Not Just a Football Player : West Star Josh Moore Has Good Grades and a Part-Time Job Too

Josh Moore, a senior football player for West Torrance High School, goes against the stereotype of the football star who never has to work for anything. He works hard for his grades, his employer and his football skills.

“Some people just go out and play good football but don’t do anything else,� Moore said. “They do nothing at all in class.

“My father has always pushed me to do well in school because if I didn’t get the good grades, he wouldn’t let me play football.�

Moore has a 3.2 grade-point average and has already achieved an NCAA-acceptable score on his Scholastic Aptitude Test. However, he wasn’t happy with his score and is taking it again for his personal satisfaction.

When he is not on the football field, Moore has a job as a sales clerk at a sporting goods store in Torrance. Though he only works weekends, he says it’s hard sometimes to get up in the morning after a Friday night game.

“I’m all sore, but I have to get to work. That’s the toughest thing I have to do,� he said.

“I don’t get to go to a lot of parties because I have to sleep so I can get up the next morning, but you have to make sacrifices to do what you want to.�

The talents of the 6-foot, 185-pound Moore, who plays both running back and defensive back, are a big reason behind West’s successful start this season. The Warriors are 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Ocean League, good for a share of first place, heading into Friday night’s league game against winless Morningside at West.

Moore says his father got him started in football and has been a good friend to him, always encouraging him to do his best.

“If it wasn’t for my father, I probably wouldn’t be playing now,� he said. “He always tells me to look at the good things that I’ve done in a game.

“He really pushes me and gives me good advice. He’s come to every game since I was 9 years old.�

Moore is coming back from a disappointing junior year. In the fifth game last season he separated his shoulder and had to sit out the rest of the year. He is hoping to make up for lost time this season so he can get into a good college.

His shoulder has been tender the last two weeks, so his playing time has been cut back to where he plays only when he is needed, according to Co-Coach John Black.

Black said he and Co-Coach Mark Knox don’t want to risk losing Moore again, “so we are being a little cautious about playing him too much. We don’t have to take that kind of chance, so we’re not.�

So far, Moore’s best game on the comeback trail has been against El Segundo, when he had four touchdowns and 172 yards in total offense. Overall he has 230 yards rushing and 11 receptions for 70 yards and is averaging 17 yards a kick return. On defense, he has six interceptions.

“I really got into the flow of that game,� Moore said. “Sometimes when you’re playing offense and you only get the ball four or five times, you can’t really get into the rhythm of the game and get anything accomplished.

“When you get a lot of carries like I did at El Segundo, you get a chance to start running really well.

“It feels like you can’t do anything wrong when you get into that kind of a groove.�

Several Pacific-10 schools, including Stanford and Oregon, have expressed interest in Moore, but he’s holding out for UCLA to take notice of his abilities.

“I know that if I get to go to UCLA I’m going to have to red-shirt for a position,� he said, “but that’s where I want to go.�

Playing as many positions as possible is Moore’s way of trying to assure himself of a place on a college team. He lines up as a running back, defensive back and kick returner. Defensive back is where he feels he has the best shot of playing in college.

“As a running back I’m getting hit all the time, but when I’m playing defensive back I get a chance to hit them back,� he said. “You can’t think about retaliation because it ruins your concentration; so I try not to go after one person too much.

“I want to go to college as a defensive back. I need to gain a little bulk if I want to make it, though. Get up to about 195 pounds. Running backs just get too beat up.�

Moore generally doesn’t like to talk much about his role on the team. He says he realizes that fame is a temporary thing.

“It’s probable that I add that extra little spark to the team. I try to do whatever we need at that moment,� he said. “I might be able to make a touchdown or a tackle to take the pressure off the rest of the team.

“(The fans) only remember you for the last game you play. If you have a bad game, the fans blame everything on you, but if you have a good game, they’ll praise you even more. The attention is kind of fun right now because I’ve been working so hard for so long without much recognition. It’s great as long as I don’t get injured again.�

Pressure doesn’t bother him; in fact, he says he likes it and would rather have the ball in those situations than have to sit and watch them.

“Moore is the guy we give the ball to when we need to get things done,� Black said. “He does anything you ask him to do. He is our all-around player; he does everything on special teams, defense and offense.�

Said Moore: “The coaches put a lot of trust in my abilities and let me do a lot of different things. They try to get the ball to me any way possible. The pressure of it all just gives me something to strive for.�

As part of his training, Moore runs track, and he credits that with helping his speed. Training takes up much of his free time.

“I definitely need to be able to run faster if I want to make it on the college level,� he said. “Track is really helping me with that.

“This is just high school, and you learn new skills at every level. My skills have gotten better at every level, but I still need to work at it. The track conditioning has so many leg conditioning exercises that are different from football that it’s still tough for me.