Devin Moore Q&A With PD

by Chris Warner
chriswarner@patriotsdaily.com

Since before David took a shot at Goliath, we have always tended to root for the little guy. As a 5-foot-9 running back out of Wyoming, Devin Moore understands the kinds of odds he’s facing, and he’s taking every shot he can.

As he mentions below, his workout with the Patriots scheduled for Monday morning was postponed, giving Devin some time to talk to PD about his ongoing quest to nab scouts’ attention.

I was curious if you could tell me who came up with the idea for you to have your pro day the same day and in the same city as the combine.

Well, a couple people weighed in on that option. My agent, Brad Cicala from Terrafirma, and a scout that I had spoken with had mentioned it to me and said that maybe I should actually think about doing something like that. He didn’t necessarily say on that day or around that time or anything…but he was saying since I’m from Indianapolis, you know, maybe hold your own separate pro day or workout. I just put it together: why not just do it during the time when the kickers and punters (are) actually weighing in, when scouts aren’t going to be so much in tune to that?

I give a lot of credit to my agent, though. He’s been working hard for me, kind of hustling, and he got it out there to the scouts, and I think it turned out well.

Were you disappointed when you found out you weren’t invited to the combine?

Disappointed? I wouldn’t say disappointed. I got down. I will say it brought me down just a tad bit, but at the same time, I can’t say “disappointed,” you know what I mean? That would make it sound like, you know, the scouts made a mistake, or whoever’s on the board made a mistake. I don’t want to sound like the angry guy with a chip on his shoulder, but at the same time, yeah, it kind of hit me in the wrong way…I really wish I would have been invited, but things are how they are. It turned out that I didn’t. Like I said, I had my own little personal workout, and it seemed to work out better for me.

It seemed to work out really well. Were you surprised at your numbers, or were they about where you thought they would be?

I’m not so much surprised at my numbers. I was a little down, actually, because I had been running a lot faster. I spoke with a couple of the scouts, and they said what I ran was actually real good (Note: 4.41-second 40). I was expecting to run maybe low 4.3s, high 4.2s. It didn’t actually happen that way. It was still a low number, but it wasn’t actually as (low) as I wanted it. Things weren’t as good as they have been in the past. I think it was enough to get me in the door, so to speak, and when it came time for my pro day here, a couple scouts came up. I kind of showed them that…if they felt those numbers weren’t good enough, they could see (I) always work hard and improve when I have time to. I improved on those numbers, got my 40 time into the 4.3 range, the official time afterwards (4.35). My vertical was a couple inches higher, bench press was a couple reps higher. Everything just went up, so I was happy about that.

How much has your track workout, your membership on the track team, helped you in the last few years?

Just technique-wise, there’s certain things in track that help you so much when it comes to running on the field – I know it sounds crazy – and especially when it comes to doing combine workouts. I consider the combine workouts and football workouts as two different things. But as far as the combine workout and training for the 40, just having a track background…knowing how to actually come out of your stance when you’re in a three-point stance, it allows you to (know) when to stay low and when to come up, your drive, and so on and so forth. The track background has helped me a whole lot. You know, the Wyoming track staff here, they’re a great help. They’ve helped me all throughout my career, so I want to say thanks to them, and I suggest to a lot of people, if you have a chance to go to Wyoming (for track and football), for sure, come.

And how did that happen? How does a kid from Indianapolis get all the way out to Wyoming?

Well, I’m one of those guys, I live and breathe football. Most definitely, I wanted to go to college and play ball. That was the first thing. Education is big to me also, don’t get me wrong, now. I’m not like a dumb jock or anything like that, but I just love football, and I wanted to play running back. Wyoming offered me a scholarship to play running back. A lot of other schools wanted me to play DB or receiver, so I was kind of leery of that. I actually chose Wyoming, and Coach (Joe) Glenn, he convinced my mom that I would get a great education and everything, and he convinced me that if I had something to show for the NFL scouts as far as football, Wyoming would be able to broadcast it for me.

Does it help having the same coach all your time there, all that stability?

