High school football: Wellington's Trey Moore sets example on and off the field

Trey Moore always manages to be in the right place.On the field, the Wellington senior linebacker hunts the ball like a torpedo, as not just the top tackler on the Dukes, but one of the best in Lorain County. Off the field, he's just as committed. He's always in the weight room, always watching film and always going hard at practice."I commit really hard to football," Moore said. "It's a passion for me and I want us to be the best that we can be. My main goal every season is to be the best for Wellington and do the best I can."Moore has turned heads, and put a lot of ball carriers on the ground, since joining the program in 2022. Wellington coach Rob Howells said he played five games as a freshman but piled up 79 tackles. And after practically living in the weight room all offseason, he applied to be a captain as a sophomore."It's almost like a job interview," Moore said. "You have to reach out and get letters from two people. It's not just, hey, can I be a captain? You have to put in a lot of work to do it. Coach Howells does a really good job of not just showing you life during football, but he gets you ready for life outside of football, which helps a lot. Getting a job, doing all of these things, it's not so easy to just walk in and get something. He does a great job getting us ready for the real world."Even though he was only in his second year, Moore was chosen to be a team captain by his peers, and they've continued to do so each season. His sophomore year was cut short when he tore his left labrum during the first half of the first game, but even then he managed to record 10 tackles.And despite the injury, Moore continued to prepare as if he were going to play."Beyond the stats and everything, what goes overlooked for most great high school football players and even great NFL guys is what they bring to the locker room and how hard they work," Howells said. "Trey Moore is the one and only person on my football team who has not missed a lifting session for the last three years. He has 100 percent attendance in the weight room, leads his team with his work ethic. He works for this. Even when he had a torn shoulder, he had legs the size of tree trunks because all he did was squat."He re-emerged as captain his junior year and totaled 179 tackles. This year, his 91 tackles are more than double anyone else on the team, including 24 solo, five for a loss and two sacks. He also has three passes defended.Not surprisingly, in addition to his weight room attendance, Moore is routinely at the top of the leaderboard in hours of film watched. "You can see their tendencies," Moore said. "It's definitely helped, like (on Friday) we watched a lot of film and were able to call out their plays based on their formation. It helps a lot."Now that he's a senior, Howells said Moore has emerged as a more vocal leader. And all those hours of film have made it easier to dissect opponents and make sure the rest of his team is assignment-sound."It's huge," Howells said. "It's what all successful teams have and it's what all great programs have. To have a player who is that invested and the game means that much to him to the point where he can coach on the field and lead their guys the right way."Sometimes kids think yelling and screaming at their kids is coaching them. To have the ability to speak to the team and get them going is leadership. Early on he did it through his hard work and work ethic, but now what I love to see as a senior is he's being more vocal."Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.