Dontay Moch (born July 19, 1988) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant ...

Early years

Moch was born in Chandler, Arizona to parents Robert Moch and Rakell Wesley. He has an older brother, Mekell Wesley, who played football at

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. Dontay Moch attended Hamilton High School in Chandler, where he played on the state championship football team in his junior and senior years and ran track. While there, he was named a First-team All-state player.Dontay Moch Bio
, University of Nevada Athletics, December 31, 2008, retrieved January 25, 2009. In

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, Moch captured the state title in the

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

event at the 2005 5A State Meet, with a PR time of 21.8 seconds. One year later at the same 5A State Meet, he took gold in the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

event, recording a personal-best time of 10.77 seconds, and ran the lead leg on the Hamilton

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

squad, helping them win the state title with a time of 41.89 seconds.

College career

At the University of Nevada, Moch sat out the 2006 season as a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

. In 2007, he saw action in 13 games as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

, and on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

. That season, he recorded 13

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

, 3.5 sacks, forced one

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

, recovered one fumble, and broke up three passes. In 2008, Nigel Burton took over as Nevada's

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

and instituted a 4–3 scheme. The new system relied on the speed of Moch and fellow defensive lineman Kevin Basped to penetrate from the edge. Moch saw action under this scheme in all 13 games and recorded 50 total tackles (33 solo), 17.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, two broken-up passes, and four forced fumbles.2008 Cumulative Season Statistics
University of Nevada Athletics, retrieved January 25, 2009. Moch finished the season tied for 12th in the nation in number of quarterback sacks. The

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC) named him a Second-team All-WAC defensive lineman. In 2009, Moch was First-team All-WAC honors and was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year . He started 13 games and finished with 61 tackles, including a WAC-leading 20.0, which set a new Nevada single-season record. He also registered 6.5 sacks, forced two fumbles and broke up three passes. Going into his senior season of 2010 Moch already owns school season records in sacks (11½ in 2008) and tackles for loss (20 in 2009) and needs 7½ sacks and 10 tackles for loss to set WAC career records.

Professional career

At the 2011 NFL Combine, Moch ran a 4.44 sec 40-yard dash, best among all linebackers and defensive linemen.

Cincinnati Bengals

Moch was selected in the third round with the 66th overall pick by the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

in the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

. In 2011, Moch suffered a broken foot in the opening preseason game on August 12, against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. By October 12, Moch had returned to full practice, but was inactive for the sixth game of the regular season against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

on October 17. Moch was suspended the first 4 games of the 2012 NFL season for using a banned substance. His 2012 campaign ended November 1 when he was placed on injured reserve for recurring migraines.

Arizona Cardinals

Moch signed with the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

on September 25, 2013.

Cincinnati Bengals

Moch returned to the Bengals on March 14, 2014, after being claimed off waivers from the Cardinals.

Tennessee Titans

Moch signed with the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

in 2014.

Toronto Argonauts

Moch signed with the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

on May 30, 2015.

Atlanta Falcons

On December 15, 2015, Moch was signed to the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

' practice squad.

Los Angeles KISS

On May 26, 2016, Moch was signed by the Los Angeles KISS.

Arizona Rattlers

On October 14, 2016, Moch was selected by the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

during the dispersal draft.

References

External links

Cincinnati Bengals bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moch, Dontay 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Chandler, Arizona Players of American football from Arizona American football linebackers American football defensive ends Nevada Wolf Pack football players Cincinnati Bengals players Arizona Cardinals players Tennessee Titans players Los Angeles Kiss players Arizona Rattlers players