NAU receiver big-time talent on small stage
Mark Shaffer
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 5, 2003 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/colleges/1205naufoot1205.htmlFLAGSTAFF - The long list of NFL scouts who have visited the Northern Arizona campus this fall to analyze senior wide receiver Clarence Moore all seem to have the same question.
Why is a 6-foot-5 wideout with exceptional hands and breakaway speed, who toys weekly with defensive backs a head shorter, playing on the Division I-AA level?
Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger, whose team plays NAU in Flagstaff on Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the I-AA playoffs, said he was stunned when he started reviewing tapes of the Lumberjacks and saw Moore in action.
"Talk about a man among boys," Schnellenberger said.
The soft-spoken Moore, whose twin brother, Terrance, is a standout wide receiver on an even smaller stage, Division II Midwestern State University in Texas, said it was a case of never really looking the part.
Coaches at Cypress High School in Buena Park, Calif., where Moore spent most of his formative years near the gates of Knott's Berry Farm, thought that his exceedingly slender frame would be best suited for track. He finished third in the state in the triple jump and also excelled in the long jump and the 200-meter dash.
Then he missed an entire football season because he fractured two vertebrae in a bad landing on a triple jump.
"There wasn't even any film of me on the football field until midway through my senior year," Moore said. "I'd already committed to NAU by then. Schools like UCLA and Oregon wanted me for track, but I wanted to play football, too."
What a find he has been during his four-year career with the Lumberjacks.
Moore holds the school career records for most receiving yards (2,985) and touchdowns (27) and is only 7 yards short of breaking NAU's single-season receiving yardage record of 1,134, set by Charlie Brown in 1969.
Moore also has saved his biggest games for the biggest stages.
He burned Arizona State for 157 yards and a touchdown on nine catches early this season, torched Big Sky Conference powerhouse Montana for 155 yards on nine receptions last year and served notice of what was to come by catching two long touchdown passes against New Mexico his freshman season.
Moore's mother, Denea Aguilar, credits her twins' development to a crucial decision she made in 1990.
Aguilar, who became a mother at 18, had raised her boys in their early years at the home of her parents, in Compton, Calif. She finally saved enough money affixing wings to military aircraft for the Boeing Corp. to buy a home in Orange County.
"I sent Clarence to private schools and kept him away from bad influences," Aguilar said.
"It's a joy for all of us that he's turned out so well."