Moore won’t soon forget huge lesson learned
Longhorns wide receiver eager to prove himself after suspension for misdemeanor gun charge
AUSTIN — The tears came every game day, trickling down Josh Moore’s face while he watched Texas charge onto the field.
He wasn’t ashamed of crying. Moore’s shame stemmed from not being out there with his brothers, from losing an entire season because of one foolish decision.
“That year and a half was a long, long, long year and a half, just being away from doing what I love,” said Moore, who also lost the back half of his freshman season due to injury. “To be honest, every game that I did not play in last year, I cried. Just me being who I am, I love football. I grew up around football. Coming here was my dream and to know that I almost threw that away, it hurt me.”
Moore was suspended for his sophomore campaign.
On July 5, 2019, police in downtown Austin observed a man, later identified as Moore, “remove a firearm from his waistband, walk in between two vehicles, appearing to chamber a round by pulling the slide of the gun to the rear, and then place the firearm back into his waistband,” according to an arrest affidavit.
Officers found Moore, who did not have a gun license, with a Glock 19 handgun that contained a “30 round magazine with a live round that was loaded into the chamber ready to be fired.” He pleaded no contest in February to a misdemeanor weapons charge and had to forfeit the gun, pay a $200 fine and complete 60 hours of community service.
After the incident, Moore had to prove to his coaches, his teammates and himself that the lesson had been learned.
“I was disappointed in myself at first,” Moore said. “But I also learned that I’m a strong individual. I leaned on our awesome support system. I learned that some of my friends weren’t really my friends. I took a lot away from it. I’m just glad to be back.”
Moore has been a model citizen since the arrest. Enough so that UT offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich dialed up No. 6 on the first play in the 59-3 home win over UTEP on Sept. 12.
On a designed play-action pass, Moore broke loose on a crossing route and senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger hit him in stride. The former Yoakum track star did the rest himself, blazing by one lunging Miners defender and leaving a couple others in his wake on a 78-yard gallop into the end zone.
Despite limited time in the second half of the Longhorns’ rout, Moore led the team in targets (seven), catches (six) and receiving yards (127). It was as good a return as he could’ve hoped for.
“Josh loves the game,” Ehlinger said. “Very, very good receiver and very fast. It’s always nice to have guys like Josh on the field, so I’m really excited to have him back.”
While Moore wasn’t allowed to play in 2019, he was permitted to practice and train with the team. But even if UT coach Tom Herman had instituted a full-on suspension, the third-year receiver would’ve found a way to put in the work — he always did back at Yoakum.
“You know, he was working on things that we couldn’t do real good when he was here,” said Yoakum coach Bo Robinson, who has had several Moore brothers on his teams. “We couldn’t throw the ball that way. We know we were pro-I (formaton) football team. We’re gonna run it at you and play good defense and eat up the clock. But Josh was always working on the things that he had to work on to get where he is today.”
With no clear-cut No. 1 receiver, Moore has a genuine chance to become one of Ehlinger’s new goto guys, just like Devin Duvernay and Collin Johnson were the past few years. The opportunities will be there, especially with receivers Jake Smith (hamstring) and Jordan Whittington (torn meniscus) dealing with injuries.
Whittington will miss three-tofour weeks following surgery to repair a torn meniscus, Herman said Monday afternoon. Smith, though, is expected to make his season debut Saturday against Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium. Texas hasn’t lost in Lubbock since 2008, posting a 5-0 road record and 9-2 overall record in the series since then.
If Moore keeps playing like he did against UTEP, his tears on Texas game days will take on an entirely new meaning for him and his family.
“You may not believe me when I say this, but when I scored, my mom, my sister were sitting in the stands and they actually left the game to go to the restroom to cry,” Moore said. “I talked to my dad after the game and he told me once I scored, he cried, too.
“It was such a surreal feeling, because I’ve been out for a year and a half and coming back, doing this, it felt great. Just to see the smile on their faces — I would definitely rather see a smile on their faces than their faces that they had last year.”