Standing 20 pounds lighter inside Schembechler Hall, sophomore edge rusher Derrick Moore opened up his Friday press conference to questions about his offseason weight loss. Compared to his freshman year, though, perhaps the biggest weight he dropped was a mental one.
“Last year I just wasn’t as much confident coming in as a freshman,” Moore said. “You’re thinking like, ‘Oh, if I mess up, I’m probably not gonna get back on the field.’ So now this year, I just feel more confident. … Even if I mess up, I can come back and redo it the next play and be there for my team.”
Moore isn’t the only edge rusher to recognize and address a gap between ability and mentality. In fact, he offers a window into an oft-ignored aspect of offseason growth: confidence.
Of course, it’s easy to see the physical changes, and Moore is feeling the benefit of those, too. He meal-prepped with the guidance of nutritionist Abigail O’Connor, cutting carbs to mix power and speed into his physique. He shows it on the field, much to the delight of his coaches.
“There’s preconceived notions sometimes, like, ‘I gotta be the biggest, strongest, heaviest guy,’ ” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “I think he’s just figuring out what’s best for his body where he can play the things that we ask him to do. He is playing at a high level right now.”
But edge rushers live and die by the constant chess match between themselves and offensive linemen. So Moore had to make mental gains, too. Speaking candidly on that subject, Moore explained why mental fortitude means so much to the edge position.
In what he calls a finesse game, Moore has to mix attacks to beat his adversaries on the offensive line. Sometimes he uses a bull rush in an attempt to power past a lineman. Then he might mix in some speedy strides to the outside. Strong hands, a cheeky swim move — it’s an evolving script that he tracks in his head.
Key to all this is confidence — not just in physical abilities, but mental reads.
“Before the ball even snaps, you gotta have your move that you wanna hit,” Moore explained. “Say that move doesn’t work, then you gotta have a counter option. So now you gotta have your go-to move and your counter move working off of it. So it’s like you gotta be confident in all your moves.”
All those tricks of the trade are picked up from the edge rusher room where he’s a pupil among teachers. When sampling the offensive line in front of them, all the rushers pick up different notes based on their experience and strengths. Then, they feed those observations into their collective pass rush knowledge. Moore credits some of his mental growth to the mentorship an experienced room provides, with veterans like grad transfer Josaiah Stewart, senior Braiden McGregor and senior Jaylen Harrell leading the way.
It’s not just about skills and planning, though, and Moore makes that abundantly clear. There’s a confidence-shaped asterisk attached to every one of those traits. Without it, constant doubt and overthinking adds another foe — himself — to the fold.
Moore felt it, too. Coming in as a four-star edge rusher ranked 14th in his position, Moore had all eyes on him to make an instant impact. His aforementioned fear of getting pulled in a game weighed on him, squelching the confidence that’s so important to the edge position. He played all 14 games his freshman year and put up a respectable eight tackles with two sacks. But he wasn’t a game-breaker.
That’s what confidence might give him — especially under the tutelage of guys who needed the same mental boost. Take it from McGregor, who faced confidence woes himself as a freshman, too. Over time he built up self-belief, becoming a part of Michigan’s edge rush rotation.
“Toward the end of the (2022) year against Ohio State, I got knocked down on a play and it’s like ‘whatever,’ you know, go back the next play,” McGregor said in March. “It sounds cliche, but it’s like it really was all mental for me. And I’m finally past it now and I feel strong mentally and physically.”
That’s the script Moore might follow as well, just a year or two faster.
He still has to prove it on the field, but his coaches’ talk suggests that this offseason is making an impact. It’s about finding what works for him after a trial-by-fire freshman year — not just for his body, but also his mind.
If that all goes according to plan, Moore’s burdensome expectations might become a fruitful reality.