Paraclete head football coach Dean Herrington says he’ll be watching the game from home this Super Bowl Sunday. Although there is a slim possibility of Matt Moore getting in the game for the Kansas City Chiefs, Dean, who previously coached at Hart, isn’t sure how he’d act if he saw one of his former quarterbacks play in the Super Bowl.
Moore, a Hart alumnus, agreed to a deal with Kansas City to serve as Patrick Mahomes’ backup in late August and will be on the sidelines with the team on Sunday.
“Hopefully he doesn’t play,” Dean said. “Hopefully there’s no injury and he can get a ring but if he does happen to get in there, it’ll be exciting and nerve-racking, but it’s pretty cool. It’s pretty cool he’s going to be suited up for the game and hopefully get a Super Bowl ring.”
Moore played two varsity seasons at Hart and in his senior year, he threw for over 3,300 yards, rushed for more than 400 yards and scored 40 total touchdowns.
Before he was putting up numbers at the quarterback position, Moore was the backup to Kyle Matter, who went on to earn a scholarship to Stanford, in his junior year. That season, Moore played in the Indians’ secondary and actually set a single-season record for interceptions.
Former Hart head football coach Mike Herrington thinks his experience on defense might have helped him on offense.
“He was such a good athlete that we put him at safety and he made All-CIF at defensive back that year as a junior,” said former Hart head football coach Mike Herrington. “It had to help a little bit. He understood coverages for us.”
Moore didn’t take the easy route to become the starting quarterback at Hart and didn’t have an easy path to the NFL, either. After his senior year at Oregon State, he went undrafted and became a free agent.
He signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2007 and went on to throw for 2,640 yards and 16 touchdowns. He was traded to Miami in 2011 where he played for seven seasons, throwing for 591 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Moore was released in 2017 before signing with the Chiefs in 2019. He threw his first touchdown with the team on Oct. 17 when Mahomes went down with a knee injury against the Denver Broncos.
“I’m still amazed how well he played when he got in there this year with no OTAs, no training camp, no preseason games, not getting any reps with the first-string offense,” Dean said. “To go in there and play like he did was pretty amazing.”
Less than a month before he joined Kansas City, Moore was planning on becoming an assistant coach for the Hart varsity football team. Although he never officially became a coach, his presence showed the players that it is possible to get to football’s highest level.
“I think his influence, even though it was a short period of time, was big on the players of our team this season,” said Mike. “For him to be around the whole program on the lower levels, maybe they’ll see him and be able to recognize him and acknowledge him as an NFL player this year. The kids at the lower level see that and it makes them proud to be a member of the Hart High family.”
Although undecided on where, Mike will be watching the game with his wife, who is a Chiefs fan, on Sunday. The pair have watched countless games with a Chiefs fan club at Jalapeno Pete’s in Studio City and have even brought Matt with them on a non-game day. But like his brother, Mike is unsure of what his reaction would be if Moore got in the game.
“I said I don’t know if I want to go down there. If things are going wrong, someone badmouths him, I might get a little physical if they’re bad mouthing matt,” he said with a laugh.
