Written by Adrian Beecher
West Lafayette, IN – the Boilermakers came up just short on Thursday night against Northwestern in a 31-27 loss. However, Purdue true freshman wideout Rondale Moore shined bright like a diamond with a school record 313 all-purpose yards.
After dropping his first targeted pass of the game early on the Boilermakers first drive, Moore woke up and got moving in a big way. With Purdue trailing 14-0 midway through the 1st quarter, Moore returned the kickoff 37 yards out to the Boiler 40. This set the Boilers up in prime position and on the 4th play of the drive, QB Elijah Sindelar connected with Moore for a 32 yard TD connection, the first of Moores career.
Then on the Boilers next possession, again on the 4th play of the drive, Moore went to work. Receiving the ball off a jet sweep, Moore juked a couple of defenders in the backfield and then again just past the line of scrimmage, picked up a few blockers and it was off to the races for the speedster as he took it 76 yards to tie the game up at 14.
At the end of the 1st quarter, Moore had already tallied 192 yards of total offense. Things would slow down a bit for Moore in the 2nd quarter, with no big-time breakaways. However, Moore’s tally kept climbing as he ended the 1st half with 302 all-purpose yards. This put him third all-time for single-game all-purpose performances, behind Vinny Sutherland (306, 1999 vs Central Michigan) and Otis Armstrong (312, 1972 vs Indiana).
The second half saw the defenses from both teams step up with only 10 total points being scored, compared to 48 in the 1st. Moore would only tally 11 all-purpose yards in the second half, but that was just enough to claim the record from Armstrong.
IIts a glorious start to the four-star recruit out of Louisville Trinity’s career, and may just be a sign of things to come for Purdue. Moore is the lone four-star recruit in the 2018 class for the Boilers and was originally committed to Texas before Purdue head coach and Louivsille-Trinity alum Jeff Brohm changed his mind.
Next year the Boilers have three four-star recruits coming in, but this year it’s clear to see that Moore is a gamechanger and changes the game for the Boilermakers who haven’t been a true factor in the Big Ten since College GameDay came to town in 2004. That day 4th ranked Purdue lost to Wisconsin and hasn’t climbed back into the top 5 since.
Thursday night it was a loss yet again for Purdue, but this one seems to be the opposite of that 2004 loss, with the Boilers stock going in full buy mode. Expect opposing defenses to focus their attention on Moore moving forward. However, we are talking about a true freshman that in his first-ever collegiate game broke a 46-year-old record.
As he continues to grow and get acclimated to college ball, expect Moore to be in the headlines on a regular basis this season for Purdue as he focuses on winning and not records.
