Junior fullback John David Moore is the unsung hero of LSU’s rushing game.
While No. 7 dazzles his way down field, shaking, baking and stiff-arming competition, Moore is half a second ahead of Leonard Fournette, clearing holes and putting people on their behinds in the process.
Off the field, though, the only inclination one gets about Moore’s physical nature is his massive 6-foot-4, 241-pound stature.
“Triple XL?” asked a media relations staffer as they asked Moore his polo size.
“Just double,” he said.
Moore fully fills the double-extra-large purple polo with LSU scribed on his left upper torso. He extends his massive hand and engulfs others in what is a firm, yet unexpectedly gentle handshake.
Moore’s off-the-field presence creates a strange juxtaposition, considering his on-field ferocity. An architecture student who has twice been named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll, Moore is relatively soft-spoken and an eloquent, thoughtful speaker.
The Ruston, Louisiana, native walked onto the LSU football team, not knowing if he would ever see the field. He worked his way into the lineup after a switch from tight end to fullback and was overcome with emotion when he was offered a scholarship, breaking down into tears in former coach Les Miles’ office.
“When he goes against other players, he goes all in,” said senior defensive end Lewis Neal. “He’s got a different personality on the field. I like that.”
Football is a sport in which players must win at the point of contact and enjoy the physicality of the game to do so, but Moore takes it a step further.
He revels in it, he said.
He was molded by it.
“I wouldn’t be starting if I wasn’t physical, so it’s just kind of gut up or shut up,” Moore said. “You just got to have a mentality that’s willing to hit somebody. You’ll be sore the next day, but it’s part of the job.”
Moore’s job is one that’s dwindling across the country as teams transition to spread offenses and replace fullbacks with speedsters on the outside. One of the last of a dying breed, Fournette calls Moore his “flashlight.”
Running back vision gets all the hype, but Moore details his “fullback vision,” which entails reading the defensive line pre-snap, considering where the offensive line is going to combo block and reacting in real time after the snap.
Sometimes his job involves simply sealing a hole. Other times, he “climbs” and ensures that Fournette can turn a first down into a touchdown.
For the most part, the two — Fournette and Moore — are in-sync.
But less often, the hole closes right behind Moore. However, he doesn’t necessarily feel pressured to clear a hole every play because LSU’s backs are capable of bouncing it out or powering through for a few yards, he said.
“[I] have to make the same cut they do, just faster,” Moore said. “Sometimes we go different ways. I’ll hit a hole that looks open, but he’s a second behind and it might close up right behind me. It’s never cut and dry, but our goal is to be in-sync and on the same page so that we can both hit the same hole.”
Fournette’s flashlight burned out last season when Moore tore his ACL on Oct. 10 against South Carolina.
With no threat of further damage to his knee, Moore put off surgery to play against Alabama. But a major knee injury is bad news against All-American defensive linemen, he said. He went down on his first snap and was out for the remainder of the season.
Without Moore, Fournette ran for just 31 yards against Alabama after averaging 193.1 yards per game leading up to the Nov. 7 showdown last season. In subsequent losses against Arkansas and Ole Miss, Fournette managed just 91 and 108 yards.
“We faced a lot of good opponents in the back stretch of the year, so I can’t say if there was a correlation there or not,” Moore, who sat and watched a handful of LSU’s final games from a recliner last season, said. “But it wasn’t fun to sit on the sideline and watch the whole team suffer through the end of the season.”
Moore was fully recovered from ACL surgery in six months, although it typically takes nine to 12 months of rehabilitation.
Google results of Moore’s name is devoid of a highlight tape, but he’s at least partially responsible for Fournette’s 2015 Heisman campaign and delivers highlights for those whose eyes aren’t simply fixated on No. 7.
While clearing holes, Moore oftentimes delivers punishing blows to defenders.
On LSU’s first offensive play from scrimmage this season, Fournette took a pitch to the left. Moore accelerated through the hole and smashed into Wisconsin linebacker Chris Orr. That was Orr’s last play of the season.
“He’s relentless the way he blocks down the line,” Neal said. “He’s always going north. He puts his body in there.”
Moore also has two catches this season, which Moore’s father joked blew up his averages, he said. Coming from tight end, he said he enjoyed catching them but loves blocking just as much.
“The times you go out for routes are one out of 100,” Moore said. “Last year I had one catch for one yard and then my first catch this year was for a yard and my second for maybe eight … Blocking has become a huge part of the game for me, and I’ve grown into that role and I really enjoy it now.”
Interim head coach Ed Orgeron said in his introductory press conference that he plans on spreading the ball. “Spread” used in the context of an offense can be a euphemism for “fullback killer.”
Moore isn’t worried.
“Honestly, more than a fullback, I’m just a player on LSU’s team,” Moore said. “Whatever way I can play a role I’m willing to do that.”

Gallery • 1 Photos

Haskell Whittington

LSU junior fullback J.D. Moore (44) runs downfield during an outdoor practice on Tuesday Sept. 27, 2016, on the LSU footbal practice fields at the LSU Football Practice and Training Facilities.