Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Recruiting Tales: Detroit Lions QB Kellen Moore

Before guys made the NFL and before they became consistent starters or better in college, someone found them in high school. With that in mind, we're starting a series called Recruiting Tales, where we chat with the main college recruiter of a Detroit Lions player. 

Past Recruiting Tales: TE Joseph Fauria; LB Ashlee Palmer

Kellen Moore didn't get much interest as a high school quarterback. He was a small kid from a small town, but all Moore did in high school and college was win. He won enough to become a first-team All-American and went 50-3 at Boise State as a starting quarterback.

Justin Wilcox, now the defensive coordinator at USC, explains how he found Moore. [Edited for space and clarity].

Q: How did you find Kellen?

Justin Wilcox: I had the state of Washington. We had already had video on him and he had played in his dad's system at Prosser and played forever. He had thrown for thousands of yards. We went up in spring, stopped by the high school and was talking with the dad a lot. In the state that year, there were a couple other quarterbacks that were highly recruited and that was the time that you could go to all these 7-on-7 tournaments and combines. Kellen would go to all of those and we would see him there. I went to a couple he was at and there were a couple other quarterbacks who went to the Pac-10 at the time. Physically, they looked, 6-2, 6-3, 210 pounds, strong arms and they were in the state. I distinctly remember going to one of those kid's schools, I'm not going to name him because it doesn't help, and the coach said the best player in the state was Kellen Moore. I'm there to look at his own quarterback and he said the best player in the state is Kellen Moore. The more schools you went to, the more you heard his name.

... Then he came down to our camp and when you met him in high school, he's not the most physically imposing guy you've ever seen. He comes in with his dad, great family. His little brother (Kirby) was a receiver going into his sophomore year of high school and he's a big guy, buffed up. Coach (Chris) Petersen, you'd have to ask him, but if I remember right, coach Petersen walked up and shook Kirby's hand and said, 'Hey, Kellen, how are you doing? Nice to meet you. Thanks for coming to camp.' And we're like, 'No, no, that's his little brother. This is Kellen over here.' The guy with the mop haircut and weighing about 178, that's the guy. Then he went out to camp and completed every pass. So coach (Bryan) Harsin and coach Pete were heavily involved in the recruiting as well but you watch his video.

I don't claim to be an expert by any means at quarterback play or offense but when you watched Kellen, he completed almost every pass. So to me, my job as an area recruiter, here's a quarterback who completes every pass. I'm going to show it to the offensive coordinator. Isn't that what they were supposed to do? That's what it was. He doesn't look like Superman but when he throws the ball it's in the right spot at the right time and he scores a ton of points. So there you go.

Q: Did you feel like you were getting a steal?

Wilcox: You take the tangible things you can measure and more importantly the intangible things you can't put on paper or measure and see if that fits what your profile is and what you're looking for. He did. I don't think anybody, myself and I can't speak for coach Pete and Bryan but I don't think anybody thought he'd win the amount of games he did. So I don't think anybody thought that. You hope that's what you want to do. He still, even going back to high school, was a very cool-headed, astute, rhythmic player. Everything was in control. He was never out of control. That's what he looked like in high school. That's what he looked like in college. Not every kid can translate like that. A football junkie to the core and I would imagine he's still that way.

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