High Speed Access
Aug 30, 2002 | Football
Aug. 29, 2002
By Benjamin Hochman
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune
This story originally appeared in the Aug. 29, 2002 edition of the Times Picayune.
Reprinted by permission.
Before taking a handoff this season, Tulane's Mewelde Moore already is up and running.
Moore, who last year became the first football player in Division I history to rush for more than 1,250 yards and catch more than 60 passes, is the featured attraction on two new Web sites. The sites, one launched by Tulane (www.MeweldeMoore.net) and the other by fans (www.MooreforHeisman.com) were created to promote a player who remains unknown to many football fans.
"He has a unique NCAA record, and hardly anybody knows it," said Dave Browning, who, along with friend Seth Whits, launched a "Moore for Heisman" campaign.
"It had never been done in NCAA Division I history before, but yet if you asked the average Joe on the street who's the starting running back for Tulane, they'd just kind of look at you," Browning said. "We really want to build awareness for Mewelde, and for Tulane at the same time."
For Browning, what started with a handful of bumper stickers has become a full-fledged Internet promotion. The site features stats, photos and a biography, in addition to a "Moore for Heisman" logo that can be printed out on special paper and ironed onto a T-shirt.
"It's a real grassroots type of thing," Browning said.
While Browning's site is fan-based, Tulane is working to get Moore's name to the national award voters. While Browning claims Moore is a Heisman Trophy candidate, Tulane features Moore, perhaps more realistically, as a Doak Walker Award candidate, given to the nation's best running back.
Tulane already has e-mailed about 200 media members about the site's launch, and plans to send out 500 to 600 postcards during the season, highlighting Moore's accomplishments.
But don't expect to find Moore, a junior, hunched over a terminal at a Tulane computer lab, reading about himself as a preseason All-America candidate.
"I don't go digging for information on myself," Moore said. "That's not my type of personality. I like to stay to myself. Everything that goes on, I appreciate it, and I'm happy for it, but I understand that I have a job to do. Things that went on in the past, I still have to play for now because that's what everyone is looking for -- the production of now."
Moore, a first-team All Conference-USA running back last year, is humble. He understands his role as a teammate and as an elected team captain.
"He's a great player to have on your team," said senior defensive end Kenan Blackmon, also a captain. "He's a great teammate and a good running back. He can be a great running back. As far as the hype, we can't listen to the hype. It's all about going out there and winning games. And if we don't win games, then what's that going to do for his Heisman chances?"
"I keep everything modest and humble," Moore said. "I don't look at this as any type of thing with just Mewelde Moore. This is a Tulane thing, this is a team thing. And as much as anything is built up, I'm going to do my job to my best capabilities. I'm going to give it my all, just like I've been giving it my all, all the time."
As a freshman, Moore ran for 890 yards and caught 33 passes for 350 yards. He was the Conference-USA Freshman of the Year, and was a second-team Freshman All-American, named by The Sporting News.
His sophomore season, as Moore broke the NCAA mark for combined rushing and receptions, he also scored 15 touchdowns.
He has set 11 school records, and is 784 rushing yards away from breaking the Tulane record of 3,095, set from 1946-49 by Eddie Price.
But those aren't the numbers Moore cares about. The glaring number to him is 14, the number of losses Tulane has suffered in his first two seasons.
"Personally, I'm not satisfied," Moore said. "We barely made it over the top my freshman year (6-5), last year we were bottom of the pits (3-9), so this year I feel that like in any year I ever play, I want to be winning and winning a lot. So that's the whole goal, and that's what you work for. . . . It doesn't matter to me as much as running for 200 yards and catching for 100 if we win, because that's what it's all about. If we win, I did my job."
