Skip to main content

Q & A with... Ernest Moore

On Wednesday, as a part of my new job as preview columnist of the College Sporting News, I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Patriot League Media Day and interview players, coaches, and the commissioner of the Patriot League, Ms. Carolyn Schlie Femovich. My full report on the goings-on at Media Day were detailed on College Sporting News, including this exclusive interview with the commissioner about all the topics surrounding the future of the league.

In attendance from Lehigh were head coach Andy Coen, senior QB Sedale Threatt and senior FS Ernest Moore. I took time to sit down with Ernest and talk to him a little about the upcoming season.

CB: Last time I saw you play was in the spring, when you delivered that big hit... Fans in the stands heard that loud crushing sound of pads!

EM: I wouldn't say it was a monster hit, but I appreciate you saying that. I try to do what I can do.

CB: As captain, you're the true leader of this defense now. What have you done in the preseason to prepare for the upcoming year?

EM: It's like a four-step process. You have your winter conditioning, the spring game, summer contitioning, and finally preseason camp. In winter, I let my body heal a little bit from the long season. In spring, I focus on lifting, getting my technique and stuff better through the spring game. And in summer, I've just been working out, working hard, running, and watching film here and there. Just improve as much as I can. It's all about improvement, watching yourself, finding what you do wrong, and trying to improve on that.

CB: What does playing in the Patriot League mean to you?

EM: I think it's an honor. I was one of those guys that got overlooked in the recruiting process, and I hadn't heard much about the Patriot League coming into my freshman year. Once I got in and started playing I found out that it was a very competitive league - and it's getting better each year. Look at Holy Cross - when I was recruited, they were rebuilding. Now, Holy Cross has a top QB [junior Dominic Randolph] and they're ranked in a few polls. Bucknell's improving and have a bunch of returning starters, Colgate's always strong, Lafayette is good... It's a real competitive league now, and I love the competition.

CB: You're originally from Detroit. When you go back home, do you think high school students look at Patriot League schools as a option for college?

EM: I think it has expanded. Especially with Lehigh, we recruit all across the nation now. We're bringing in guys from California, Nevada, and Florida this year, and a few guys from Michigan.

CB: You were on the field the last time Lehigh played in the playoffs in 2003. Do you mention that to your teammates?

EM: Yes, I played in that game on special teams. It was a real intense game. There were only a few other games that have been that intense - Delaware, Villanova, and the games with Lafayette and Colgate. The James Madison playoff game at Goodman was a great feeling. I hope we can get back into the playoffs this year. We just have to execute and come out strong and be focused for eleven games. Hopefully we'll be blessed with the opportunity to be the automatic qualifier, and then take it one game at a time.

I don't talk about it really to my teammates. We're always talking about Patriot League championships. That's one of our goals every year - to win the Patriot League and make the playoffs.

CB: Last year, the whole defense was adjusting from the 4-3 to the 3-4. As a safety, is it still a big adjustment to that system?

EM: Initially, yes because you have to get used to the fronts. By now, though, I'm as comfortable as I've ever been in a 4-3 defense. When you grow up, in little league, high school, you run a 4-3 defense and that's what everyone knows. All of a sudden you get thrown into a 3-4 it's kind of confusing at first. But you have great coaches like coach Kotulski who is a great teacher, and I think we'll be better this year for it.

CB: Finally, how do you approach the game of football?

EM: The best way to answer this is on a game-by-game basis. I watch as much film as I can during the week, balancing that with classes and practice, and when the game comes I try to give myself time to get ready to go and play fast and hard. That's it!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How The Ivy League Is Able To Break the NCAA's Scholarship Limits and Still Consider Themselves FCS

By now you've seen the results.  In 2018, the Ivy League has taken the FCS by storm. Perhaps it was Penn's 30-10 defeat of Lehigh a couple of weeks ago .  Or maybe it was Princeton's 50-9 drubbing of another team that made the FCS Playoffs last year, Monmouth.  Or maybe it was Yale's shockingly dominant 35-14 win over nationally-ranked Maine last weekend. The Ivy League has gone an astounding 12-4 so far in out-of-conference play, many of those wins coming against the Patriot League. But it's not just against the Patriot League where the Ivy League has excelled.  Every Ivy League school has at least one out-of-conference victory, which is remarkable since it is only three games into their football season.  The four losses - Rhode Island over Harvard, Holy Cross over Yale, Delaware over Cornell, and Cal Poly over Brown - were either close losses that could have gone either way or expected blowouts of teams picked to be at the bottom of the Ivy League. W

Made-Up Midseason Grades for Lehigh Football

 We are now officially midway through the 2023 Lehigh football season.  The Mountain Hawks sit at 1-5 overall, and 0-1 in the Patriot League. I thought I'd go ahead and make up some midseason grades, and set some "fan goals" for the second half. The 2023 Mountain Hawks were picked to finish fifth in the seven team Patriot League.  In order to meet or exceed that expectation, they'll probably have to go at least 3-2 the rest of the way in conference play.  Their remaining games are vs. Georgetown, at Bucknell, vs. Holy Cross, at Colgate, and vs. Lafayette in The Rivalry. Can they do it? Culture Changing: B+ .  I was there in the Bronx last week after the tough 38-35 defeat to Fordham, and there wasn't a single player emerging from the locker room that looked like they didn't care.  Every face was glum.  They didn't even seem sad.  More frustrated and angry. That may seem normal, considering the agonizing way the Mountain Hawks lost, but it was a marked chan

Fifteen Guys Who Might be Lehigh's Next Football Coach (and Five More)

If you've been following my Twitter account, you might have caught some "possibilities" as Lehigh's next head football coach like Lou Holtz, Brett Favre and Bo Pelini .  The chance that any of those three guys actually are offered and accept the Lehigh head coaching position are somewhere between zero and zero.  (The full list of my Twitter "possibilities" are all on this thread on the Lehigh Sports Forum .) However the actual Lehigh head football coaching search is well underway, with real names and real possibilities. I've come up with a list of fifteen possible names, some which I've heard whispered as candidates, others which might be good fits at Lehigh for a variety of reasons. UPDATE: I have found five more names of possible head coaches that I am adding to this list below. Who are the twenty people?  Here they are, in alphabetical order.