increase from the crowd, a clatter of excitement stirred each time the ball landed in the arms of a certain Purdue player.
Such noise is reserved for only the most enthralling moments in sports. You heard it when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa left the on-deck circle for the batter’s box when the two chased Roger Maris’ single-season homerun record in 1998 or when LeBron James is one-on-one with a defender late in a close game. We know we’re about to see something special. Since stadiums are smoke-free and it’s unbecoming to bite your knuckles raw to tatters, we make noise.
Purdue freshman wide receiver Rondale Moore gets that noise.
The sort of player who makes going in motion an exercise in electricity and big-play capability, to summarize Moore’s ability in one play seems empty and lacking. But, one play from Saturday managed to capture his speed, drive, sense of direction, and ability to make a cut when in hot pursuit.
Up 15 in the 4th quarter and facing 3-and-7 at the Ohio State 43, Moore swung out in motion to catch a swing pass from quarterback David Blough. After he picked up the first down Moore lowered his shoulder to initiate contact with Ohio State cornerback Sevyn Banks. Banks made the mistake of attempting to tackle Moore by wrapping his arms around Moore’s upper body. You cannot tackle a man who squats 600 pounds above the waist, unless you’re a Category 5 hurricane. Moore churned his legs until he broke free from Banks’ grasp and scored to put the Boilermakers up 41-20.
Moore’s numbers are eye-popping as a receiver and respectable when he carries the ball out of the backfield. With the exception of the Eastern Michigan game, he caught a pass of at least 30 yards in Purdue’s other six games. Through the 2018 season he’s amassed 57 receptions for a B1G-best 728 yards.
Gaudy numbers like that might lead one to think the freshman outruns the corner or safety assigned to him as they attempt to keep the wide receiver underneath them. One would be wrong.
Moore catches the ball around a lot of traffic, typically in the middle of the field. His ability to not only initiate contact but sustain the contact and take off from the point of absorption make him the rare breed of a physical wide receiver. The fun starts after the catch.
Though he’s shown an ability to snag a pass thrown over his head or behind him, Moore uses the entire field as an entryway to the endzone. He can toe the sideline, or he cuts through the heart of the field in between the hash marks and amid the congestion and duress that is a number of defenders’ futile attempts to bring him down. Moore is the elusive Electric Lunch Pail. The rare breed of offensive player who can outrun the first two levels of a defense and completely out-muscle the third. By running him in motion or the benefactor of a rub route, Moore gets one step on a defender.
One step is all he needs. Moore knows it. So do any defenders trying to tackle him.
The clatter will follow if they have any doubt.
Nick is a writer for saturdaytradition.com. Your overuse of GIFs forced him away from Twitter. He removed himself from consideration in the Vanderbilt heading coaching search.