Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991 TAG: 9104060190
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Long
Some people, in this case, are the National Football League teams who will be holding their annual free-agent draft April 21-22. Once hopeful that he would be drafted in the first round, Moore now realizes he has dropped on the list.
In the 1991 draft review published by Pro Football Weekly, Moore is ranked 10th among quarterbacks. Since the end of February, he has joined All-America wide receiver Herman Moore and UVa's other seniors in weekly workouts for scouts and other NFL personnel, but he has received little feedback.
"I think everybody was basically waiting to see Herman's 40 [-yard dash] time," said Shawn Moore, referring to a Feb. 28 workout. "I think I threw the ball exceptionally well that day. I think I've worked out great three different days, but they don't really give you any response."
What little information he gets, Moore gleans from his agent, Brad Blank, who also represents Herman Moore.
"If you let it get to you, it can drive you crazy," Shawn Moore said. "Billy Ray is a good friend of mine. I met [Dan] McGwire at the combine. I played with Bill Musgrave at the Hula Bowl. I'm not taking anything away from them, but I just feel I'm a better quarterback.
"When we were undefeated and playing well, I was getting all this publicity. You didn't hear about too many other quarterbacks other than the guys who were in the running for the Heisman, [Ty] Detmer, [David] Klingler and myself. Then, after the season's over, you didn't hear my name anymore. I think it was due to the injury and the way the season ended."
The regular season ended for Moore when he dislocated his right thumb Nov. 17 against Maryland in UVa's 10th game. Moore underwent an operation in which two screws were inserted into the base of his thumb, but he returned for UVa's game against Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day.
Three months later, Moore isn't sure he made the right decision. After finishing first in Division I in passing efficiency, he completed nine of 22 passes for 62 yards, going 0-for-8 in the second half as Tennessee overcame a 16-0 deficit to win 23-22.
"I don't know what I was thinking at the Sugar Bowl," said Moore, who is from Martinsville. "I made some crazy decisions before that game. I think it was embarrassing to me. I know I'm not that type of player. Everything I threw, my thumb affected the pass. The long balls were ridiculous.
"As I look back on it, I wish they would have given Matt [Blundin] a chance to play. I think we would have pulled the game out because it was such an intense game. I think I took away from the offense in some aspects, but with the option game going as well as it did, it gave us a threat [to have Moore in the game]."
Contrary to reports leading up to the game, Moore now says he was nowhere close to 100 percent.
"Oh, my goodness, no," he said. "Probably about 50 [percent]. It was my last collegiate game with Virginia and I wanted to give it everything I had and play. As far as the next level, it's really taken a lot from me. I just feel a lot's been lost.
"I'm not affected by how people rate me, but you don't think about my name being called in the first round, which is what I had always hoped and dreamed of. I think a lot of people are considering me as a middle-round pick and I know I'm better than that."
Moore repeatedly used the word "crazy" to describe his decision to play and his decision to practice extensively after the Cavaliers arrived in New Orleans on Dec. 26. He did not miss a practice and "I think that hurt me," Moore said, "because I was just aggravating it more and more."
Moore accepted invitations to participate in three postseason all-star games. He did not see action in the Japan Bowl - "That was understood before I went there," he said - but played the following week in the Hula Bowl in Honolulu. He pulled out of the East-West Shrine Game one week later in San Francisco.
"I threw maybe two long passes in the Hula Bowl," Moore said. "One I overshot a little bit, which was good because I didn't know if I had the strength to go deep. The underneath passes, I threw well, but [the thumb] still bothered me. You could tell if you watched the game."
After the bowl games, Moore attended the National Scouting Combine Camp in Indianapolis but did not take part in passing drills. He took a physical examination and was measured at 6 feet 1 7/8 and 213 pounds.
"A lot of people were disappointed in me there, too, because they thought if you come to the combine, you have to work out," Moore said. "They didn't say it. I could just tell.
