Eryck Moore eyes rushing record for confident Plum football team

By: Jerin Steele
Saturday, August 20, 2022 | 5:36 PM

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Eryck Moore has lived in a few places in his life, including overseas in Spain, but he’s certainly found a home in the backfield for Plum.

And after consecutive 1,000-yard seasons he has his sights set on breaking the school rushing record.

He’s done the math, so he knows his target.

“The record is 3,567 yards, and I know for a fact I need 1,287 yards to beat it, so that’s my goal,” Moore said. “My plan is to come out firing and be ready to start the year.”

Moore has plenty of reasons to believe he can achieve his goal.

Nearly the entire team returns after growing together in 2021 with eight new starters on each side of the ball. The Mustangs won three of their last five games to reach the playoffs.

Moore’s also sporting a new hairstyle. He dyed the tips of his dreadlocks red. He got the idea from his younger cousin, Zai, after seeing him with red and pink hair while visiting his grandmother for her birthday.

Most importantly, though, he believes in his linemen’s ability to open holes for him.

“Most of our O-linemen are coming back, so that is huge, and we’ve added a couple of new O-linemen that have been doing well,” he said. “The team has more confidence, and I have more confidence. I think we’ll be ready. It’s exciting.”

Moore has adaptability as well as structure to his game. Part of that comes from being in a military family.

He was born in Virginia but has moved a lot. He lived in Spain from fifth to sixth grade, while his father was stationed there. Then, he moved to Plum for seventh and eighth grade, followed by a year in Georgia, before returning to Plum as a sophomore.

He’s started at running back each of the past two years, a position he’s been playing dating to his youth football days.

“I started playing football when I was seven, and my first position was running back,” Moore said. “I was bigger than most of the other kids. When you’re young, you never really throw the ball, so I got the ball a lot. It kind of came natural to me, and, when I realized that, I started attacking that position a lot more as opposed to looking at other positions. I had a couple of really good games in middle school, and then I knew I could go somewhere as a running back.”

Moore went out of his way to shout out fellow senior teammate Kade Thomas.

He said Thomas would be a great asset to any college program because he’s fast, tough and has a high IQ for football.

Moore aspires to play at the next level and attended team camps over the summer. He admitted the recruiting process has been a challenge but is confident he’ll find the right college to continue his football career.

“It’s been tough, but, at the end of a dark tunnel, there’s always a light. So you just have to be patient and keep up with the tunnel,” Moore said.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer