Moore makes the Longhorns offense better even when he’s not being targeted.
When Texas Longhorns redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning threw 10 straight incompletions in the team’s 27-10 win over the UTEP Miners, the streak of misfires came without one of Manning’s top targets, junior wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr., out with a concussion after sustaining a head injury in the third quarter of the previous week’s game against San Jose State Spartans.
With Moore set to return against Sam Houston, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian outlined his importance to the offense last Thursday.
“He definitely brings the juice. He’s an Energizer Bunny. He’s one of the few guys that was a mainstay starter for us a year ago that has played a lot of football. He has a lot of confidence and can fix things on the field if maybe something’s a little bit off because of his experience of lining a guy up, making sure a certain guy is running a certain route, recognition of coverages when the ball is snapped,” Sarkisian said.
“His experience is invaluable. His confidence uplifts confidence of players that are on the field with him not only on game day, but in practice and in the meeting room. I do think it will be great to have him back.”
As Moore returned to the starting lineup, Manning found his rhythm for the first time this season, connecting with Moore on a team-high five receptions on five targets that went for 79 yards.
“DeAndre being back was really helpful for Arch as well,” Sarkisian said after the game.
“What DeAndre brings is our ability to work the middle of the field really well and I think we saw that tonight, critical third-down conversion was a heck of a catch early on, another play-action pass where he catches the ball going across the middle and out the back door for an explosive play,” Sarkisian said.
The first completion to Moore converted a 3rd and 9 to salvage a poor start to the opening Texas drive and even though the play should have produced significant yards after the catch with a better delivery, at least Manning avoided skipping it to his intended target. The Horns eventually scored a rushing touchdown on the drive.
A much better throw from Manning produced a 38-yard gain on a deep over route early in the second quarter, although the drive eventually stalled thanks to a holding penalty on sophomore right tackle Brandon Baker.
But Moore doesn’t need targets to make an impact on the field — during the team’s weekly “Good, Bad, and Ugly” meeting, Sarkisian highlighted the effort of Moore and sophomore wide receiver Ryan Wingo blocking for freshman wide receiver Daylan McCutcheon on an explosive play and running the clear-out routes that helped produce freshman tight end Jordan Washington’s 32-yard touchdown reception on a “Leak” call.
“One of his best plays, one of Ryan’s best plays I celebrated with the team today was them both blocking on a bubble screen for Daylan McCutcheon,” Sarkisian said. “That’s part of our personality. That’s the way we play. There’s a level of physicality we want to play with and I think a lot of times people hear me say that I’m talking about the line of scrimmage. It’s all 11. It’s how we play on the perimeter. And so I need to celebrate those things.”
With blocking grade of 74.5 from Pro Football Focus, Moore is the best blocker in Chris Jackson’s position room.
“I need to celebrate those two guys running clear-out post routes for Jordan Washington to catch a touchdown out the back door. It’s two high-level players that are playing selfless football for other guys to make their plays. And so that’s part of the team’s personality, as much as it is the excitement and energy that maybe Arch provided, too, but it’s everybody playing for the next guy, that’s part of our personality,” Sarkisian said.
Moore’s development into a team leader since arriving as a member of the 2023 recruiting class ranked as the No. 105 player nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, reflects the cultural carry over that Sarkisian’s program has produced over the last several years.
It started with do-it-all wide receiver Jordan Whittington, a team leader during Sarkisian’s rebuild, who mentored Moore as a true freshman.
“He just reminds me of a mini-me,” Whittington said at the Texas Pro Day in 2024. “He was one of the players that actually watched us and learned a lot of things from us, and he just instills it into the team today, and he’s a big-time leader at a young age.”
The way that Moore’s return to practice last week helped bolster the team reminded Sarkisian of Whittington.
“This guy goes to practice with a great deal of energy, with a great deal of detail, and he’s hard on the guys around him about what they’re supposed to do and how they’re supposed to do it, whether he’s in the play or not in the play. Again, this guy was raised by Jordan Whittington, and Jordan was that way. And so for DeAndre to be in practice all week, kind of set the tone for what the expectation was,” Sarkisian said.
Given the myriad ways that Moore contributes to the Texas offense, it’s no surprise that the Horns finally found their stride when he was available again.
“I touched on the importance of DeAndre Moore being back because he’s part of our personality, what he brings every day in practice, the confidence, the energy, his willingness to hold people accountable, his willingness to do the dirty work,” Sarkisian said.
Category: General Sports
