Cincinnati quarterback Hayden Moore probably doesn’t realize that he is one of the most important players on the team, even after his striking performance in the Bearcats spring football game last Saturday.
Spring football games are typically not in the must-see entertainment category, unless, maybe, your favorite team is the one playing itself among the pollen.
Of course, there’s always exceptions, and Cincinnati’s annual spring football game was a broad exception to the typical lackadaisical energy surrounding a final spring scrimmage. Offense, offense, and more offense ignited Cincinnati’s Saturday morning crowd like a doubleshot espresso as Bearcats quarterbacks passed for 730 yards and five touchdowns, while the running backs were equally potent rushing for 350 yards and also five TDs.
Gunner Kiel played as expected in the spring game, completing 18 of 26 passes for 221 yards and a touchdown. He’s primed to toss up another 3,000-plus yards and 30 touchdowns in 2015. But what about the other 509 yards from the 730 total passing yards thrown by UC quarterbacks on Saturday? Well, that brings us back to Moore. If Kiel looks ready to “bombs away” the Bearcats to another AAC championship next season, then his backup, Moore, looks ready to lead the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl.
Of course, the Bengals joke was for affect, and it was a spring game, not a game in the regular season, but Moore’s 391 yards and three touchdown passes certainly stood out on the final stat line. Luke Wright passed for the other 118 and a score, but for the foreseeable future, Moore appears to be the definite No. 2 QB, which makes him one of the five most important players on Cincinnati’s roster, if not the second-most important behind Kiel.
Elevating Moore as the team’s second-most important player may sound absurd, and you probably think I’m reading into the Bearcats spring game as if it was the 2015 AAC Championship Game, but looking back at Kiel’s 2014 season explains my reaction to Moore’s position on the depth chart.
In his first season as an FBS starting quarterback — after finally stepping off the transfer merry-go-round — Kiel showed all the promise Bearcats fans had hoped for when he transferred in from Notre Dame. He finished second among AAC quarterbacks with 3,254 yards passing, and first in touchdown passes with 31. Without Kiel, Cincinnati isn’t 2014 AAC co-champs.
But wait, I have another quarterback’s stats from last year I’d like to run by you. Former Bearcats starting QB and Kiel’s 2014 backup Munchie Legaux passed for 574 yards and three touchdowns last season in seven games, completing 66.3 perecent of his passes. Legaux’s seven game appearances weren’t all in “mop-up” duty. As great as Kiel played last season, he left two games in the fourth quarter because of injury (Memphis and Virginia Tech), one game at half-time (South Florida), and another game (Tulane) after one pass attempt in the first quarter. A rib injury suffered against Memphis in the fourth game of the season nagged Kiel for the remainder of 2014, consequently making Legaux’s role as backup quarterback more valuable.
A new season brings a fresh start. Kiel could go all of 2015 without missing any playing time, unless Tommy Tuberville calls off the dogs in a fourth quarter blow out. That’s the ideal situation. But if you religiously watch football, you know that injuries come often, and when you least expect them.
With eight returning starters on offense, Cincinnati is poised to defend its AAC co-championship and, potentially, reach greater heights. New Year’s Six bowl game? Maybe, but that all depends on how the quarterback situation churns out.
Saturday was only a spring game; not a rivalry, not a conference game, not a a championship game. Nothing too significant. But if Moore’s big day was foreshadowing his potential, then Saturday held at least some significance.
Moore’s ability to lead the Bearcats in Kiel’s absence is critical to Cincinnati meeting lofty expectations in 2015. The Bearcats offense never skipped a beat when Legaux played in relief of Kiel last season. Cincinnati still won seven straight to close out the regular season, and secured a share of the conference title. But Legaux was the Bearcats starter for most of 2013 before Kiel and his talent came to town. He knew how to be a starting quarterback. The redshirt freshman Moore has yet to throw a pass in regulation.
Moore’s value as the next man up at quarterback can’t be overstated. Cincinnati goes as far in 2015 as the QB takes it.
Moore must be ready to step up if injuries plague Kiel yet again. If that happens, he’ll quickly move from one of the most important players on the roster to the most important player in a Bearcats uniform.
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