It did. It did in a way, just because they grew comfortable with me, even though, you know, I’m not the biggest guy. I’m smaller than some but faster than most, and the thing is that when I first came up, they weren’t so much used to my speed. They were used to having maybe a smaller guy who was pretty quick or something like that, but didn’t have the top-end speed. And then, you know, as time went on they kind of grew into it. I believe the only coaching change we had was the offensive coordinator. He came my senior year, but at the same time it worked out well for myself personally, but not so good for the team (Note: Wyoming went 4-8 in 2008)…But, I mean, what can you say? That’s just the job there, as far as coaching goes. But it helped a lot, just having Coach Glenn here and the rest of the staff for the final four years.

Speaking of your size and speed, where do you think you fit on an NFL team?

I know right now a lot of teams are looking at me as a scatback-type guy, a third-down back, and most definitely (for) returns. If I sat down with an NFL GM – or whoever, just one of the coaches – my first thing is I want to let them know that I am eager to play special teams right now. Just however I can get on the field, I’m ready to do it, ready to come in, learn, play my part. You know, whatever you need me to do, I’m up for it. I know that they’re going to look to put me in on third downs and things of that nature, just to catch out of the backfield or maybe get a toss sweep here or there, anything, even line up at slot. I know that they want to do things like that, and scheme like that. I just want to let them know that I’m up for it and I’m ready to come in and work. I know it’s a job and I will be there 100 percent, every day.

Have you talked to any NFL teams yet?

Yes, I have. I was actually talking to (Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations) Tim Harkins, I was telling him I didn’t know if we wanted to do the interview today or tomorrow: I was actually supposed to work out with the Patriots (Monday). But that being said, there’s kind of some bad weather up here right now, here and in Denver, there’s actually a blizzard…So we pushed it back until (Tuesday), and hopefully the weather kind of dies down a little bit and we can get that taken care of. I would love to perform in front of the Patriots and everything, and show them what I have, my catching ability, my running ability, and just my skills in general. That’s one team I’ve spoken with. There’s a couple others, but as of right now we’re scheduling visits to other teams and just trying to get things going, get the ball rolling.

How optimistic are you about the next few weeks leading up to the draft?

It’s scary, man. I’ll tell you that much. I have to believe in myself, though, for sure. I do have confidence in myself that I’ve done enough to get drafted. I look at things that my agent has pointed out to me as far as, like I was saying, my bench press, I’ve only seen maybe one guy who’s benched more than me, and it was pretty impressive, what he’s done. He was also a non-combine invite guy. But just bench press, the 40 time, you put it all together. The vertical. I hear they look at your 10-yard start, your (20-yard) shuttles, and all your other shuttles, your three-cone. Just putting everything together, my numbers match up well. From my season, I feel that my numbers match up well, so as far as my resumé, I think it’s coming out pretty well. At the same time, I think it’s going to be a knock on me that I went to a small school, so to speak, seeing that it’s Wyoming, and our record. I do, however, believe that I will get drafted, and I’m looking to try and go a little higher than people are expecting. Whatever (round) you may think…I’m hoping (one round higher). That’s how I’m looking at it.

I was wondering if you could tell people on the coasts, people who haven’t had the pleasure of getting out to Wyoming…what it’s like, and what some of the best aspects are of going to a school like that?

First, I would say the fans. I mean, the fans here are great. People in the town, they support you, they love you. They look out for you, so to speak, make sure that you stay out of trouble and everything. It’s one of those things, you know? When you come to college, you’re still in that growing-up stage, sort of, and they kind of help you with that. Secondly, Wyoming, it’s a beautiful state. I hope this doesn’t make me sound soft, because I’m a football player, but it’s just, I mean, it’s beautiful out here. Then, at such high altitude, when you’re training and everything, I believe that helps you so much. (It) helps you as far as when it comes to in-game situations when you’re down at a lower, sea level. Your performance, I think, shoots up the charts…Lastly, I think (about) the coaching staff here. I know we have a new coaching staff now. A lot of people may have heard of the coach now, Dave Christensen from Missouri. He (was) an offensive coordinator. These guys, what they’re bringing to the table right now, it looks good. I actually wish I would have had another year to perform in this offense. I think he’s going to turn this program around, put some wins on the board, and I think things are going to (get on) course as far as Wyoming. People will hear about us sooner (rather) than later, that’s for sure.

That sounds good. Devin, I really appreciate your time today.

I appreciate it, too.

All right. Good luck (Tuesday).

All right. Thank you.