Casey Moore won't be a star for the Carolina Panthers, but the fullback is comfortable blocking.
By BOB PUTNAM
Published July 29, 2003
Casey Moore walked onto the football field at St. Petersburg Catholic nine years ago looking for a position. His coaches already had one picked out for him.
With his large frame, the coaches cast the freshman who had not played organized football before as a fullback, usually a position in which players plod along and are forgotten.
But Moore was hard to forget. Displaying soft hands, speed in the open field and brute strength, Moore was an anomaly and became a featured back at a position other teams ignore. He ran for 1,538 yards and scored 37 touchdowns in his final two seasons.
Moore decided to go to Stanford, an NFL pipeline for fullbacks. Brad Muster, Tommy Vardell, Greg Comella and Jon Ritchie played there.
It did not take long for Moore to etch his name in the school's fullback lore. He ran 94 yards for a winning touchdown as a redshirt freshman in 1999 against California. It was the second-longest run in Cardinal history and the longest against California, a rivalry that goes back more than 100 years.
So after grabbing headlines in high school and college, Moore hoped it was enough to grab the attention of the NFL. He was listed as the third-best fullback in April's draft and hoped he would go in the first four rounds.
But he waited until the second day of the draft to hear his name called. The Panthers selected him in the seventh round.
"I was a little surprised about that," Moore said. "I thought I might go higher, but fullback is a tough position to predict in the draft."
Moore was going to a team that was committed to running the ball. Panthers coach John Fox used the draft to focus on improving an offense that ranked 25th in rushing last season.
Carolina drafted offensive linemen Jordan Gross and Bruce Nelson with its first picks and selected blocking tight end Mike Seidman.
But Moore knows he won't be able to carry the ball behind those guys. The Panthers are paying Stephen Davis $15.5-million the next five years to do that.
Moore might get a carry or two and occasionally will slip out out of the backfield as an option in the passing game, but his days of being the featured guy, as he was in high school and college, are over.
Rather than run the ball, Moore will run interference.
He has the full-time job of being Davis' personal escort. On most snaps Moore will either deliver a block on a defender, who is usually much bigger, while leading Davis into the hole or shield the quarterback from the rush.
"I don't mind the role," Moore said. "I've played fullback for as long as I can remember, and I've sort of developed a niche for it. I've just gotten used to the blocking and everything else that comes with it. There aren't too many guys who want to play the position."
Moore will battle Brad Hoover and Scott Zimmerman in training camp, which started Friday. Moore also will play some on special teams.
"I'm excited and feel like I'm in a pretty good situation," Moore said. "Right now I'm going to try to focus on special teams while I'm learning my way. And I'm going to continue to have fun."
