He's back! Rondale Moore announces return to Purdue. NFL can wait
MORE: What should Rondale Moore do? Return to Purdue? Or prepare for the NFL? | What to watch for as training camp opens | With Rondale Moore "1,000 percent" healthy, Purdue kicks off camp Friday | Rondale Moore opting out of 2020 season | GoldandBlack.com Analysis: Rondale Moore's move to the NFL | Moore will be missed, but Purdue still has cornucopia of skill at receiver
He’s back!
Rondale Moore announced today that he is putting his pursuit of an NFL career on hold and returning to Purdue for his redshirt sophomore season.
The dynamic 5-9, 180-pound wideout opted out on Aug. 6, before the Big Ten announced it was postponing the 2020 season. But last week, the Big Ten unveiled plans for a nine-game season to begin Oct. 24, when Purdue opens vs. Iowa at home. And now, the Boilermakers will kickoff with Moore in the lineup. The Big Ten's health and safety protocols played a big part in Moore's decision to return to West Lafayette.
"The whole decision behind me opting out was the uncertainty," said Moore on ESPN2's 'College Football Live' today, "to take care of my safety and my mother's safety was important for me to kind of dig deeper and find out some more information.
"Hopefully, the Big Ten would come to terms and find a way to get things done and we'd have a season. The Big Ten found a way to consistently test and have safety protocols that made me feel safe. I want to thank them. I want to thank Purdue, as well, for keeping me safe as I've been here. I've decided to opt back in and play for the Boilers this season."
Moore had been working out in Louisville, Ky., since opting out. He also has been taking on-line classes and is slated to graduate in December. He also hasn’t signed with an agent, according to those close to him. That would seemingly make for a seamless move back to college for Moore, who likely will have an insurance policy to protect his future earnings should he sustain a career-ending injury.
"I think it's important for me to come back and compete," said Moore, "and show what a competitor I am. I think it's important for me to go out there with my teammates and fulfill the promise I made to them when I came here as a freshman and my coaches, as well. I think for us, it's to go win some games, have a chance to compete for a championship, go out there and do what we do. I'm excited."
Moore’s return will be a boon to the Boilermakers’ quest to rebound from last year’s 4-8 season. He will re-join a receiving corps that already teems with talent, boasting the likes of sophomores David Bell, Milton Wright and Amad Anderson, Jr. Bell was the Big Ten Freshman of Year in 2019 after making 86 catches for 1,035 yards and seven TDs, emerging as Purdue's go-to wideout after Moore was lost to injury.
Fifth-year senior Jackson Anthrop also returns, and redshirt freshmen TJ Sheffield and Mershawn Rice will debut. Plus, four true freshmen could impact in 2020: Maliq Carr, Collin Sullivan, Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen and Marcellus Moore.
Moore said in a tweet in early August that he was opting out due to what he called "unprecedented circumstances we are currently living in," as the world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic. And in his farewell tweet, Moore also made it clear he wasn't coming back and was going to focus on preparing for the 2021 NFL draft. Moore was projected by most pundits to be a late-first round or early-second choice in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Now, the NFL can wait. Moore has had a change of heart. And that’s good news for the Boilermakers, who are expected to be in full pads for the first time on Sept. 30. But whatever Moore had decided, Jeff Brohm was behind it.
“We’re going to support any decision he wants to make going forward and the avenue he wants to go,” said Brohm last week. “But, yes, it’s something (having Moore return) that we’re definitely going to look into and see where that goes.”
Moore will get a chance to augment his NFL stock and show scouts he is A-OK after his 2019 season ended early with a left hamstring injury suffered while running a route vs. Minnesota. The New Albany, Ind., finished last season with 29 catches for 387 yards and two scores in the four games he played in 2019. What does Moore want to show NFL teams?
"I'm the best receiver in America," he said. "I have the ability to line up outside, inside, I can run past you, make you miss, I'm dynamic in the return game. With that being said, I think I'm the best receiver in America."
Brohm will sleep a bit easier knowing he’ll be calling plays with No. 4 in the lineup. And by all accounts, Moore is healthy and ready to go after last season’s injury. He took part in Purdue’s spring practices. And Brohm said last month Moore was good to go as training camp approached.
"Rondale is currently at 1,000 percent," said Brohm in early August. "He's looked great, like he always has. He is feeling good. He has worked extremely hard in the offseason. I mean, he is on a mission."
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Moore joins a raft of other Big Ten players who have reversed course on their initial opt-out choice in August. Ohio State’s Wyatt Davis and Shuan Wade, Penn State’s Pat Freiermuth and Minnesota’s Rashod Bateman—the first Big Ten player to opt out—all are on course to stay on their campuses this fall.
Moore arrived in West Lafayette in 2018 as one of the program’s most-touted recruits in years. He backed out of a commitment to Texas to play for Purdue and Brohm, who like Moore attended Trinity High in Louisville, Ky.
Moore exploded onto the scene in 2018, breaking the school record for most all-purpose yards (313) in a collegiate debut against Northwestern on Aug. 30 in Ross-Ade Stadium. He went on to become the first true freshman in Big Ten history to earn consensus All-American honors, making 114 catches for 1,258 yards with 12 TDs in his debut season.
Now, Moore—who has played just 17 games at Purdue—can add to his legacy, improve his draft stock and try to help Purdue reach a bowl.
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