Before Moise Fokou arrived at Frostburg State University in August 2004, former Bobcat football coach Rubin Stevenson had never seen Fokou play football in person.
But after bringing the lightly recruited linebacker to the Division III school based on game film and a positive review from his recruiting coordinator, Stevenson was quickly certain of one thing: “He didn’t belong at this level.”
And Fokou, who moved to the top of the Frostburg State depth chart within the first week of fall camp and finished the year second on the team in tackles, didn’t stick around long. Following a plan to achieve his dream of playing Division I football, he transferred to this university the next summer and walked onto the Terrapin football team.
After sitting out a year, he entered the Terp rotation at linebacker in 2006. For the last two years, the Cameroon native has been the team’s starting outside linebacker. Fokou, who recorded seven tackles and a sack in Saturday’s 26-0 win against then-No. 21 Wake Forest, has emerged as one of the team’s defensive leaders.
“It was a chancy decision for me, but at the end it kind of worked out,” said Fokou of his decision to transfer. “It was almost like gambling, and I guess I rolled the lucky dice.”
Fokou, who goes by “Moses,” moved to the United States as a 5-year-old because his father was an ambassador. He played soccer as a youngster but switched to football around “age 9 or 10” because he liked the opportunity to “hit somebody and get away with it.”
After attending Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School for two years, he transferred to the Bullis School in Potomac.
Fokou, who played fullback and linebacker in high school, received interest from several Division-I programs after his junior season. Then, the offers inexplicably stopped.
After earning All-Met second-team honors as a senior, Fokou headed to the mountains of western Maryland to focus on academics, in a situation he described as “almost like a junior college year.”
The outside linebacker started all 10 games for the Bobcats, posting 70 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a pair of blocked kicks.
Stevenson, who is now an associate athletic director at the school, said he looked forward to returning Fokou to a defense that also included an All-American defensive lineman Kevin Culbert. Instead, he received a call from Fokou that summer asking for game film to send to the Terps.
Fokou said he had fun in a less serious football atmosphere, but he couldn’t imagine himself spending four years at Frostburg State.
“I think they’re one of the top party schools out there,” Fokou said. “There’s nothing else to do out there in the mountains.”
In spring 2005, Fokou’s Bullis School coach Walt King placed a call to former Terrapin Director of Football Operations Dan Hickson. Hickson told King what Fokou had to do to complete the transfer. By the time King relayed the message, it was already done.
“He had everything aligned,” said King, who retired from coaching in 2005 after 28 years as head coach. “He was ready to rock and get out of there and get on to Maryland.”
Although Fokou admits he wasn’t interested in the Terps coming out of high school, after a year in the mountains, he was eager to get closer to home. It didn’t take long for him to leave an impact, even if just on the practice squad, while he was sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules.
“We were in fall camp, and I’m watching a practice film, and I’m seeing this guy on the scout team just running people down all over the place,” said coach Ralph Friedgen of his first impressions of the linebacker who has added about 25 pounds of muscle since becoming a Terp.
Fokou teamed with linebacker Rick Costa, who transferred from Temple at the same time, to make sport of causing havoc for the Terp offense in practice.
“Coach Friedgen would yell at us, but it was the good kind of yelling,” Costa said. “We’d just be beating the first-team offense, and he would be yelling at the guys and making them do up-downs.”
Known for his speed, Fokou challenged former All-American tight end Vernon Davis to a footrace that first season. Davis won – barely.
Fokou just wanted to prove he could make the move to better competition and earn a scholarship. The year off gave him a chance to get stronger and get his studies in order. By the next season, the criminology and criminal justice major had his scholarship, and the confidence he could be productive.
“When things started clicking, and I started making plays [as a scout team player], I said, ‘You know what? I’m doing it,'” Fokou said. “From then on, I knew I could make an impact.”
Since then, Fokou’s role on the Terp defense has continued to increase. After contributing mostly on special teams in 2006, he moved from inside linebacker to his current SAM position before last season, switching spots with Dave Philistin.
Fokou finished third on the team in tackles last season, while continuing to be one of the Terps’ top special teams players. Friedgen said Fokou has gotten better every season with the Terps.
“[Speed] used to be one of his only attributes,” outside linebacker coach Al Seamonson said. “Now he’s a smarter football player that plays under control with more poise and discipline than when he was still learning how to play within this defense.”
Even though Fokou “wasn’t even on our radar” when coming out of high school, according to Friedgen, the Terps continue to be pleased with his choice to make the jump to Division I football.
As it’s turned out, Fokou’s career plan has worked out well for all involved.
“He made a decision, and it worked out for him,” Stevenson said. “I’m happy for him. And any time you hear he’s from Frostburg State, it does a lot for our program to know we had a player like that here.”
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