TheSabre.com’s Fan Friday: Shawn Moore Remains A Fan Favorite

College football season begins in fewer than a hundred days, while kickoff for Virginia starts a week later. In other words, there’s not much time before the Hoos hit the field and we learned this week that the first three games will all be evening kickoffs. After eight wins and a bowl victory last fall, it looks like enthusiasm is growing again on the gridiron.

One reason for that is UVA quarterback Bryce Perkins. In his first season at Virginia, after all, he did some special things. In addition to the team’s success, he posted 2,680 passing yards and 923 rushing yards. He was one of only two players nationally with 2,600+ passing yards and 900+ rushing yards – the other was Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray, who won the Heisman Trophy and was the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. Perkins also finished No. 1 in the ACC in points responsible for with 206. He passed for 25 touchdowns with just 9 interceptions to go with 9 touchdowns on the ground.

If not for the presence of Trevor Lawrence at Clemson, Perkins might be the biggest name in the ACC pocket this season. Lawrence, of course, led the Tigers to the National Championship last season as he finished with 3,280 passing yards and 30 touchdowns with only 4 interceptions. Athlon Sports this week ranked Lawrence as the top QB in the ACC and Perkins as No. 2.

With Perkins drumming up some of the excitement around the Cavaliers, it’s easy to think back to other dynamic quarterbacks at Virginia so that made a Tweet this week about Shawn Moore interesting. The Tweet basically asked “How good was Shawn Moore?”

That helped generate an interesting thread on the football board that you can read here and drew out the Post of the Week and Fan Take of the Week for the Fan Friday series. Let’s go!

Fan Take Of The Week

Long-time poster Mikeysurf helped put Shawn Moore’s UVA career in perspective in that thread. That’s perfect for the Fan Take of the Week.

Mikeysurf wrote: “Putting Bill Dudley aside, he was the most accomplished UVA player in history as a result of his versatility. He did everything. Bullet Bill finished 2nd in Heisman 1941 voting, and had arguably the greatest game in UVA history scoring 6 TDs, kicked a FG, and an INT against UNC in Chapel Hill.

However, Shawn Moore is the most significant football player in UVA history based upon what he and the team accomplished under his leadership. Hard stop. Period.

He led as quarterback the most prolific offense the ACC had ever seen at the time. And this was during an era when the West Coast offenses were popping up on college campuses. Shawn was leading the nation in total offense with a pro style I-formation that had wrinkles of wishbone sprinkled in. They could strike from anywhere on the field. Shawn did it with his arm and legs.

Moreover, UVA won it’s first ACC championship under Shawn. Produced UVA’s only 10-win season. Ended the Clemson 29-game losing streak. Took UVA to No. 1 in both polls for 3 weeks. Led UVA to its only major New Year’s Day Bowl. Shawn led the nation in passing efficiency in ‘90, a consensus All American, and finished 4th in the Heisman 1990 voting.

No other UVA player can come close to that resume of achievements.

Shawn Moore-Bill Dudley-George Welsh are permanent fixtures in UVA’s football Mount Rushmore, and Anthony Poindexter should be in that conversation as well.

To be honest, I’m stunned this is even a topic of debate!”

Fan(s) Of The Week

Sharing love of the Hoos.

Student Fan(s) Of The Week

Wonder if any students ever wear those overalls under their graduation gowns? Graduation is this weekend at UVA!

Feature Photo Of The Week

Jordan Mack returns as part of what’s expected to be a stout defense for Virginia this fall.

Post Of The Week

With Shawn Moore in the spotlight for this week’s Fan Friday article, the Post of the Week is a fun one from LoyalHoo.

Question Of The Week

As the article opener said, it sure seems like enthusiasm is picking up for Virginia football after last season’s surge and a Bryce on each side of the ball to lead the way. Bryce Hall, one of the nation’s best cornerbacks, is back on defense in addition to the often electrifying play of Perkins. So that’s where this question from the football board fits in from PurpleShadow: “This is the most optimistic you’ve been about a UVA football season since …?” Share your thoughts in the comments on on the message boards.

1 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. You have to include Jamshid (“Jim”) Abol (“Jim”) Bakhtiar in any ranking of UVA’s all-time greats.

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