Lobos’ Moore back in fast lane

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

DonTrell Moore doesn't have a lot of fond memories when it comes to playing at Sam Boyd Stadium.

A 5-foot-10, 208-pound junior running back from Roswell, N.M., Moore already owns the Mountain West Conference career rushing marks of 3,050 yards and 33 touchdowns. But he has played three games in his career at Sam Boyd Stadium and in those three games he has managed a grand total of just 91 yards on 40 carries, scored just one touchdown and come away with one victory.

Perhaps the lowest point came in December when Moore was held to 12 yards on 10 carries in a 55-14 Las Vegas Bowl loss to Oregon State. A year earlier he managed just 17 yards on 14 carries in a 27-13 Las Vegas Bowl loss to UCLA.

And Moore, who leads New Mexico (2-4, 0-2) into Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday to face UNLV (2-4, 1-1), managed 62 yards on 16 carries and scored a touchdown in his only other game against the Rebels there, a 25-16 loss to UNLV in 2002.

But after nearly having his season ended with a knee injury against in-state rival New Mexico State three weeks ago, Moore says he's looking ahead and not behind.

"It's a different day and a different game," Moore said. "It's another chance to go out and play and put the past behind us."

Despite still being bothered by his sore left knee, Moore rushed for 110 yards on 29 carries for the Lobos in their 28-23 loss at Air Force last Saturday. He sat out the Lobos' 28-7 loss to Utah a week earlier after suffering what was called a sprained MCL against New Mexico State a week earlier.

Moore was fielding a punt when an Aggies player crashed into his leg.

"It was blatant, I thought," Moore said when asked if he thought it was a cheap shot. "I was over on the other hash faking a fair catch and the ball landed on other side of the field. The guy went straight for (the knee)."

Moore had to be carted back to the locker room.

"People who saw the play on TV thought it was bad, that I was done for the season," Moore said. "But I was lucky because it turned out I didn't hurt it that bad. It's not 100 percent yet but it's coming along fine."

That's bad news for UNLV and the rest of the Mountain West Conference.

"He's a really powerful back, but he's got great cuts, too," UNLV safety Joe Miklos said. "He's tough. They load up the box and say, 'We're coming for you.' It's basically man on man and who can step up."

Moore, who has rushed for 100 yards or more in a game 15 times in 31 games in his career, is arguably the biggest recruit in the Rocky Long era in Albuquerque. He was also recruited by Notre Dame, Nebraska, Florida and UCLA but elected to go to New Mexico so his mother, Angela, could see him play.

"She hasn't missed a game in three years," Moore said. "When I came here and met coach Long and his staff I was very impressed. I decided it would be best for me to stay close to home."

Long said: "With the population of New Mexico, there's not a lot of people here and there's not a lot of people who play high school football. So getting DonTrell to stay home was big for us. He's probably the highest rated recruit we've had since I've been here."

Still, Long said he was surprised how quickly Moore contributed to his team. Moore rushed for 1,134 yards and scored 13 touchdowns en route to MWC freshman of the year honors in 2002 and followed that up with an MWC-leading 1,450 yards and 19 touchdowns last year as a sophomore.

"It's a big jump from New Mexico high school football to Division I," Long said. "It's not like going from one of the top high school leagues in Florida or something. But DonTrell did it."

This season Moore, despite his knee injury, is second to UNLV's Dominique Dorsey in the MWC rushing race with 466 yards and one touchdown in five games.

Long believes Moore compares favorable to a couple of backs he coached against each day in practice as defensive coordinator at UCLA.

"Skip Hicks was bigger and faster," Long said. "DeShaun Foster was more powerful at the point of attack, but I think DonTrell has better moves in the open field. I think DonTrell is in the same class of those two."

Considering both Hicks and Foster went on to play in the National Football League, that's pretty good company.

But Moore says he's more focused on Saturday's game against UNLV rather than looking ahead to a possible NFL future.

"(UNLV) is a good team," he said. "They have a lot of momentum going for them. Now we've got to try and win and get some momentum, too."