Have you ever heard of the Joe Moore Award?
Probably not. As Michigan fans we haven't been fortunate enough to think about such things.
It is a newly created award for Offensive Lines, the entire line, not an individual player rather it is the only position group award. It wast started by a few offensive lineman, spearheaded by Aaron Taylor. It is voted on by all FBS OL coaches, media members who played OL, and a "legacy committee" of Moore's colleagues, and players coached him.
Joe Moore coached OL at Pitt, Temple, and ND from 1977 until 1996. He sent a total of 52(!) OL to the NFL, including all one of his starters except 2 during his 9 years at ND. He averaged sending 3 lineman to the NFL every year. He is widely regarded as the greatest OL coach in football history. And when Moore was a high school coach, the team captain on the defensive side was Kirk Ferentz.
This could be the first year Michigan may make a run at it.
Previous winners:
2015 Alabama
2016 Iowa
2017 Notre Dame
2018 Oklahoma
August 21st, 2019 at 7:59 AM ^
'Member when Michigan had mauling offensive linemen back in the day? I 'member.
August 21st, 2019 at 8:13 AM ^
So does Pepperidge Farms.
August 21st, 2019 at 10:50 AM ^
So does Mandy Pepperidge...
August 21st, 2019 at 8:09 AM ^
Pretty badass looking trophy. Let's get one fellas
August 21st, 2019 at 8:19 AM ^
Pretty cool. My money is on former OSU OL coach vs the former UM DL coach and the rest of the B1G defense.
August 21st, 2019 at 8:37 AM ^
Hadn't thought about that particular battle before. Weird.
August 21st, 2019 at 10:09 AM ^
Right? some kind of "swapping spouse" reality show stuff right there.
August 21st, 2019 at 8:20 AM ^
I had not heard of this. And, while the trophy is nice, why does the LT look like he's pregnant?
August 21st, 2019 at 8:39 AM ^
he just ate a DE for lunch, probably
August 21st, 2019 at 8:56 AM ^
I like this answer. My first thought was that Moore subscribed to the Mike Gittleson version of OL weight gain - pizza's!
August 21st, 2019 at 9:56 AM ^
burgers and 'za baby lets gooo!
August 21st, 2019 at 8:31 AM ^
Awesome post. In the words of Matt Shepherd, ‘gimme that!’
August 21st, 2019 at 8:43 AM ^
Joe Moore ain’t got nothing on Jerry Hanlon.
August 21st, 2019 at 8:59 AM ^
That's a sweet trophy! It sure does show off the brotherhood of the OL. They're a unit.
August 21st, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
I have not heard of that. But I had also not heard of the Peter Mortell Award... until I did.
August 21st, 2019 at 9:04 AM ^
Never heard of Joe Moore. But I'm happy for him. What's the name of the award for winning the National Championship ? I want to win that one.
# Win Big Ten.
# Beavers own Jack Pine.
August 21st, 2019 at 9:12 AM ^
It's a legit OL awards that is being voted by OL coaches and former OL because they know what to look for in a OL unit. The last 4 winners pretty much had NFL draft picks.
Oklahoma:
Cody Ford
Ben Powers
Dru Samia
and soon to be a top C, Creed Humphrey
ND:
Mike McGlinchey
Quenton Nelson
Alex Bars(If it weren't for his injury history, he would've been drafted at day 2)
Alabama:
Cam Robinson
Ryan Kelly
Iowa is the exception to the rule because they don't have one dominant standout but they played well as a unit.
August 21st, 2019 at 9:20 AM ^
My favorite thing about this is that the media portion is former O-Linemen, so when they talk about what they're looking for in voting, so many of them take it extremely seriously, which I think makes it a nice addition.
August 21st, 2019 at 2:33 PM ^
They take this seriously and they watched hours of gametape instead of going by the hype so if the OL wins the award, it's legit.
Oklahoma deserved it last year and they were great as a unit last year. The draftee reflects that as well
August 21st, 2019 at 9:41 AM ^
Joe Moore has ties to my home town of Erie, PA where he helped coach two prominent high school programs. Phenomenal coach with a colorful backstory: Joe Moore sued ND for age discrimination when Bob Davie parted ways with him, and won before a jury. From the Washington Post:
But, in July, the legend of Notre Dame football became the stuff of a Jerry Springer show when 66-year-old Joe Moore, the Fighting Irish's offensive line coach from 1988 until 1996, won an age-discrimination lawsuit against the university in U.S. District Court in Lafayette, Ind.
Refusing to accept Moore's offer to settle out of court for $1.3 million, Notre Dame lawyers instead often found themselves in the middle of a locker room tell-all that was punctuated with vulgarities and obscenities and that offered an unflattering portrait of the Fighting Irish's storied football program.
Notre Dame head football coach Bob Davie asserted in a deposition for this case that he fired Moore primarily because Moore had physically and verbally abused his players. To make their case, Notre Dame lawyers put themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to elicit graphic testimony from players about how Moore allegedly punched, slapped and humiliated them -- details about a coach who was retained by Notre Dame for nine years.
To counter Notre Dame's attack, Moore's lawyers built a case that his replacement at Notre Dame, Jim Colletto, also behaved aggressively at times with players; that Notre Dame coaches had confrontations with each other; that Davie considered his predecessor and former boss, Lou Holtz, mentally unstable; and that university administrators did not thoroughly research the backgrounds of some coaching candidates: When they hired Davie, for example, they were unaware of published allegations he had once filed false expense reports (true, said Davie) and instructed a colleague to spy on an opponent (false, said Davie).
August 21st, 2019 at 9:46 AM ^
The left tackle on the trophy has a rotund belly. Anyone know who it represents, if anyone in particular?
The trophy is huge, the figures are 2 feet tall and it weighs 350 pounds.
August 21st, 2019 at 10:28 AM ^
Fits the OL.
August 21st, 2019 at 10:21 AM ^
tOSU has won the Blo More award for 120 something + straight yrs running.
August 21st, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
Left tackle on trophy needs some work.
August 21st, 2019 at 11:30 AM ^
That is a cool looking statue
August 21st, 2019 at 12:20 PM ^
I had never heard this until now, but I love it.