Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore will relive the glory days when the Wolverines face Oklahoma in Norman on Saturday, Sept. 6.
While Moore will be more focused on leading Michigan to a win, it’ll be hard for the 39-year-old coach to not think about his playing career, as he was an offensive lineman for the Sooners from 2006-07. It’s the first time he will have faced his alma mater during his coaching career.
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REQUIRED READING: Michigan football’s Sherrone Moore leaving emotion at the door for Oklahoma return
Oklahoma still has plenty of connections to Moore on its staff, as head coach Brent Venables was the defensive coordinator for the Sooners when Moore was a player. OU tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley and running backs coach DeMarco Murray were teammates with Moore.
Moore’s offensive coordinator during his playing career, Kevin Wilson, is also an analyst on the Sooners’ staff.
“(Oklahoma is) a great place, but this is all about our kids,” Moore told reporters on Tuesday, Sept. 2. “It’s not about me or a return to home for me. It’s about the players and trying to win the game. There’s no emotional attachment to it because I’m emotionally attached to the players at Michigan.
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“These guys are who I’m emotionally attached to more than anything so that’s all I’m worried about.”
Here’s a look back at Moore’s playing career at Oklahoma:
Sherrone Moore playing career at Oklahoma
Moore started his playing career at Butler Community College in Kansas before transferring to Oklahoma for his final two seasons of eligibility.
Moore won two Big 12 championships with the Sooners in 2006 and 2007, although he wasn’t much of a contributor, appearing in 14 games across two seasons while making no starts. Moore was, however, up close during Malcolm Kelly’s famous freestyle rap after the 2006 Big 12 championship win.
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Venables, who simarily started his playing career at a junior college in Kansas, remembers Moore being a valued member of the roster.
“Obviously, he was a great player, great leader,” Venables told reporters on Sept. 2. “Ultra consistent. He was a guy that loved to compete. Super physical. One of the linemen that just, man, he did the methodical very, very well just day-in, day-out. Really smart, and guys gravitate toward his leadership style.”
Oklahoma defeated Nebraska 21-7 in the 2006 Big 12 championship game before falling to Boise State in the famed Fiesta Bowl matchup that went to overtime. The Sooners then won the Big 12 title again in Moore’s senior year before losing to West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.
“A rock-solid guy,” Wilson told ESPN of Moore. “I truly didn’t think when he was young, ‘OK, this kid’s coaching.’ But you go back and [think about] how great a teammate he was, watch the multiple positions he played and adapted easily, he showed a lot of those coaching traits as a young kid.”
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Moore backed up two-time All-American Duke Robinson at right guard in his two seasons at Oklahoma, although Robinson felt Moore was good enough to play elsewhere.
“It just so happened that we had an elite offensive line,” Robinson also told ESPN. “But he came in a dog, and fit right in. He was so smart, he helped me and other guys when it came to understanding certain plays and why the play went this way and why certain calls were made. He saw things that we didn’t see. And he helped us out when we made a mistake or missed an assignment.”
Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops told ESPN he wanted to hire Moore as a graduate assistant, although there weren’t any spots available on staff. Moore then started his coaching career as an assistant at Louisville in 2009, starting his route that took him to head coach of one of the most successful programs in college football history.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Revisiting Michigan coach Sherrone Moore’s playing career at Oklahoma
