Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore earned Freshman All-America honors in 2024 and the sophomore is on pace to add even more postseason recognition in 2025.
This weekend, the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder knows his job will be very different as Navy comes to South Bend.
Yes, the Midshipmen’s offense looks a bit different than in past years, but discipline will remain key for Moore and the Irish secondary. Even with new wrinkles, Navy still banks on catching defenses off guard.
“That's what they want you to do, get bored,” stated Moore. “They can throw it over your head on a random play. But you gotta try your best not to get bored out there. It's gonna come eventually.”
Moore got his first taste of the triple-option last year in Notre Dame’s 51-14 win over Navy, a game in which the Midshipmen turned the ball over six times.
That number likely won’t repeat itself on Saturday, but Moore took away valuable lessons from facing one of college football’s most unique offenses.
“I never played a triple option, even in high school,” explained Moore. “Definitely an adjustment. Just trying not to do too much, doing your job, keeping your eyes right. That's how they get you at the end of the day, when people have their eyes in the wrong place and trick plays and stuff like that.”
The Texas native has proven he can handle change and still get his job done.
There might not be a better example of that than the USC game last month, where Moore found himself matched up against Makai Lemon in the slot.
Lemon recorded just two receptions for 28 yards on Moore.
“It's a new mindset a little bit,” stated Moore. “Not a completely new mindset. Ultimately, you stop the man in front of you. It's different stuff you gotta be aware of because there's a lot more space in the slot than on the boundary. It was fun doing something that I'm not entirely used to. It was a good experience.”
It was a rare occasion for Notre Dame to ask Moore to follow the opponent's best player around the field. But Moore wasn’t caught off guard as Notre Dame’s cornerback unit isn’t overly deep at the moment.
“I wasn't really surprised,” Moore said. “I knew eventually something like that would happen, especially since he'd been putting up 100-something-yard games. I had a feeling they were gonna be like, yeah, they should put me on him.”
And yes, a matchup with a future NFL player was something Moore looked forward to.
“Definitely taking pride in that,” Moore stated. “If they put me on him, that means they're saying our dude is better than their dude. That's what they wanted me to do at the end of the day, so I took pride in my assignment and not letting him go off like he normally does.”
Moore has found himself in man coverage 56.3 percent of the time this season and that leads the nation. And that’s what Moore wants.
“It’s what you want at the end of the day,” explained Moore. “You want your coach to say, ‘Go out there and guard that man. Don’t let him touch the ball.’ That’s something I take a lot of pride in and not letting my man catch the ball.”
Notre Dame enters the weekend leading the nation in interceptions and it’s a far cry from what the Irish showed the first two weeks of the season.
What has led to the turnovers and improved defense? Moore believes it’s making the defense simpler.
“I feel like they've made adjustments week to week to where, whether it's been simpler — sometimes we needed to simplify the defense and sometimes we needed to add more layers into the defense,” said Moore. “I feel like we're playing as more of a unit. We have more cohesion. We know our assignments and we're doing our job.”
Moore and safety Tae Johnson lead the team with three interceptions. They arrived together last summer and are starting to make life very difficult of opposing quarterbacks.
“We always knew he was gonna be good and he was gonna be good early,” Moore stated. “He's hyper-athletic and he has a good football IQ. He knows how to go get the ball when it's in the air. If you ask him, he should have had three picks last week. I should have had two, in my opinion. I fell on one, and then the other one, dude hit my hand, and I dropped it.
“We’re greedy people over here. I feel like him just being a ball player, him wanting to get the ball is what we've seen from him.”
That greedy mentality fuels Moore every week, especially after giving up a rare touchdown against Boston College.
“That's my expectation going into every game, that nobody can score on me, let alone catch a pass on me, especially the deep ball,” said Moore. “That's gonna sting for a little bit, but we gotta move on.”
Want the latest scoop on the Fighting Irish? Sign up for our newsletter and become an ISD Premium Subscriber: Sign Up for ISD
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Under Armour The Bend Rival Raglan Hoodie
