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USF's Moffitt Getting Exposure

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By ROY CUMMINGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

MOBILE, Ala. - There are some players - Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, for instance - who don't need all that the Senior Bowl has to offer.

South Florida linebacker Ben Moffitt is not one of those players.

Moffitt may be a household name in Tampa, but outside of a few area scouts, he is mostly an unknown commodity in NFL circles.

Asked about him here, several NFL defensive coordinators acknowledged they only knew his name. One head coach didn't even know that, saying, "You mean the white kid at linebacker?"

The Senior Bowl will change all that. It is giving Moffitt exposure he has never had, coaching he has never had and competition he has never had. In the end, it should result in recognition he has never had.

"Yeah, that's part of why I'm here," Moffitt said. "Plus, any time I get a chance to compete and raise my game to another level, it's important."

Moffitt has been raising his game for the better part of four years now. He came to the Bulls as a relative unknown as well, but he eventually earned third-team All America and first-team All-Big East honors.

Still, when you mention South Florida at the Senior Bowl, most ask first about cornerback Mike Jenkins, a potential first-round pick who turned down an invitation to play here, and cornerback Trae Williams.

Moffitt is ranked in the middle of the pack at his position and is considered at best a mid-round draft prospect.

The good news is, the San Francisco 49ers, whose staff is coaching Moffitt and the rest of the Senior Bowl South squad, are getting to know Moffitt well. Even better, they like what they see.

"I didn't know anything about him before I got here, but I've been pleased watching him," said 49ers head coach Mike Nolan. "He's fairly athletic, he looks like he has a nose for the ball and he moves pretty good.

"He looks like he's got a chance to make it. All these guys usually wind up sticking with an NFL team, and he certainly has a chance to do that. He catches your eye."

What has caught scouts' eyes is Moffitt's instincts and big-play ability. He also is seen as a fundamentally sound tackler, a player with boundless energy and excellent leadership qualities.

On the downside, he is considered to be a little small, and his coverage skills are far from exceptional. Scouts would like him to get a little stronger, too, but they say that about almost every prospect.

Some of those are traits Moffitt can work on and improve upon before he attends the NFL scouting combine next month.

"He's a hard-nosed kid and he's smart," said Mike Singletary, a Hall of Fame linebacker who is the linebackers coach for the 49ers. "When you tell him something he's doing it the next time, so he's going to be fine."

Moffitt said the opportunity to play in this game alongside some of college football's top players is something he'll always cherish.

"It's an awesome experience," he said. "This is something I'll be able to tell my kids and my grandkids about and be proud of. It's really an honor and a privilege to be here and to be coached by these guys."

In time, it should prove beneficial as well, since more than 200 NFL scouts, coaches and personnel executives are getting their first real good look at Moffitt.

"There's no doubt that this experience, this game, will help him because people get a chance to see what he's really all about as a player," Nolan said. "Sometimes players get categorized athletically and even racially by some people as being this and not that. But by coming to this game, Ben can show people what he really is as a player, and from what I've seen of what he is, I'm impressed."

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979 or at rcummings@tampatrib.com.

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