The Thorpe Award is more about character than stats. TCU’s Moehrig is a winner at both.
As president of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, Mike James is responsible for running the Jim Thorpe Award. It’s one of college football’s most prestigious honors, given to the nation’s top defensive back.
Winners range from Hall of Famers such as Deion Sanders to likely Hall of Famers such as Charles Woodson to current NFL stars such as Patrick Peterson and Minkah Fitzpatrick.
But it’s about more than just on-field accomplishments.
As James recalled, he had lunch with one of Thorpe’s sons before the 2010 award and started raving about what that year’s winner — Peterson — accomplished on the field at LSU. Thorpe’s son interrupted James.
“He said, ‘No, Mike, is he a good person?’” James said. “I said, ‘Mr. Thorpe, he’s a wonderful person. Why’d you ask me that?’ He said, ‘Mike, from this moment on this young man will be forever associated with my family and with my father’s name. It’s important to us that he’s a good person.
“I share that story because it’s so important to us to make sure character trumps play on the field. Quite honestly, it’s 49% play on the field and 51% character.”
With that being said, it’s easy to see why the selection committee chose TCU safety Trevon Moehrig as its 2020 winner. Moehrig’s play on the field speaks for itself as he’s regarded as arguably the top safety prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft class.
More importantly, though, is how Moehrig has carried himself off the field. If you walk around TCU’s campus, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t have a positive thing to say about Moehrig.
TCU coach Gary Patterson even made a surprise appearance during Moehrig’s virtual news conference last week to congratulate the first player in program history to win the Thorpe Award.
“It’s just an outstanding achievement for TCU to be a part of a young man who has so much talent. I just want to thank the Thorpe Award and also congratulate Tre,” Patterson said. “It’s been a pleasure. Some guys are great players. Some guys are good people. He’s both.”
Being known for his character just as much as his on-field play didn’t happen by accident, of course. It’s something Moehrig works at and takes pride in on a daily basis.
“That’s probably the thing I take the most pride in is just being a good person,” Moehrig said. “I try to be the best teammate and player I can be. Whether it’s to a coach, teammate or support staff, I always just try to be humble and just be a great person to be around.”
High school days
Larry Hill has been the head coach at Smithson Valley in Spring Branch for 28 years, and has coached a number of players over the years who have gone on to play at the next level. Moehrig’s recruitment still resonates with him.
Moehrig committed to TCU following an unofficial visit in April 2017, the spring of his junior year. Offers continued to flood in that summer, including a number of SEC programs such as Ole Miss and Tennessee.
It became an overwhelming process, but Moehrig never wavered on his original commitment.
“He told me, ‘I’ve given my word to these people,’” Hill said. “That’s pretty rare this day and age to see a high school kid keep his word like that. So when you start talking about his character, I immediately think back to his recruitment.
“You could see his character from the beginning. It’s always good when your best players are also the highest-character guys.”
Hill went on to say that Moehrig showed up to every summer workout before his senior season, despite being courted by a number of college programs during that time.
“I can’t say enough about his work ethic and dedication,” Hill said.
Moehrig had a stellar high school career at Smithson Valley. He was a two-way player as a cornerback and wide receiver. Moehrig had seven interceptions as a sophomore. As a junior, he returned four punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns. As a senior, Hill recalled Moehrig scoring a couple touchdowns on jet sweeps.
“And every time he scored,” Hill said, “he’d hand the ball to the referee. He was never a ‘look-at-me’ player.”
That carried into his college career.
Moehrig was the highest-graded safety by Pro Football Focus in 2019, finishing with four interceptions. He allowed just two of 17 contested targets to be caught.
Moehrig had another impressive season in 2020, finishing with the third-most tackles (47) on the team. He had two interceptions and nine pass breakups, earning All-Big 12 first-team honors for the second consecutive season.
As Moehrig said, the “icing on the cake” was winning the Thorpe Award.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Moehrig said. “Seeing those guys before me, it’s just an honor to even be on the same list as them. I just can’t thank this program enough, the coaches, the players, the support staff, they had a big part in my success. I couldn’t have done it alone.”
Turning pro
Patterson tried to convince Moehrig to return to TCU for his senior season in 2021.
“You just don’t get a chance to coach special ones very often,” Patterson said.
But Patterson understood why Moehrig opted for the NFL. Moehrig is projected as one of the top safeties in this year’s class and it’s hard to envision a scenario in which he would have boosted his stock more by returning to school.
Moehrig said it was a difficult decision, but one that “I just felt like was in my best interest and my family’s best interest.”
No safety was taken in the first round last year, but that doesn’t mean the position is being undervalued. Instead, according to The Athletic’s NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler, it simply was a year in which no safeties were deemed “no-brainer” prospects.
“Antoine Winfield was too short so he fell to the second. Jeremy Chinn and Kyle Dugger were small school guys, etc.,” Brugler said. “Safety is extremely important in today’s NFL, but it can be a complicated position to evaluate based on what prospects were asked to do at the college level.”
It remains to be seen whether Moehrig will be viewed as a “no-brainer” safety prospect in this year’s class and land in the first round. But there’s no question his film showcases impact play after impact play.
Moehrig has been a part of nine takeaways the last two seasons, tied for second-most in the country. He’s also a willing tackler in the run game. Brugler hasn’t done his final analysis on this year’s safeties, but remains optimistic about Moehrig’s projection to the pro game.
“Moehrig is well-liked by NFL scouts due to his play range and transition skills to stick with receivers,” Brugler said. “He is always ball-searching, creating impact plays.”
This is nothing new to those who have watched Moehrig’s play over the years.
Hill, his high school coach, said Moehrig has always had great ball skills and brought a physical style of play to the field. Even though Moehrig didn’t have eye-popping numbers in high school, he made the team better by shutting down one side of the field on defense and drawing consistent double teams on offense.
“He’s pretty special,” said Hill, who has already been contacted by a few NFL teams doing background work on Moehrig.
“We play in a ‘black and blue’ league and I wouldn’t just say he was a willing tackler, I’d say he was a tremendously physical player. And the bigger the game, the bigger the situation, he seemed to play even better.”
