It’s quite possible that you’d overlook one of Polk County’s best offensive linemen.
Literally.
Simon Moore hasn’t let his stature dictate his performance. He’s undersized, but he’s physical and plays with an edge that stands out for the Wolverines.
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“You look at him, and does he look like a right guard?” Polk County coach Dustin Fry said. “No. But he plays so hard and he’s 180 pounds and that’s probably being generous. But he plays like he’s 250 pounds. The way he plays, how physical he is, the attitude that he brings, it’s just infectious for one, and you wish you just had that mentality across the board.”
At 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds, Moore knows he’s giving up size. What’s nearly stunning to think about is just how MUCH size he’s giving away every Friday.
“They’ve probably got at least five inches and almost a hundred pounds, give or take,” he said. “That’s about what I’m giving up on average.”
But that’s no problem when you take the approach to the game that Moore has embraced.
“One thing that I’ve learned is that at my size, technique really matters,” he said. “And with Coach Fry being a former collegiate and a former pro lineman, he’s taught me a lot about footwork and technique and stuff.”
Moore’s play has also come from years of experience. He’s dabbled at other spots, but he keeps coming back to offensive line.
“I’ve been playing offensive line since I was about four years old,” he said. “I was always the smallest one, but I’d say one good thing about it is I’m really gritty and I take technique into account and I kind of key off what an opponent’s weaknesses are. I just try to bring that to my game.”
His coach sees all of that.
“Oh yeah, he’s a really good technician,” Fry said. “It’s one of those things, I remember from his freshman year, he had to play center at 165 pounds. He knew every line call. He could tell everybody what they were doing. He got hurt a little bit last year and came back. He was playing tackle this year, but we were able to move him inside. And it’s nothing but technique. It’s all hips and feet and leverage and he brings a load when he pulls. Like, he is trying to knock you out. It’s just one of those things that you love. If he was 285 pounds and 6-3 and played like that he’d have every offer in the world.”
Moore has a quick answer to most hypothetical blocking scenarios because he knows what he wants to do already. He understands his size does afford him a few advantages in leverage and quickness.
“I’d say I’m a quick learner,” he said. “I just try to use their weaknesses to my advantage. I watch a bunch of film, college and professional. One player I watch a lot is Quenton Nelson, a guard for the Colts. He’s not the smallest, but he’s somewhat smaller than some of the defensive linemen he plays against, and I watch his feet and the way he moves and I try to use that for my game.”
Moore, like any standout lineman, has a little bit of the best kind of nasty streak in a football sense. But he also takes a very cerebral, video game-like approach to his position.
“Our quarterback runs the game,” he said. “And I treat it like he has one more life left. We have to get dirty for him. We have to keep him protected. He’s the king, and we have to keep the bad guys away.”
Like any true offensive lineman, though, Moore would rather run-block. The Wolverines are having some success in that department this season, something that makes him happy. But more than that, it makes him proud – of himself, and of his teammates.
“I feel more proud of myself putting a man’s face in the dirt, and it just hypes me up,” he said. “It hypes everyone up. It makes us feel like we have control, because we can blow them off the ball. We can get gaps for our running backs and big-yard plays. We’ve always had a smaller line, and it’s just a matter of our grit versus them, and I will take Polk County’s grit over anything, every day of the week.”
That attitude, the pride in Polk County grit, is something that Fry wishes he could keep around.
“Simon is the epitome of a program guy you want to keep around,” he said. “You wish you could keep him around forever because he’ll do whatever you need. He’s going to play as hard as he can for as long as he can, and he’s really just been invaluable for us.”
Fry’s not exaggerating when he says Moore will do anything asked of him. He could probably do even more.
“We protect him a little bit not playing him on defense,” Fry said. “He’s so valuable on offense that we just don’t need him to get mashed inside with everything on defense. Would he probably blow guys up? Absolutely. But we need him so much at that right guard spot that we just can’t afford to lose him because of what we do offensively with pulls. He’s just so valuable with that.”
His career has included a bounce-back from that injury that Fry mentioned.
“I’ve always had bad knees, and last year in spring ball I made slight contact and my knee fell out,” he said. “During the offseason I just took time and was like what can I do to be better? And coming back it felt amazing, and I realized that I needed to be an anchor at this point, and a leader. It just feels good to be back overall.”
And since he’s back, he’s going to do whatever the Wolverines ask of him. As always. And this year, he’s hoping to lead them.
“When I was younger, I always had big brothers and they were good leaders to me and I was still like these younger guys,” he said. “I can be a leader to them, and that’s all that matters.”
That, and the opportunity to take the field with his brothers.
“The team that we have now, this is the closest I’ve ever been to a team that I can count as family,” he said. “I’ve known the majority of these guys for almost a decade. And I feel like we work together as a family.”
Fry wouldn’t mind if Moore’s sense of family with the Wolverines lasted a while.
“I hope it’s one of those things where he comes back, because I think he’d be a fantastic coach one day if that’s something he’s interested in,” Fry said. “I’d love to have him come back as a coach because he has the selfless, whatever you need mentality.”
But that’s down the road, and Polk County just turned the corner on the rest of the season. Fry sees what’s in front of Moore right now, too.
“He’s playing for his boys,” Fry said. “He’s playing for another Friday night. And God, you love to have those guys. I mean, that’s really it.”
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