Rob Moore remembers the play.

It was the pinnacle of his playing career. The pinnacle, as far as he’s concerned, of the recent history of Syracuse football.

He knew it was coming. The coaching staff, led by head coach Dick MacPherson, had decided what would happen in the days leading up to SU’s game against Penn State in 1987.

Then it came. On the Orangemen’s first offensive play from scrimmage, Moore lined up far right. He went deep. And quarterback Don McPherson hit him in stride, leading to an 80-yard touchdown pass that was the start of a 48-21 rout over the Nittany Lions, part of an undefeated 11-0-1 season that culminated in a Sugar Bowl tie against Auburn.

‘I think it was our entrance into mainstream sports media,’ Moore said. ‘People said, ‘Oh, this team might be worth watching on television.’ When you can beat a team like Penn State on national TV in the fashion that we beat them, I think that gives your program a lot of momentum.’

This is where Moore, a Syracuse alumnus who was hired in January as the new wide receivers coach in Doug Marrone’s staff, wants to take his alma mater this time around.

His job, he said — a ‘dream’ one from which he keeps thinking someone will pinch and awaken him — is to build up that foundation once again. To form the nucleus that he thinks will lead his alma mater back to those glory days.

‘When you look at 1987,’ Moore said, ‘there really was a series of years before that helped build that momentum and get that team to a point where it could really compete against teams like Penn State.’

And that’s where Moore wants to take the receivers he now coaches. Back to the days of explosiveness. Back to the days of pride. Back to the pinnacle days of Syracuse football.

Marrone has emphasized Syracuse roots in his regime as head coach thus far. Including himself and Moore, seven members of the coaching staff are now SU alumni.

And Moore’s roots were something his new receivers bought into immediately. As soon as he found out about Moore’s hire, rising junior Marcus Sales saw that Moore was a Syracuse graduate. Sales said it gave Moore ‘instant credibility’ in his eyes.

‘I knew he was a really good player at SU,’ Sales said. ‘I knew he played a lot of years in the (NFL). I just knew we were going to have a lot to learn from him.’

Moore integrates each aspect of his coaching style with something he learned during his playing days at SU. In practice, Moore harps on his receivers’ every move. After practice, he gathers his receivers into a group huddle as other positions walk off the field, telling them what they did right and wrong on the day.

And during the week, he gathers his unit together for receiver-only film sessions. Sales said he shows them some of his old highlight clips, clips from which they learn new techniques or routes — like that 80-yard touchdown catch. All coaching techniques he developed from his days as a receiver at SU and with the NFL’s New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals.

It’s something that’s made rising sophomore receiver Alec Lemon believe again. He feels the receiving core is more of a unit now than it ever was last year.

‘We’ve come together,’ Lemon said. ‘We feel comfortable with each other. And it’ll just progress more as we keep working together.’

And of course, there’s that play that makes Lemon believe. Sales has seen the play, too. They’ve all seen the play during those midweek regular film sessions.

If the group can do anything like that again, Sales will know that Moore has accomplished his goal. In time, Sales hopes Moore’s showing those deep-route highlight clips of him.  

‘Man, I’ve seen that play against Penn State,’ Sales said. ‘If I can do that or one of us can do that, I’ll know we’re good.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on April 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm