Elijah Moore continues St. Thomas Aquinas’ Draft tradition as second-round pick to Jets
Elijah Moore rewrote the Ole Miss Rebels’ record book over and over again throughout a breakout junior season to vault into the first-round conversation. On Friday, the New York Jets made the former Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas star one of the first selections of the second round.
The Jets selected Moore with the second pick of the second round Friday — No. 34 overall — after an All-American junior year in Oxford, Mississippi.
He’s the first St. Thomas Aquinas graduate to be picked, but he almost certainly won’t be the last. Florida Gators wide receiver Trevon Grimes and Florida State Seminoles cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. could both be drafted Friday.
Moore is the 31st former Raider ever to be drafted. He’s also the fourth South Floridian and third player from Broward County be selected.
Moore was one of the most sought-after wideouts in the country coming out of high school, in spite of his 5-foot-9, 185-pound frame. He was a four-star wide receiver, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings, and an Under Armour All-American with more than 30 offers. He spent a few months orally committed to the Georgia Bulldogs before he flipped and signed with Ole Miss on the first day of the early signing period in 2017. As a freshman, he played in every game and made four starts, finishing with 36 catches for 398 yards and two touchdowns.
As a sophomore, he became the Rebels’ No. 1 option following the departures of fellow wide receivers A.J. Brown and DK Metcalf, who both landed invitation to the 2021 Pro Bowl as stars for the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks, respectively. Moore rose to the challenge and caught 67 passes for 850 yards and six touchdowns, but punctuated a breakthrough season with the most infamous moment of his career. After catching a potential game-tying touchdown late in the Egg Bowl against the rival Mississippi State Bulldogs, Moore celebrated by pretending to be a dog peeing in the end zone and drew a 15-yard penalty. Ole Miss missed the game-tying extra-point attempt went it went from 20 to 35 yards.
He made up for it as a senior by putting together the best season ever by a Rebel receiver. In the first game of the year against Florida, he caught 10 passes for 227 yards — the second most in a single game in school history, at the time. Later in the year, he set the school record with 238 yards against the Vanderbilt Commodores and followed it up by going for 225 yards in Ole Miss’ next game against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Moore finished his senior year with 86 catches for 1,193 and eight touchdowns in eight games. He cracked double-digit receptions seven times and is the only player in Rebels history with three 200-yard games.
