When Maryland football wide receiver DJ Moore arrived in College Park in 2015, he tried not to think about the void created when Stefon Diggs left the program.
Diggs, who attended high school 30 minutes from the campus, was the best recruit in Maryland history. He chose to enter the NFL Draft after racking up 150 catches for more than 2,200 yards and 14 touchdowns in three seasons with the Terps. He’s since become one of the Minnesota Vikings’ best wideouts.
But Moore has nearly equaled Diggs’ production despite playing under eight different quarterbacks, including four this year. He’s totaled 146 catches for 2,027 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Moore broke former Terps wide receiver Geroy Simon’s 1994 single-season receptions record (77) with eight catches for 100 yards in Maryland’s season finale loss to No. 12 Penn State on Saturday. He finished as the third player in program history to record more than 1,000 receiving yards, a feat Diggs never accomplished.
“DJ Moore is a stud,” coach DJ Durkin said. “Nothing affects him in terms of his circumstances, where he’s at or what the situation is. … He’s always ready to perform.”
Moore didn’t enter the program with as much hype as Diggs or other standout receivers, such as Darrius Heyward-Bey, who was picked No. 7 overall in the 2009 NFL Draft. Even after Moore amassed 637 yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore, he didn’t receive Big Ten preseason honors the following year.
His quiet demeanor didn’t help him garner attention. But his breakout performance to help upset then-No. 23 Texas in Austin on Sept. 2 did. Moore finished with seven receptions for 133 yards and caught a go-ahead 20-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone.
One week later, Moore scored three total touch-downs against Towson, including a 21-yard run which he broke seven tackles. That performance led offensive coordinator Walt Bell to compare him to former Oklahoma State All-American Dez Bryant. Defensive lineman Andrew Isaacs said Moore was one of the best receivers he’d ever seen.
As Maryland entered its difficult Big Ten slate, which featured six ranked opponents, Moore continued to impress people inside the program with his work ethic.
“His practice habits [make him great],” running back Ty Johnson said. “Even if it’s against the scout team, he’s going 100 miles per hour.”
That helped Moore maintain consistency after season-ending ACL injuries to quarterbacks Tyrrell Pigrome and Kasim Hill. He dominated Northwestern with career-highs in receptions (12) and receiving yards (210) in a 37-21 loss. He made six fourth-quarter catches against Michigan State to help the Terps compete in snowy conditions.
Moore acknowledged it was difficult to build chemistry with four different signal-callers this year, but he said it was his job to “play my game no matter who’s throwing me the ball.”
Needing six catches to break Maryland’s receptions record against Penn State, Moore hauled in eight passes from third-string quarterback Max Bortenschlager, reaching his goal in the first half with a tough grab on the left sideline. While Maryland suffered a 66-3 defeat, his performance stood out.
“[The record] is well-deserved,” Durkin said. “He’s had eight quarterbacks throw to him during his career, and that’s a remarkable stat. You can flip that a lot of ways, but it tells you a lot about that young man.”
After leading the Big Ten in receptions and receiving yards as a junior, Moore can enter the NFL Draft as Diggs did in 2015. But he hasn’t yet made that decision, saying he needs to make an evaluation in the coming months. For now, Moore will bide his time working out in the Terps’ on-campus facilities, where he’s put in countless hours over the past three seasons.
That commitment will help him regardless of his next step.
“Just going to take the process slow,” Moore said. “I’ll have a meeting with all of the coaches and see what’s best for me.”