New Denver Bronco - Rahim Moore from UCLA

With the inevitable departure of veteran safety Brian Dawkins in a matter of years from football, it only made sense that the Denver Broncos drafted a FS in the 2011 NFL Draft. There will NEVER be another Brian Dawkins, or as Bronco Country will call him 'Weapon X', I think the choice of Rahim Moore will be a solid long-term decision for Denver.

And here's why.

Rahim Shaheed Moore was born on February 11, 1990 in Los Angeles, California to Rodney & Nowana. Rahim is also the brother to two siblings, Shaheed & Duraisha.

During his time at Dorsey High School in LA, he lettered in all four years of playing football for coach Knox. Rahim began his football career by getting a taste of both offense & defense when coach Knox had him play defensive back & wide receiver. Something clicked because Rahim went on to make quite a name for himself while impressing college scouts.

**Was ranked 2nd nationally & number 1 in the West and in the state of California at safety by scout.com; received five stars from scout.com.

**Was a PrepStar Dream Team selection... Played in the U.S. Army All-Star game... received four stars from rivals.com

**Was named All-State first-team by Cal-Hi Sports... was a member of the Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West squad (No. 4)... Helped his high school reach City Section semifinals

**As a sophomore, this is when he really started to shine for his team, racking up 99 tackles and 8 interceptions and as a junior, he had 122 tackles and 7 interceptions.

**In his senior year alone, Rahim made 112 tackles, 8 INTs, 10 deflections and 3 fumble recoveries. As for offense, his stats were 15 catches for 339 yards and 6 touchdowns. Also during his senior year, he lettered in track, finishing 3rd in the 400 meter event at the CIF L.A. City Section Finals. He was a three-time league champ in the 400 meter race.

In the fall of 2008, Rahim Moore chose to play for UCLA and got a quick start to his college football career.

As a freshman, he was a starter in all 12 games at free safety (an opportunity a lot of freshman college kids don't get but Rahim took full advantage of it). He was fourth on the squad with 60 tackles and with that, he brought in 3 years worth of honorable mentions to his name. In addition, Rahim became the first true freshman to start a season-opener on offense or defense since Matt Ware in 2001.

Tied at 11th in the Pac-10 in INTs and also tied at 3 for most INTs on the team; he also tied at 6th in the Pac-10 in fumbles recovered. Rahim was named to the All-Pac-10 Freshman team for rivals.com and was an honorable mention Freshman All-American for CollegeFootballNews.com. He also impressed college coaches enough to get Pac-10 honorable mentions and last but not least, he was the Defensive co-winner of UCLA's prized John Boncheff, Jr. Memorial Award for Rookie of the Year. Whew...

His sophomore year at UCLA was even accredited and full of amazing things this guy can do on the field.


Once again, he started in all 13 games for the Bruins and led the nation with 10 interceptions. *Was selected to the first-team All-America by scout.com
 *Second-team by the Walter Camp Foundation, AP, rivals.com and si.com
 *Third-team All-America pick by The Sporting News and Phil Steele
 *First-team All-Pac-10 selection by league's coaches
*Named Pac-10 Defensive MVP & first-team all-league by The Sporting News

*Named co-defensive winner of UCLA's other coveted prize, the Henry R. Sanders Award for *Most Valuable Player
*Received high honorable mention for the Thorpe Award
*His 10 INTs ranked #2 on the school single-season list (no other football player in the Football Bowl Subdivision had made 10 interceptions in a single season since 2003)
*His INT average of 0.77 a game led the nation in 2009
*Was ranked 2nd in the NCAA and first in the Pac-10 for passes defensed
*Totaled 3 INTs in the season opener against San Diego St. to tie for the UCLA school single-game mark

During his sophomore season, he suffered a mild concussion in the 2nd quarter while playing at Stanford and was forced to leave the game, but it wasn't serious enough to stop him from making his mark on the UCLA team for the rest of the season.

One of his biggest highlights was during the UCLA-Cal game where he led his team with a career-best, with 9 stops and one for loss yardage. Another big sophomore year highlight for Moore was in a game against Arizona, when in the first half alone he recorded 2 interceptions that would have led to two Arizona scoring drives.

For his junior year and what would become his last as a Bruin, he again was a starter for all 12 of UCLA's games. One of the very few college players I've heard of being able to start, let alone play in every game of his football career.

He was selected by his teammates at the season captain and that was only the beginning of another year full of honorable mentions from credited sports media outlets.

Rahim was named to his 2nd first-team All-America roster by The Sporting News... named to the third-team All-American by the Associated Press... Fourth-team All-American & Mid-Season All-American by Phil Steele.

