When the Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List came out earlier this summer and included Maryland center Brendan Moore, offensive line coach Dave Borbely had one question come to mind.
“I was like, ‘Really, Brendan? Come on,’ Borbely remembered at the team’s media day Aug. 16.
After all, Moore, entering his redshirt sophomore season, has one-career start, which came at left guard. He spent the first two seasons of his career learning behind former centers Evan Mulrooney and Sal Conaboy.
Now as the starting center on the team’s first depth chart, Moore feels prepared to facilitate communication among the offensive line and prove he deserved the preseason national recognition.
“He has confidence in himself, and we have just as much confidence in him as a team,” right tackle Damian Prince said at media day. “Whenever he makes a call, if he says it, we’re going to play it.”
When Moore has lined up for plays at practice this offseason, he’s made sure to raise his voice. He understands the Terps’ cohesion in the trenches starts with his lead.
Each time the offense breaks the huddle in Saturday’s season opener against Howard, he expects that control will continue. He’ll assume the responsibility of making sure each player knows the correct call and what to look for in opponents’ defensive scheme.
“Really, just on the line, there’s so many things happening at one time,” Moore said. “We all have things to say.”
As the line has gelled throughout fall camp — Prince (right tackle), Maurice Shelton (right guard), Moore (center), Mike Minter (left guard) and Mike Dunn (left tackle) are listed as the starters — Prince said Moore’s emergence has helped create chemistry.
“He’s assertive, and I feel like as a center, as kind of the shot-caller…I feel like you have to be that,” Prince said. “There’s something about him, and you just believe him.”
The preseason has also been a time when Moore has adopted head coach DJ Durkin’s emphasis on toughness.
The Austin, Texas, native appreciated Durkin’s decision to schedule practice at the hottest time of day to prepare for Saturday’s noon kickoff and the following two games in Florida. With the tempo and length of the workouts, Moore has become “comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Moore has also become a mainstay in Durkin’s Champions Club, an incentive system the coach uses to promote accountability within his players.
“Starting in winter workouts, it was obvious he had a certain level of toughness and athleticism that’s really critical for the position,” Borbely said. “He’s an extremely, extremely hard worker.”
As he stood in the sweltering heat after practice Aug. 10, he acknowledged his honor to be one of the 62 players up for consideration as the best center in the country, But that doesn’t make him a leader.
“Those two things are not correlated,” Moore said. “Whether or not I’m a leader on the team is up to me.”
He adopted that responsibility in the offseason. His performance was also good enough to earn him a spot on the starting offensive line.
For Moore, though, that sufficed. He strives to bring that type of effort into the 2016 campaign, starting with Saturday’s game against Howard. “All I have to do,” Moore said “is prove them right in the season.”
