Moore, who was selected by the Cardinals in the second round later that day, is no stranger to adversity.
His mother, Quincy Ricketts, raised four kids in New Albany, Indiana on a salary of $22,000 per year.
"My mother did everything she could, and I never went without," Moore said. "The lights were always on. I always had my food in my mouth and clothes on my back. I'm forever grateful for that. I learned so many lessons about what it feels like to not have the luxury lifestyle."
Moore's athletic gifts were noticeable from a young age, but he was often smaller than the other kids, which allowed people to dismiss his long-term potential.
Moore's first love was basketball, and he was good at it – "a Tasmanian Devil" on defense, Vaughn said -- but never the main attraction on his team. That honor went to Romeo Langford, Indiana's Mr. Basketball who now plays for the Boston Celtics.
"Rondale was not the biggest deal in New Albany," Coverdale said. "Romeo Langford was a statewide sensation from the moment he was 13 or 14 years old. Wherever Romeo Langford went, they would sell out a gym, whether it was an 8,000-seat gym or a 2,000-seat gym or a 10,000-seat gym.
"Rondale, he was never going to have that spotlight, so he could grow and find his own way underneath the cover of Romeo getting all the attention."
While Moore's journey to stardom was a slower burn, he always stayed laser-focused on getting there, in large part to set up his mom with a better life. The first major step was giving up basketball and focusing exclusively on football.
"I'm looking at him as a sophomore in high school and he's 5-5," Vaughn said. "I'm thinking to myself, 'I don't like your odds here, buddy. I don't think you're going to hit that 6-foot mark. You're dynamic, but you're still 5-5.'
"I started sharing with him some of the slot receivers at the time that were making their mark, so he could clear out a path. Come sophomore year, he decided it was time to pop the basketball. Let that be Romeo's thing because he's 6-6. Go find home. Football is home for you. And he really started to flourish."
May 14, 2021 at 05:34AM
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