Position: Safety Weight: 200 lb (91 kg) College: Georgia | Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) High school: Griffin (GA) | |
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Date of birth: (1993-01-28) January 28, 1993 (age 24) | ||
Corey Moore (born January 28, 1993) is an American football safety for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia.
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Early years
Moore played high school football at Griffin High School in Griffin, Georgia, where he was a safety. He was named to the 2010 PrepStar Top 150 Dream Team. He was also named to the SuperPrep All-America team and the All-Dixie team. He was selected to play in the 2010 Georgia Athletic Coaches Association (GACA) North-South All-Star Football Classic as part of the South Team, and the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl as part of the East Team.
He was also backup quarterback during his senior year. He lettered in basketball and track at Griffin High School as well. In March 2010, he was named the top defensive back at the Atlanta National Underclassmen Combine.
In the class of 2011, he was rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Scout.com, ESPN.com and 247Sports.com. He was also rated the No. 5 safety in the country by Rivals.com, the No. 6 safety in the country by Scout.com, the No. 15 safety in the country by ESPN.com, and the No. 4 safety in the country by 247Sports.com. He was also rated the No. 6 safety in the country on 247Sports.com's composite rating, which takes into account the ratings of all the other major recruiting services in the country.
Georgia was the first school to offer Moore and he committed to them on January 30, 2010. He later received offers from other schools, some of which included Auburn, Clemson, Memphis, North Carolina, Miami and Tennessee.
College career
Moore played safety and was a four-year letterman for the Georgia Bulldogs of the University of Georgia from 2011 to 2014. He received the Erskine "Erk" Russell Football Scholarship each year from 2011 to 2013.
He played in 12 games his freshman year in 2011, recording one tackle. He also blocked a punt against Coastal Carolina on September 17, 2011.
He appeared in 14 games, starting one, his sophomore season in 2012 and totaled 14 tackles, one of which was a tackle for loss. His one start was on offense against Ole Miss. He was named a team captain for the Vanderbilt game. He also won one of the team's Most Improved Player Awards.
Moore played in 12 games, starting seven, in 2013 and accumulated one sack, one interception, one pass breakup and 35 tackles, three of which were tackles for loss. He appeared in 12 games, with six starts, his senior year in 2014 and recorded one interception, two pass breakups and 26 tackles, two of which were tackles for loss.
He appeared in 50 games during his college career and finished with totals of two interceptions, three pass breakups, one sack and 76 tackles, six of which were tackles for loss. He majored in communication studies at Georgia.
Professional career
Moore was rated the 23rd best strong safety in the 2015 NFL Draft by NFLDraftScout.com. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com predicted that Moore would go undrafted and be a priority free agent. Zierlein also stated that Moore was a "Box safety who doesn't have the speed, range or cover skills to be a reliable, NFL back-end defender."
Moore signed with the Houston Texans on May 11, 2015 after going undrafted in the 2015 NFL Draft. He was released by the team on September 5 and signed to the team's practice squad on September 8, 2015. He was promoted to the active roster on December 29, 2015. He made his NFL debut and only appearance of the regular season on January 3, 2016 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, recording one special teams tackle. He also played in the team's AFC Wildcard game against the Kansas City Chiefs on January 9.
Due to an injury to strong safety Quintin Demps, Moore made his first career start on October 16 against the Indianapolis Colts. Moore than started the next two games at strong safety before Demps returned from injury. Leading up to the Week 13 game against the Green Bay Packers on December 4, starting free safety Andre Hal missed the full week of practice with an illness. During the Packers game, Moore started at free safety in place of Hal, who was active but did not play. Moore then started the final four games of the season at free safety while Hal played in the four games, but did not start any. Moore played in 16 games, starting 8, in 2016 and recorded 25 solo tackles, 7 tackle assists and 3 pass deflections. Hal returned as the starter at free safety for the team's Wildcard round playoff game against the Oakland Raiders on January 7. Moore played in, but did not start, the game against the Raiders and recorded one solo tackle, two pass breakups and a fourth quarter interception as the Texans won by a score of 27–14. Due to strong safety Demps having suffered an injury early in the first half of the Raiders game, Moore started the Divisional round playoff game against the New England Patriots and recorded seven solo tackles, one tackle assist and one pass breakup as the Texans lost by a score of 34–16.