Matt Moore grew up in the small county of Van Nuys, California just outside of Los Angeles. Moore began his journey to the pros at Wlliam S. Hart High School in Newhall, California. With Moore at quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, you are probably guessing he played that position his whole life, well think again. Moore played safety his career through pee-wees up until he decided to make the transformation to the quarterback position his freshman year of high school.
Moore led his team to a 13-0 record and a Division III championship his senior year. In that game he recorded 277 yards, four touchdowns, and carried the ball for 97 yards and six points. Moore was officially named the CIF-SS Division III Offensive Player of the Year, First-team All State (impressive given California’s population) and First Team all CIF-SS.
After high school was over Moore jumped around with two colleges, University of California Los Angeles and Oregon State University. Freshman year, he went on to play at UCLA in which he appeared in only six games. With the injuries to Bruins’ quarterbacks Cory Paus and Drew Olson it was Moore’s time to shine. He had an average year as he made 33 completions out of his 62 pass attempts for 412 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
His second year at UCLA wasn’t as clear cut as his freshman year. Throughout the 2003 season he started four out of the eight regular season games he appeared in, but threw for only 555 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Moore took a different approach in 2004, as things weren’t really working out for him at UCLA and it was time to move on. College of the Canyons, a small community college in Santa Clarita, is where he took his education too, but little later did he know something big was on the verge.
You frequently see professional athletes start off by playing two sports, including Nate Robinson and Antonio Gates who both made the transformation playing football and basketball. In result of playing baseball in high school, Moore was more keen to play baseball.
The 20-year-old played semi-pro baseball in Southern California in his spare time while attending community college. During his time in the league, there were many MLB teams scouting for wanted positions. And in the 2004 MLB Draft he was chosen at pick no. 24 by the Los Angeles Angels.
Given the circumstances, Moore would have had to give up football and he did not want that, so he took his services to Oregon State University where all the magic began to happen. Right from the get-go he became the leader and starting quarterback for the Beavers.
In the 2005 season with Mike Riley’s team, he recorded the ninth hightest single season yardage total in history for the Beavers with 2,717 yards. Moore’s senior year was one to remember.
Back-to-back successful years at Oregon State University led him to an All Pac-10 honorable mention leading the Beavers to a 10 win season and a Sun Bowl victory over the University of Missouri. Moore was awarded with the MVP of the bowl game.
Leading on to age 23 Moore was unfortunately not drafted in 2007 NFL Draft but he received an deak from the Dallas Cowboys, an offer he couldn’t deny. His spurt with Dallas wasn’t fancy in resulting in him being waived, and later being snatched by the Carolina Panthers
The Panthers took him into a quarterback role for four years where he was successful leading up to 2008. That year it felt like it was the end of the career for the former Beaver after breaking his left fibula in the first pre-season game.
Moore’s breakout season coincidentally came about a year later after replacing Panthers’ starting quarterback Josh McCown in the first game of the regular season. Stuggling to show the Panthers his skill set, he was waived this past summer.
With the Miami Dolphins’ having quarterback issues, whether it be due to injuries or inconsistency, they were looking to find a quarterback they can count on. They did just that on July 28, 2011, with Chad Henne going down against the San Diego Chargers with a separated left shoulder. Miami then gave the call to Matt Moore.
In this 2011-12 season, Moore has been the best the Dolphins could ask for. After starting 0-7, the Miami Dolphins have been 4-1 with Moore under center. Thus far, Moore has tallied 1,769 yards, nine touchdowns, and five interceptions.
With the Dolphins having all sorts of help coming from the offensive line, running backs Reggie Bush and Daniel Thomas, wide receivers like Brandon Marshall, Brian Hartline, Davone Bess, tight-end Anthony Fasano, and the defense as a whole, Moore can only get better from here. He has shown he can be a starting quarterback in the past, present, and down the road the future.
Much help courtesy to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Moore_(American_football
Something Smells Fishy 