CB Devin Moore Discusses His Fit, Enrollment Plans With Florida Gators
Photo: Devin Moore; Credit: Zach Goodall
Once he finishes competing with some of the nation's top recruits in the class of 2022, Naples (Fla.) defensive back Devin Moore won't be considered a prospect any longer.
Instead, he will be a Florida Gator, officially.
Moore elected to sign with Florida over Notre Dame during the early signing period, the first major win of new head coach Billy Napier's tenure with the program. Moore had previously been committed to the Fighting Irish from July through November, but backed off his pledge when head coach Brian Kelly left the school and headed south to LSU.
Since the Fighting Irish promoted defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to replace Kelly, Notre Dame had a chance to get Moore back into its recruiting class until the end. However, after Moore took some time to assess his options more thoroughly, he realized that Florida was the better fit for not only him, but his family as well.
"Yeah, just the proximity to home. I mean, you kind of recognize how important your family is to you when you go away for a couple of days or anything like that," Moore told AllGators after Wednesday's Adidas All-American Bowl practice.
"So, being away for, like, a period of four years or three years or however many it may be. I'm always going to wanna have the opportunity to go home without taking a plane and have the opportunity for my parents to come up and watch me play without having to pay a bunch and everything like that."
With his college decision now in the rearview mirror, Moore is spending this week in San Antonio, Texas, aiming to prove his worth as a versatile defensive back who can break stereotypes at the cornerback position specifically, lining up against some of the top offensive prospects in the nation on every rep in practice and the upcoming bowl game.
"Being a bigger DB, like 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4, a lot of people think I can't play corner, match up with these short, little [and] fast dudes fast wide receivers," Moore explained. "So I just came out here with the intent just to prove that I'm right here with them, you know? Because those are the hardest guys to guard with longer corners, them short, little [and] fast dudes.
"I just came out here with that intention and to prove that I'm gonna be a great fit at Florida. I can't wait to get there and get to work with all the great coaches there."
UF's coaching staff shares Moore's thought process, that the Naples product is capable of playing cornerback at the next level despite being viewed as a fit at safety given his size.
Florida will first try Moore at cornerback upon enrollment, and if he does well there, that's where he'll stay. The hope is that he will fit right in at cornerback as the team is in need of some young talent at the position.
"If I can do it, then I'm gonna do it, you feel me?" Moore stated. "But, you know, they're gonna move me around a lot too, play nickel on third down and stuff like that, maybe even safety sometimes. But yeah, I'm gonna start at corner.
"They kind of recognize my versatility. So, they just want to put me in a position to make plays, disguise a lot of the coverages and run multiple color coverages because we've got the dudes to do that."
With one high school class left to complete, which he plans to finish within the next few days, Moore intends to enroll at Florida on January 10 and begin practicing with the Gators this spring.
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