ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It has been a long journey to recovery for now-sixth-year Michigan football safety Rod Moore. After missing all of what was supposed to be his senior season, having torn his ACL in spring ball practice in 2024, Moore returned to the field, albeit briefly -- for three games -- in 2025.
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He came in for the first time against Nebraska in Week 4, nearly two years after his final snap in his junior season, and then really put on a show the following week against Wisconsin. Having come down with an interception, it had appeared as if vintage Moore was returning. But he had just one more game in him after that before he shut it down yet again.
The NCAA granted his sixth season, but even so, there have been a lot of Michigan fans who think they've maybe seen the last of the enigmatic defensive back. However, to hear him tell it, he's better than he's been since his initial injury.
"I still was feeling pain -- whatever," Moore said. "I had got, before the Wisconsin game, I got, like, what was it? I want to say it was a cortisone injection two days before the game. I didn't practice that whole week. And I came on Saturday, and I was like, 'Oh, I don't feel anything. Like, maybe this is, you know, the step that I'm willing to take.' So I went out there. I didn't feel anything the whole game. That's why I played like that. But then Sunday morning, it just felt the same.
"So I think now, right now, I had a cleanup surgery right in, what was it? January. It was just cleaning up scar tissue. That's really what was kind of bothering my knee, all the clicking and stuff. And that's gone. And right now I'm just really back in and returning to play, about to be back in practice here soon. So I probably felt the best that I've felt ever since I tore my ACL. So, that's the trajectory here. Just building on what I'm at right now and then go out and play."
Even with all of the setbacks, Moore was never particularly concerned that he wouldn't be allowed his sixth year. Given that he medically redshirted in 2024, he knew he would likely get the more typical redshirt for last year.
"Not really, just because I had a medical redshirt, and then I never redshirted. So I was just I kind of knew I was going to get it. I was just waiting on the NCAA to bring it back."
Given that Moore certainly had the opportunity to leave after winning the national championship, and then has missed nearly two full years of college football, he knows that he needs to really show something this season in order not only to cement his legacy, but also to get where he aspires at the professional level.
Moore could have gotten the NFL and done all he dreamed of, but this injury now puts him in a position where he has to prove that he's still that caliber of player.
"It's big. I mean, I really could have left after year three, but, you know, I'm missing the last two years," Moore said. "It's my last year in Michigan, sixth year. I never would have thought. I was a young guy making fun of the sixth year, but now I'm in the sixth year. But, it's really important to me -- last one, trying to go get a championship, one more, so I can have two of them bigger rings."
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football's Rod Moore details ACL recovery