Making the case for Purdue’s Rondale Moore as a Heisman candidate

In a just world, Rondale Moore would be getting Heisman love. The Purdue receiver is the most electric player you probably never heard of.

Purdue’s Rondale Moore is 5-foot-9 and made of lightning. But that’s not quite right. Lightning can’t catch. He is the Boilermakers’ most exciting player since Drew Brees.

Through two games, Moore has 24 receptions for 344 yards and two touchdowns. Against the SEC’s Vanderbilt, he put up 220 yards receiving on 13 receptions. His games Saturday ranks third all-time in Purdue history, behind Chris Daniels (301) in 1999 and Selwyn Lymon (238) in 2006.

Both Daniels and Lymon were catching passes from future NFL players — Drew Brees (heard of him) and perpetual backup Curtis Painter — whole Moore is… not. Nor is Moore catching passes from a quarterback with elite pedigree. Wide receivers tend not to get love from Heisman voter, but Rondale Moore should be the exception.

Moore is the explosive weapon on a Big Ten team in the heart of flyover country. Moore makes Purdue’s offense go. Without Moore, they don’t put up anywhere near the numbers they have so far.

“Yeah,” you say, “but he’s just putting up these numbers as a ‘good’ player on a mediocre team!”

Negative:

Rock-solid route with incredible body control. That’s a recipe for success at absolutely any and every level of football. And he shook the first tackler who was draped all over him. Sheesh.

Don’t you ever, ever let him out into space.

Told you so.

Rondale Moore is everything you want in a receiver. In today’s game, you don’t need to be 6-foot-4 to be the man. Moore does it with 69 inches of pure slippery, route-running, pass-catching goodness. Nice. And his skill set goes beyond speed and swiftness.

Watch his complete reel from Saturday, and you will see he is so much more. Concentration. Catching in traffic. Withstanding hits. Moore does it all. Check it out:

Give this man some Heisman love. Let’s start calling him lightning Rondale while we’re at it.