The Louisville native grew up wanting to play in the Southeastern
Conference. Last week he got his wish when he got an offer from Ole Miss.
"Ever
since I was a little kid, I just dreamed of playing in the SEC. That was my dream,"
added an excited Clayton Moore.
Today, he accepted that offer from the Rebels.
"I
am calling Coach Nutt right now to let him know that I am going to be an Ole Miss
Rebel. I have visited enough campuses to know I am 100% Ole Miss. This is a dream
come true for me. Ole Miss is close to home, and my family is the most important
thing to me. At first, I was like, it would be cool to get away from home and
go play some where away. But then as timed passed, I realized how important my
family is to me. But it is more than that. The coaches at Ole Miss, they have
a great staff. Coaches Nutt and Austin are as good as it gets about knowing their
stuff. And my recruiting coordinator, Coach Derrick Nix, he had as much of an
impact as any body. We just bonded and I liked talking to him.""
Clayton
visited the campuses of Oklahoma State and Oregon, and took in camps at Tennessee,
Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Florida State and Louisville.
One more
school peaked his interest.
"Coach Gunter Brewer at Oklahoma State
was one of the first coaches to offer me," Moore noted. "When I got
up there, the coaching staff was really good to me and made me feel real comfortable.
They also had unbelievable facilities, but I have always wanted to play in the
SEC and Ole Miss felt like home to me."
Moore holds scholarship offers
from Ole Miss, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Kansas, Indiana,
New Mexico State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, USM, East Carolina, and several more.
But
representing his home state was too much to overcome from Ole Miss' competitors.
"It
means everything. I grew up in Mississippi and lived here all of my life and being
able to represent the state at the highest level in the best conference in America,
it does not get any better than that. Most kids just dream of making it on the
D1 level, but to have the opportunity to play for your flagship school in your
home state, it's just a dream come true for me."
How does it feel
to have the decision over with?
"It feels great, because as much as
every kid dreams of being recruited by all of these great schools, it gets a little
tough on you because you build these relationships with so many coaches. But you
know in the end, you have to tell them all no but one. That's tough. So yea, it
feels real good to get that over with (laugh)."
The 6' 2", 205
pound signal caller led his team to their 1st State Championship since 1995 as
a junior and had over 3, 000 passing and over 800 rushing yards and a total of
42 TD's this past season.
This year, he is looking to repeat for only Louisville's
second time in school history.
"That is our only goal. Once you taste
success, you never want to go back. And just knowing what it meant to our community
to win it last year; we do not want to let them down and not give them that pride
again."
Moore knows that the ride is not over now that he has made
his commitment.
"You always have to keep working. If you take one
snap off, they are going to catch up with you. And if you are behind, you are
trying to pass the next man. It is like Nascar, when you are ahead, you want to
widen that gap, and when you are behind, you want to close it."
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