LCC grad Moorehas always beena defensive guy

ALLIANCE – Rossy Moore hoped, maybe even kind of expected to see his name on an NCAA Division III football All-American team.

But when it happened and he was named a first-team All-American it was like a dream come true. Or, at least, a goal accomplished.

“I knew there were a lot of good guys out there. And I knew I should be an All-American, whether I got first team or if I got second team or third team. But when it came out that I was Associated Press first team, it was definitely cool,” said Moore, a sophomore linebacker for Mount Union and a Lima Central Catholic graduate.

“It’s a goal I had before the season started. It’s a goal I had ever since I was a little kid. To become a first-team All-American has definitely been a dream of mine,” he said.

Moore, who was named the outstanding linebacker of the year in the Ohio Athletic Conference, had 89 tackles, 19.5 tackles for losses and had 10.5 sacks for Division III national runner-up Mount Union (14-1) this season.

At LCC, Moore was outstanding on offense and defense and was first-team All-Ohio on defense.

When it came time to choose which side of the line of scrimmage he wanted to line up on in college, there was never any doubt where he wanted to be.

“I’ve always been a defensive guy since I was little. I think it wasn’t a hard decision,” Moore said. “I’ve always considered myself a play maker. I felt like I could make the most plays on defense and I have a knack for it more. I feel like I can get after people better than I can run the ball.”

Moore was a back-up as a freshman but played in every game except one before emerging as a starter as a sophomore.

“I was really just trying to learn my freshman year. I was obviously behind a lot of really good players. It’s tough to get a spot here as a freshman. We recruit from everywhere so we’ve got kids from Florida, from Texas and the best of Ohio,” he said.

Moore says his speed is his biggest asset on the field. “People have underestimated my speed ever since high school. I feel like I have a knack for getting to the ball and knowing where it’s going maybe before it happens. I feel like those are definitely my top two,” he said.

LCC won 36 of the 44 games it played during Moore’s high school career. Continuing to play for a winning program was a priority for him when choosing where he would play in college.

“I didn’t want to go to a program that wasn’t going to be able to develop me. And I didn’t want to go to a program where we weren’t going to be a part of a winning culture. I knew Mount Union probably was the winningest program in the division. It was definitely a factor in coming here for sure,” Moore said.

“I wasn’t really familiar with Mount Union until they offered me. Then I dived into them and saw the 13 national championships and all the NFL players who came through here. It kind of made me lean toward this school.”

Mount Union has won 13 national championships and has been national runner-up nine times since 1993 and will aim at winning another championship next season.

“That’s definitely the end goal every year,” Moore said.