Hard-hitting Moore gives Troy options

By Drew Champlin

Published: November 19, 2008

TROY — A year ago, former Troy teammate Marcus Richardson said Terence Moore was “a biscuit away from being a linebacker.”

Moore, who started at strong safety a year ago, found himself at linebacker in the spring.

“I ate that biscuit and gained six pounds,” Moore said. “I was playing at 217 last year and I’m at 223 now.”

Moore’s versatility, size and experience helped coaches decide to make a switcheroo among the Trojans’ three senior safeties — Moore, Sherrod Martin and Tavares Williams. First and foremost, they wanted all three on the field at the same time.

Martin, who was exclusively playing nickel last year, moved to free safety. Williams moved from free to strong safety and Moore now rotates as a weakside linebacker and nickelback.

“If we’re playing a spread offense, I’ll be more at nickel,” Moore said. “If we’re playing a two-back team, I’ll be at linebacker.”

Moore is fourth on the team with 70 tackles. He’s got six tackles for loss, a forced fumble and four interceptions, which is tied for the team best.

His last one is one he’ll remember the most, as he intercepted LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee and returned it 22 yards for a score, putting Troy up 24-3 and emptying out Tiger Stadium.

Unfortunately for Troy, LSU came back and won 40-31. He’ll take that memory with him forever, though, and hopes to keep the momentum going for Saturday’s 6 p.m. game with UL-Lafayette.

“That was a highlight from a personal standpoint,” Moore said. “At that point, things were going good. Forty years from now, that’ll be the first thing I tell my kids and grandkids. I’m pretty sure they’ll still be a great team from now.”

From a reputation standpoint, he’s known as the hardest hitter on the team. A preseason magazine labeled linebacker Boris Lee as the hardest hitter in the Sun Belt, something that even surprised Lee.

“Yes, T-Mo is arguably the hardest hitter on the team.,” Lee said. “How they got me being the hardest hitter, I don’t know. I just try to tackle.”

Said cornerback Jorrick Calvin, “I ain’t going to lie, T-Mo’s going to give you some love. He’ll give you some good love.”

Moore weighed more than 200 pounds when he came in as a freshman, so there wasn’t much more room to fill out. It was then that he decided he needed to show off his strength.

“Early in my career, I wanted to make a statement and try to make a name for myself,” Moore said. “I felt like I established myself with the coaches as being a good player, so you don’t want to hurt anybody that can really help the team.

“I stopped trying to do stuff like that my junior and senior year.”

Running back DuJuan Harris took one of his hard hits as a freshman last year when Moore knocked his helmet off.

“I was getting popped by everybody,” Harris said. “Sometimes three or four times a practice. I’d watch (former Trojan) Kenny (Cattouse) run and they’d just tap him. I kept running hard, though.“

Of this year’s Trojan draft class, Moore might hear his name called in the 2009 NFL Draft. Martin is likely Troy’s best prospect, but Moore is right behind him.

“Scouts like his aggressiveness and his size,” strength and conditioning coach Richard Shaughnessy said. “The only question is what to do with him, since he’s played safety and now he’s at nickel and linebacker.”

Moore was reluctant at first and still doesn’t like being labeled as a linebacker, teammates say. Probably because it’s easier to make a big hit from the safety spot.

“It’s kind of hard to get the best hit as you can as a linebacker, but as a safety, you can zero in,” Moore said.