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Tyrone Moss,
RB ―
Miami (FL), 5’10”/221 lbs.
On the
opening drive of Miami’s annual slugfest with Florida
State, it was immediately apparent that the ‘Noles would
be facing a different Tyrone Moss than the one they saw
last year. This was not the 235 pound lumbering back
that rolled in a straight line. Moss had dropped 14
pounds for the 2005 season and on his second carry of
the game, he displayed the talents that will carry him
to the NFL.
Moss lined
up in the “I” formation and took a handoff for what
looked to be an ordinary dive right off-tackle.
The Florida State defense seemed to be waiting for last
year’s version of Moss, but what they got was a back who
got to the line a step quicker. The FSU defensive
end couldn’t get off his block fast enough and was
forced to attempt an arm tackle. Moss hit the line
very low, nothing but shoulder pads for the defender to
tackle and his powerful legs drove him easily through
the arm tackle. The left outside linebacker came
up to make the play, but Moss is no longer just a
straight-line runner; he cut hard to the right and put
on a surprising burst of speed, leaving Ernie Sims, one
of the best tackling linebackers in the NCAA, grasping
at air. Once past the linebackers, Moss showed his
special style when the safety came up to tackle him.
In his heart, Moss is still a big back, and he
absolutely punished the safety with a brutal stiff arm
that snapped the defender’s head back and dropped him on
his back as though a guard had collided with him down
field. The play went for 21 yards and demonstrated
Moss’s ability to break through the three levels of
defense.
Moss’s
talents are ideal for a team with a power running game. Put him behind a heavy line, and by the fourth quarter,
the defense will be dragging their feet from having been
beaten and battered into submission. He’ll no doubt add back a few
of those pounds he lost in muscle and use those long,
powerful arms to stiff-arm his way into an NFL lineup. He’ll need to add the weight as his 220 pounds is not
quite heavy enough to deliver the kind of punishment his
style is designed to inflict. The weight he lost from
last year to this year was mostly excess fat and a year
in an NFL weight room will chisel that body even
further.
Moss doesn’t
have the best moves at the line, he doesn’t have the
best speed, and he isn’t the most powerful back, but he
has a very good balance of each, and uses those
attributes interchangeably on every play, as he needs to,
in order to get the most yards he can. A
linebacker can never be sure of whether he’ll try to
bowl over him, cut around him, or try to beat him to the
sideline, making him difficult to defend. And, running
as low as he does, he finishes his runs off nicely,
leaning into the pile on every play. Moss will land on a
team that’s looking for a no-nonsense back and if he is
able to maintain his speed with the additional pounds
he’ll be asked to add back on, he will flourish in the
NFL.
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© 2004-2007 DBI Media, LLC (Photos courtesy of AP)
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