Cal Football: His QB Dreams Long Dashed, Collin Moore Finds a Home at Tight End

Moore Balances Football With Work Toward a Master's Degree in Public Health

Collin Moore enrolled at Cal and walked on to the football team in January 2017 with dreams of being a college quarterback.

Those dreams didn’t last long.

“To be honest, I think in the middle of my first spring I kind of realized I wasn’t that good at quarterback and maybe I could try to play a different position,” Moore said.

The thing is, Moore badly wanted to play football. He came out of San Marin High in Novato and football was literally in his blood. His father, Brent, played linebacker for USC and for three seasons in the NFL. Older brother Damon was a defensive lineman at San Diego State.

A 6-foot-4, 215-pounder, he took jersey No. 16 for his first spring practice in 2017, but it wasn’t going to happen at quarterback for Moore.

“It might have been one of the first walk-throughs we did,” he said, recalling his time alongside Chase Garbers, Ross Bowers and Chase Forrest. Moore was astounded by the prep time those three put in off the field.

Then he watched them throw.

“These spirals were some of the tightest spirals I’ve ever seen,” he recalled “My perspective on things definitely changed.”

So Moore consulted with coach Justin Wilcox, who confirmed his suspicions that playing quarterback in the Pac-12 wasn’t in his future. And that’s when Moore began the transition to tight end.

Collin Moore / Photo by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos

He still wears No. 16, but Moore has built up his body to 250 pounds and has played in 16 games over the past two-plus seasons. He’s even started twice. At tight end.

Moore is hardly a star player. But he has five career receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown that he hauled in vs. Illinois in 2019. More than that, he has become a valued member of the rotation, a capable blocker and a player who seems unwilling to give up on his goals.

Even two knee injuries and coaxing from Wilcox couldn’t convince Moore to quit playing the game.

“He’s been such a steady guy for our program,” Wilcox said. “I’ll be honest, I thought Collin was going to have to give up football because of injuries that he kind of had to work through. But he wouldn’t have it.

“He wanted to do anything to be on the team and he’s just an extremely hard worker and a great mentor for the younger guys and a great leader for our team. He’s done an awesome job.”

Even Moore is a bit impressed by the path he’s traveled. He graduated last spring with a degree in political economy and now is in a master’s program for public health. Mostly, he’s just tickled that he’s a bonafide contributor to the team.

“To say as a freshman I would be playing tight end today and would have played in games, I wouldn’t believe you,” he said. “It’s been quite a journey, but it’s been a great journey for me.”

In retrospect, Moore concedes he probably never was destined to be a college quarterback.

“I think the jump from high school quarterback to college quarterback might be one of the biggest jumps in football,” he said. "At the end of the day I just wanted to play football. I wanted to be with my friends and help the team any way I could.”

His friends on the team include six other tight ends, including fellow seniors Gavin Reinwald and Jake Tonges.

That group has a new position coach in Geep Chryst, a one-time offensive coordinator for the 49ers who has been reunited with his NFL coaching pal Bill Musgrave, beginning his second season as the Bears’ OC.

“Coach Geep’s been amazing for us. Just being able to pick his brain about the NFL an the tight end position has been huge for us,” Moore said. “I like to come out to practice a little bit early and just ask him questions about football or questions about life. I think he brings a lot of wisdom to the tight end group.”

And just as Moore once jokingly pestered former Cal offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin that the Bears should install a trick play where the tight end throws a pass, he hopes Musgrave and Chryst catch onto the idea.

“The jokes happen daily that we’re going to put in the tight end double-pass. I try to remind people that I don’t think my arm is what it once was,” he said. “If coach Musgrave’s listening, we’ve got to do it. I’m your man.”

Moore is impressed with the Bears’ young tight ends, especially Jermaine Terry, who arrived on campus in January as a mid-year enrollee after graduating early from Kennedy High in Richmond.

“I’ve never seen a freshman walk in with the size that he has,” Moore said of Terry, who is 6-4, 275 pounds. “He’s bigger than some of the D-linemen I had to block last year.”

Moore talks about Terry’s “unmatched” eagerness to learn in the video below.

And here are Musgrave’s impressions of Terry from just a couple weeks ago:

Moore’s football days likely will come to an end after the 2021 season, but he’s already making headway on where his career off the field will take him.

Moore completed his undergrad studies with a 3.27 grade-point average and so far has assembled a perfect 4.0 in grad school.

His remote-learning master’s program allows him to maintain a comfortable balance between football and academics.

“To be honest, I’m able to spend a good amount of time focused on football because the master’s program is created for people with full-time jobs,” Moore explained. “A lot of my classmates are doing some awesome things all around the world, and are still able to take the classes.”

Moore quizzes his classmates on what they plan to do with a public health degree, and he’s still not sure where he’s headed. But he likes the fact that his studies are so relevant right now.

“I like to tell people I’m probably in one of the most timely programs you can be in at Cal,” he said. “Some of the stuff we’re learning is extremely eye-opening and useful.

“So it’s refreshing to be able to learn stuff that I can apply every day. Kind of be the person that has all the interesting facts about COVID and educate people on certain things.”

Cover photo of Collin Moore by Meg Oliphant

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo