Denarius Earl Moore (born December 9, 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 ...

wide receiver. He was drafted by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

in the fifth round of 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 ...

. 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 ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Early years

Born Darnius Earl Moore, Denarius Moore legally changed his first name when he was a senior in high school. He attended Tatum High School in

Tatum, Texas Tatum is a city in Panola and Rusk counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 1,342 at the 2020 census. Geography Tatum is located at (32.314853, –94.518875). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total ar ...

, where he was a letterman in football, track and basketball. In

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, he was coached by Andy Evans. As junior, he totaled 27 receptions for 423 yards and eight

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

, while also adding 287 rushing yards with two touchdowns on the ground. As senior, he caught 32 passes for 501 yards and rushed 27 times for more than 200 yards. He was named twice Class 2A Texas sportswriters first-team All-State as a

kickoff returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

, Second-team Reebok Super Team as a

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

and was an PrepStar All-America. In

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, he was the starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

, and averaged 20.1 points per game. Moore also competed 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 ...

while at Tatum, where he was one of the state's top performers in the hurdling events. He captured two state titles at the 2006 TX State 3A, winning the 110-meter hurdles, with a time of 13.73 seconds, and the 300-meter hurdles, with a time of 37.33 seconds. In 2007, he set a new school record in the 110-metres hurdles event by clocking a 13.69 at the TX State 2A OUT, on his way to another state title win. In that same meet, he took gold in the 300-metres hurdles, with a PR of 36.99 seconds, and also earned a second-place finish in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, recording a career-best jump of 7.25 meters. He was also a member of the Tatum

4 × 400 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.

Professional career

2011 NFL Draft

Oakland Raiders

Moore was drafted by the

in the 5th round with the (148th pick overall) of the

. After a strong

Training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

and

Preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

, Moore made the

53-man Roster. In just his second career game, Moore exploded against the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

in Week 2 of the

2011 NFL Season The 2011 NFL season was the 92nd regular season of the National Football League and the 46th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Thursday, September 8, 2011, with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay defeating the Super Bowl XLIV champion New ...

, making spectacular catches over the course of the game recording 146 yards on 5 catches and scoring a 50-yard touchdown on a pass from

Quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Jason Campbell Jason S. Campbell (born December 31, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college footbal ...

while also adding one rush for 25 yards. After a very successful first three seasons in Oakland, Moore's playing time fell off in the 2014 season, recording only 115 yards on twelve receptions and no touchdowns.

Cincinnati Bengals

On April 6, 2015, Moore signed one-year deal with 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 ...

. Moore was released by the Bengals on August 31, 2015, as part of the first wave of roster cuts for the preseason.

Buffalo Bills

On October 7, 2015, Moore signed with the

. On November 25, 2015, he was released.

References

External links

Oakland Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Denarius 1988 births Living people Players of American football from Texas People from Tatum, Texas American football wide receivers Tennessee Volunteers football players Oakland Raiders players Cincinnati Bengals players Buffalo Bills players