Scouting Report: UCLA Safety Rahim Moore
By Eric Haigh
In his three seasons as a Bruin, safety Rahim Moore never missed a start and recorded 14 total interceptions as a ball-hawking free safety. Ten of those interceptions came in 2009, the most in the nation. That season he was named first-team All-Pac 10 by the conferences coaches, along with being named the Pac-10 Defensive MVP by the Sporting News. While he only put up one interception last season, he had a college career-high in tackles with 77, 32 more than he had in 2009. As a Bruins captain last year, he was named an AP third-team All-American. His 14 career interceptions have him tied for fourth all-time in UCLA history. Here is an in-depth look at Moore, including his strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths
Range Covering the Deep Half
Moore is a very fluid runner who has great range when playing both the cover 2 and cover 3 schemes. He has good instincts and is excellent and turning his hips and running down the deep ball when it leaves the quarterback’s hand. He takes advantage of deep balls that are hung up in the air too long, using his speed to get to it and break up the play. Whichever team drafts Moore in this year’s draft is getting a safety that has no problems playing the pass in the deep half of the field.
Playing the Ball in the Air
As I mentioned, quarterbacks cannot afford to hang passes in the air too long when playing against Moore because of his ability to track down the ball and make a play. When scouting safeties, I like to look at their ability to find the ball on deep passes and grade them on their awareness of the football. Moore showed on tape that he had tremendous awareness of the ball when defending the pass and rarely loses track of it when it is in the air. This is important as safeties who do not have good awareness are usually the ones that are vulnerable to giving up big plays over the top.
Pursuit in Run Support
While Moore’s tackling will be addressed later, he has a strength in getting to the ball when playing the run. His sideline to sideline speed is very visible on tape when offenses tried to run either sweeps or stretches to the side of the field opposite of Moore. He does a good job of taking correct angles to the ball carrier when defending these types of plays, an attribute that is highly underrated in my opinion in regards to the safety position.
Weaknesses
Breaking Down When Tackling
This is without a doubt Moore’s biggest weakness when watching him on film, in my opinion. When running backs get through the hole and into the secondary, he does not do a good job of breaking down and wrapping up the runner. Often times he leaves his feet and tries to throw himself at the back’s upper body, only slowing him down for a split second. I would like to see him show better form when tackling and being aggressive when coming up to make the tackle, not waiting for the running back to make contact with him.
Disengaging from Wide Receiver Blocks
Often times on big run plays by the offense, I saw Moore not being able to get off of receivers’ blocks downfield. While he sometimes did a good job of moving the receiver to force the running back to cut a certain direction, he needs to be able to shed those blocks and make the tackle in order to be a good NFL safety. The ability to shed blocks as a safety and make the play can sometimes save a defense from giving up huge gains and even touchdowns.
One-Dimensional
After reading the previous strengths and weaknesses of my scouting report, you can probably draw the conclusion that I am high on Moore’s ability to play the pass but believes he needs to improve a lot when helping in run support. Teams who need help in pass coverage will have Moore higher up on their draft boards than teams who are looking for an aggressive safety that can effectively play in the box. The team that selects Moore approximately a month from now will likely not have him down near the line of scrimmage (besides short-yardage plays) but playing the deep zones where he excels.
Projected Round: Late 1st– Early 2nd
NFL Comparison: Reggie Nelson, Cincinnati Bengals