Maryland Football: Brendan Moore ready to make an impact

The season may not have started, but Brendan Moore is already making a name for himself.

After being a backup during his first two collegiate seasons, Moore is ready to anchor the Maryland offensive line.

Moore was one of the more underrated recruits under Randy Edsall’s tenure in College Park. Moore was a three-star recruit hailing from the football hotbed state of Texas.

The Westwood High School (Tx.) star did have offers from Boise State, Houston, and Missouri but not many others. According to 247Sports, he was rated as the No. 995 overall prospect and the 90th best offensive tackle.

After redshirting his first year in College Park, he did appear in seven games (one start) in 2015. His lone start came in the season finale against Rutgers.

Despite there not being a huge sample size for Moore, he’s already drawing critical acclaim.

During the Big Ten Network’s stop at Maryland last week, senior writer Tom Dienhart said of Moore “They tell me he could be one of the best centers in the Big Ten.”

Dienhart certainly isn’t the only one who spoke highly of Moore.

Moore was named to the Rimington Trophy spring watch list back in May. The award is annually given to the top center in college football.

“Brendan Moore has really stood out,” Durkin said. “He competes every day; he’s consistent with what he does. He’s our style of guy, meaning that he is a blue-collar type player and has done a very good job. These guys as a unit, as a whole, are starting to gel and mesh. You can see a big difference today compared to our first practice.”

Moore is a very athletic offensive linemen that should be a great fit for offensive coordinator Walt Bell’s system. The Westwood High School (Tx.) product is pretty quick off the line of scrimmage and can get out and run block at a high rate.

Moore is also a very strong lineman, but his strongest attribute is his versatility. He has learned multiple positions during his time with the Terrapins as he’s lined up at both guard spots in addition to center.

“As a center, you have to learn every single position because you have to know every single position and you have to know the technique for all of those,” Moore said back in March. “Being a center is great, but I still study the other positions and I would be fine if they put me in any of them.”

Since arriving in College Park, the Terps have been grooming Moore to be the center of the future. Luckily for Moore, he had a very highly-respected coach in Dave Borbely helping him improve his skills this offseason.

Since Bell’s system is heavily based on fast tempo, communication on the offensive line will be placed on Moore’s shoulders.

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If Moore is able to live up to the player that many are billing him to be, the offensive line is going to be a huge strength for the Terps.