Rondale Moore’s impact in his 2020 debut was profound.
The sophomore made 15 catches for 116 yards (7.7 ypc) and ran for 20 yards and a TD in Purdue's 34-31 loss at Minnesota on Friday.
Moore hadn't played in a game since Sept. 28, 2019, when he hurt his left hamstring vs. the Gophers in Ross-Ade Stadium and missed the final eight games. This after becoming the first true freshman in Big Ten annals to earn consensus All-American honors in 2018 after he made 114 catches for 1,258 yards and 12 touchdowns to go along with 213 yards rushing and two scores.
After last Friday's game, Moore caught everyone off guard during the post-game Zoom press conference by apologizing to his coach and teammates for how he handled communication of his absence for the first three games of the season.
"I want to apologize to my teammates, to my head coach, Coach Brohm," said Moore after Purdue's loss to the Golden Gophers. "When I decided to come back to school, I had full intentions to play the full season. And, unfortunately, I reactivated a hamstring late in camp, wasn't able to go Week One. And then, obviously, it was a snowball effect.
"I wasn't able to go until tonight. And, honestly, I'm just apologizing because in the midst of them preparing each week, and trying to have a shot to compete for a Big Ten championship, I was a distraction."
Moore finished with this: "So, on Coach Brohm's part, I went to his office and I asked if he could keep it as close because I thought I would be back a lot sooner than I was. And a lot of people created these narratives about myself, about this team. That's never what I intended it to be. So, I just want to apologize there. But to get back out there tonight felt great. That's really all I got for you guys."
Brohm didn’t know what prompted the statement from Moore, who had opted out on Aug. 6 and then opted back in on Sept. 24 after the Big Ten announced plans to play a 2020 season amid the pandemic.
“You'd have to ask him,” said Brohm on Monday when asked why Moore felt the need to explain himself. “I don't know.”
Does Brohm know why Moore--who hadn't spoken to local media since last season--wanted to be secretive about a hamstring injury that he revealed after the game had been the source of his absence?
“Well, I want to do whatever is best for Rondale and I want to do whatever is best for all of our players,” said Brohm. “Those relationships and conversations, I'm going to stand by them. Rondale wants to be a great player. He wants to do everything he can to help his team win. He wants to play beyond the game of college and help his family, take care of them and I'm going to do everything in my power to help him do that. I want to work with our players and, you know, Rondale would love to have played the first game.
“But, you know what? You deal with the situation as it is and, you know, I'm going to respect the wishes of all of our players. I'll give him my advice. I'll give him what I think, but I'm going to respect their wishes, and so that's what we're going to do.”
Moore came out of last Friday's game at Minnesota in good shape health-wise, according to Brohm. Purdue (2-2) plays host to Rutgers (1-4) on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
"Rondale is an exceptional player," said Brohm. "You know, I'm sure he probably had some soreness and we'll gauge that as this week goes on. It's the first time he's really seen that extensive action for a while. When the ball is in his hand, it's electric. There are some things, with everybody, that we've got to shore up and polish up and route-running up the field with him everyone and we want to be precise and sharp and make sure that we're getting better there.
"But you know, unlimited potential. He plays hard. He made a lot of great plays. We got him the ball in space, but we want to make sure we give him the ball in space and up the field as well and we just have to continue to work on everybody's game to get better."
Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?
Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2020. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.