"From what everybody was telling me, if my thumb was still bothering me, I should just go take the physical and come back. That's what I did. I didn't want to hurt my stock even more and throw if my thumb was still bothering me. I shouldn't even have gone."
Moore said he has watched film of the Maryland game and still isn't sure how the injury occurred. In some ways, it resembles the tackle that has placed Bo Jackson's athletic career in jeopardy. When Moore hit the turf, it looked no different from 100 other plays in his career.
"It was such a freak thing," Moore said. "I don't understand how it happened. My hand came down flat. Somehow, the thumb got caught [under the hand]. It's not an ugly sight. It's just weird."
Moore said the thumb is close to 100 percent now, but it still hurts sometimes after he throws for long periods. He thinks he has showed the scouts that the strength has returned, but he isn't sure people have been watching.
"They were just drooling over [Herman]," Moore said. "That's good. I think it's going to work out well for him. A lot of teams wanted to see if he was worth a top pick, a top-10 pick. I think he convinced them. He convinced everybody that he's a legitimate 4.4 [40-yard dash]. He can run, he can jump, he can do everything."
Shawn Moore ran a 4.6 in the 40, which is as fast as he's ever run.
"But I'm not in the best of shape," he said. "I've basically been lifting and throwing. I haven't really been concentrating on running. They really don't care about that for quarterbacks."
The perception still exists of Moore as a running quarterback, although he passed for more than 2,000 yards in three straight seasons and tied the ACC record for touchdown passes in a career with 55.
Joel Buschbaum of Pro Football Weekly praises Moore for his athletic ability and quickness but questions his mechanics and raises the possibility that Moore could be a running back or safety in the NFL.
"He's accurate and he's got a strong enough arm," UVa coach George Welsh said, "but [the scouts] don't ask me what I think anymore. They seem to have the same questions they had about [Don] Majkowski and [Scott] Secules and they're in the pros. It's ridiculous.
"I wouldn't be the first person to say I think Shawn can play right away. It wouldn't surprise me in two or three years to see him help some team make the playoffs."
Welsh said he in no way tried to pressure Moore to play in the Sugar Bowl.
"I hope I didn't convey that," Welsh said. "If he had told me he couldn't play, I wouldn't have done it. I was willing to lose the ballgame if that's what not playing him meant.
"Apparently, it set him back [professionally] because he wasn't as accurate. Medically, I was told he could not injure himself any more. I watched him in warmups and he was fairly accurate. I wouldn't be embarrassed if I were Shawn. He was eager to play, and there's only one Sugar Bowl."
Washington Redskins general manager Charlie Casserly, who was in Charlottesville on Feb. 28, said Moore's injury no longer is a consideration.
"I think you have to look at the guy before the injury," Casserly said. "He can move in the pocket and he can move the team. I saw him early in his career and he's improved consistently. I don't get into negatives, but I think he's a . It's all a matter of how he compares with the others."
Blank, Moore's agent, said it is impossible to gauge where Moore might have been drafted before the injury. He added that he doesn't believe it served any benefit to play in the Sugar Bowl or Hula Bowl.
Moore, who played this past fall as a graduate student, originally intended to attend class this semester but found he was out of town too much to make that feasible. He plans to get a master's degree, possibly returning to school for the second semester in 1991-92.
One activity that did not occupy much of his time was the selection of an agent. Blank also represents former UVa players Jeff Lageman and Ray Savage.
"I didn't want to mess around with the agents too much, so, after the season, I made one trip," Moore said. "I didn't feel like flying all over the country. I only talked to two other people."
Moore doesn't even want to think how much money the injury might have cost him.
"If I'm going to be a middle-round or a late-round pick, it's no problem," he said.
"I look at the NFL as business. It's kind of starting on the bottom of the [totem] pole. I'd have to build myself back up. I love football, but right now I'm looking at it financially."
Moore hasn't questioned his decision to return for a fifth year of eligibility. He finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting, was voted ACC player of the year and broke virtually every school passing record, as well as a couple NCAA and ACC marks. He also got his degree.
by CNB