6B
Thursday, September 5, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Oklahoma quarterback looks to new start
Eric Moore says he'll play for self not for the fans
The Associated Press
NORMAN, Okla. — Eric Moore wants Oklahoma football fans to know there are no hard feelings. All those nasty notes and cruel comments he read and heard last season? Forget about it. He has.
And by the way, you might as well save your stamps and give the talk-radio guys a break this year. The Sooners' quarterback from Dallas couldn't care less what you might say about him this season.
"I'm just going out and playing for this team, playing for God, playing for myself and playing for the fans, really, last," Moore said this week, a few days before
the season opener at home against Texas Christian University." "I just want this team to prosper."
Neither he nor the team prospered a year ago. Running an offense that wasn't suited for his style of play, Moore struggled all season, and so did the Sooners. They finished 5-5-1 and closed the year by failing to score any points in the final 10 quarters.
Moore, a graduate of Dallas Carter High School, completed 45 percent of his passes and had nine interceptions, compared with seven touchdowns. He started all 11 games but was shuttled in and out of games by former Oklahoma coach Howard Schnellenberger.
Fans were quick to let him know how they felt. And when Moore would read the nasty letters he received, or read criticism in newspapers or hear it on the radio, he let it bother him.
"I really did, and that's why I say last year was a learning year for me," he said. "I had
"I had to learn I can't please everybody."
Eric Moore
Sooners quarterback
Eric Moore
to learn I can't please everybody."
As a deeply religious person, Moore has decided the only person he needs to please is his creator. Coaches and teammates come next. No one else really matters.
"I came out and did what I had to do: I won the starting job," he said. "Now it's just for me to go out there and to show everybody else I'm a quarterback. That's what I'm going to do."
His teammates say Moore has shown far more confidence running this offense than
he did last season. Schnellenberger's offense was a pro-style set, better suited for a drop-back passer. The system installed this year by Oklahoma offensive coordinator Dick Winder will take advantage of Moore's ability to roll out and throw on the run.
The offense produced 59 school records while Winder was at Texas Tech. Robert Hall, a friend of Moore's, ran it beautifully a few years ago and now Zebbie Lethridge is doing the same thing.
"He looks like a totally different player," tight end Stephen Alexander said. "It's amazing that an offense can make that much difference. I think this offense fits him a lot better."
Moore lost his confidence during the course of last season. He admits now that at times, he even began to wonder whether he was really a Division I quarterback.
After he replaced Schnellenberger, John
Blake sat down with Moore and quickly made the quarterback feel better about the new offense and the new regime. The two still talk often.
"We talk about a lot of things other than just football," Blake said. "I think that's where you've got to really get close to kids, really talk to 'em about some of the personal things in life that show that you care."
Moore said Blake was like "a father away from home, or a best friend." The new staff made him feel more comfortable, and his religious beliefs made the rest of the difference.
His intention beginning Saturday is to play well, better than last year, he said. But it's clear in listening to Moore that unlike last year, he won't lose any sleep if he struggles.
"I'm not worried about what people say or what anybody else says," Moore said, "because as long as God keeps me in his
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