He was third on his team for tackles (77) and tied for 17th in the Pac-10 for tackles
Was one of 10 Thorpe Award finalists
Was named to the Bednarik Award, Lott Trophy & Nagurski Trophy watch lists
Was one of only 3 All-Pac-10 first-team players to repeat from 2009

Some of his game highlights include:

**Was credited with 8 tackles vs. USC
**In a game against Houston, he recorded his 14th college career INT which led to a Bruin touchdown and tied for 4th on the all-time UCLA list
**He tied his career high with 9 tackles against Cal


Here are his college totals for all 3 years he played at UCLA:

Year	TT	T-AT	Sacks	TFL	INT
2008	60	32-28	0-0	0-0	3-5 (0)
2009	49	36-13	0.0-0	3.0-13	10-79 (0)
2010	71	51-26	0.0-0	3.0-7	1-42 (0)
Totals	186	119-67	0-0	6.0-20	14-126 (0)

Rahim chose to skip out on his senior year in college so he could enter himself in the 2011 NFL Draft (at this point, it might have been to his advantage to stay in college one more year not only to gain more experience but to avoid being caught in the NFL lockout with a chance of no NFL season). But what's done is done.

In between leaving college a year early & getting selected by the Broncos to play in the NFL, Rahim showed great potential at the UCLA Pro Day. Moore ran the short shuttle in 4.16 seconds and the long shuttle (11.47) before going through an extensive & physical positional workout.

At 6ft, 202 lbs, his footwork, movement skills & quickness were all impressive to those watching. He showed his true athleticism in his turns & transitions, and also during the ball skills. A ball hawk in the making ready to go to the next level. And while his lack of conditioning was a concern and still is, he solidified himself as a top-50 selection.

Here are his NFL Combine stats:

1st in the 20 yard shuttle - 3.96
Tied for 4th in the 40 yard dash - 4.62
Tied for 2nd in the Vertical Jump - 35.0
6th in the Broad Jump - 9' 7"
Tied for 5th in the 3-cone drill - 6.98

The Denver Broncos chose Rahim Moore in the 2nd round (45th overall) of the draft and while EVERY player has faults, I think from just reading about him he could definitely be a deadly weapon for us in the future.

With the choice of Moore, Denver will have gained a player with some "much-needed athleticism" as nfl.com puts it, in addition to ball skills and the playmaking ability that the Denver defense, let alone the secondary, have lacked for way too long.

His biggest strengths have come down to Zone Coverage and Closing/Recovery. He has good Read & React skills as well as Run Support but making questionable moves that give running backs quick chances to exploit his mistakes. Is a good tackler but his expertise lies in intercepting & making the QB look bad. Not much of a man-to-man coverage guy, which could be a big issue for Denver to deal with if he's going to play at FS.

I think with the influence Dawkins has a natural born leader, Moore can become a great football player. Having Weapon X as a teammate let alone as a major influence is something Moore won't take lightly, considering he is much like Dawkins in many ways. With the right coaching a team full of players eager to get this Denver Bronco defense & overall team back on the right track, good things will come of not only Rahim Moore but the other rookies as well.

Here is a little tidbit about Moore that is enlightening about the newest Bronco:

"Moore is following in the footsteps of former Bruins safeties Kenny Easley, Eric Turner, Carnell Lake and Shaun Williams. He stepped in as the first true freshman starter for UCLA since Matt Ware in 2001, and went on to start 37 consecutive games.

It's a good body of work for NFL scouts to review when looking at the junior. And he's a classic example of a prospect who will elicit a wide range of opinion.

Moore earned honorable mention All-Pac-10 honors as a freshman, then led the country with 10 interceptions in 2009 - the most by an FBS player since 2003. But he struggled to produce big plays as a junior, registering just four pass breakups and one interception.

The critical scout will be concerned that 2009 was an aberration, and that Moore's slim build and questionable instincts will prevent him from standing out in the NFL.

Moore counters those questions by pointing out that opponents avoided his side of the field last season, and that he had to "switch my game up" on a much younger defense and play more of a strong safety role.

"Every year you're not going to have your best stats," said Moore. "But I think this year I showed more I can come downhill, tackle and make other plays. Interceptions are not everything."

Moore said the team that drafts him doesn't have to worry about the safety position for the next 10-12 years. He believes he's special "in the most humble way. I'm going to get in early. I'm going to leave late. I'm going to put in the same amount of hours, maybe more (than) the coaching staff.

He tries to pattern his game after Ravens All-Pro Ed Reed. Moore said he almost started crying when he got to talk to his favorite player of all time in a 45-minute phone conversation.

"That is one of the smartest men I've ever talked to in my life," Moore said of Reed. "I learned so much. I respect what he does, the hard work and dedication. The things he does on the field and off the field, I think some of the things I do resemble."

Like I mentioned before, with time and the support of his coaches & teammates, Rahim Moore can become what we need at FS in the near & far future. Definitely has a lot of potential to be a great player for us.


Videos:

Rahim Moore: Draft Preview

Rahim Moore UCLA Highlights