Michigan football safety Rod Moore will return to the Wolverines for his final season of eligibility in 2025, sources told 247Sports. The captain confirmed the news Thursday night in an Instagram post.
“Michigan star senior safety Rod Moore is set to return to college for another season instead of leaving for the NFL, sources tell CBS Sports / 247Sports,” Matt Zenitz posted on Thursday evening. “The two-time All-Big Ten selection entered the season as a top three round draft prospect but missed the season due to injury. Now set to return to college for one more year.”
Returning the veteran for 2025 will be massive for a Michigan secondary that replaces three starting safeties (Makari Paige, Quinten Johnson, Wesley Walker), plus starting corners Will Johnson and Aamir Hall.
Moore has recorded 141 tackles, seven pass breakups, 2.5 tackles for loss and six interceptions over three seasons, playing in 37 games and making 27 starts. He was named third-team All-Big Ten in 2023 and made one of the year’s more memorable plays when he intercepted off Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord in the fourth quarter to seal Michigan’s rivalry win.
A former three-star recruit out of Clayton, Ohio, Moore has vastly outplayed his recruiting ranking, including starts against Penn State and Ohio State as a true freshman in 2021. He seemed primed for a big 2024 after opting to return over declaring for the NFL Draft.
But a senior season that would have featured him starting at safety was derailed by the ACL tear. The injury in question occurred during spring practices on a special teams drill. Moore was trying to slow down, planted his leg, and felt something “weird.” He tried a second time to put weight on the leg and felt his knee give out on him. An MRI soon confirmed the diagnosis of a torn ACL.
“I cried. I ain’t going to lie: I cried,” Moore said of his initial response to the injury. “Because this was a season that was really on the schedule. I circled it. It was the season that I really wanted to come out and show who I really was as a player, especially as a leader, too. At first it was hard. I would say probably it took me a month to really realize, ‘Okay, this is the position that you’re in.You’re going to have to deal with it and go forward with it.'”
Despite the injury, Moore remained an integral member of the Wolverines this fall. He joined Makari Paige, Max Bredeson and Donovan Edwards in being voted captain by his peers.
“It’s a feeling I really can’t explain,” Moore said. “I didn’t ever think I was going to be a captain at the University of Michigan growing up.”
Moore spent part of the offseason in California for his rehab and to get his mind off football for a while. He returned rejuvenated in both mind and body, embracing a role as a coach and mentor. And with those responsibilities, Moore went “above and beyond,” in the words of Donovan Edwards. He traveled with the Wolverines and was on the sidelines for U-M’s upset over Ohio State at The Horseshoe.
And his contributions to the Wolverines are not be quite done yet: Moore will return for one final season in the winged helmet.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
