Moore has reasons to smile

UCLA sophomore safety Rahim Moore was smiling. He’s always smiling.

This, however, wasn’t the “I got you” look – the one that follows a moment that thrusts the spotlight on him, like when he chased down a fumble against Tennessee in his first college game last season.

This was the “I know what it takes” smile.

“During the summer, experts would talk about all these other defensive backs and I never saw a list with my name on it,” said Moore, who leads the nation with nine interceptions. “I thought, ‘Wow, I really have to work hard.’ Nothing is given to you.”

Moore is talking. He’s always talking … and smiling.

This, however, isn’t his usual stream of consciousness, like last weekend when he mugged for the camera in a UCLA promo video during the team’s visit to Magic Mountain.

This is the “I know what it took” conversation.

“I used to tell my mom: ‘I don’t want to go to school. I want to go to football,’ ” Moore said. “I love the game so much. I would stay after practice playing catch or tackling guys. It’s all I wanted to do. Well, I went to school.”

The straight – and narrow – line Moore has followed between then and now has been rough at times. But it has been direct, like the path he has taken to the football so many times this season.

Another Christmas has come and it’s better than some. Moore celebrated with his mother, Nowana Buchanan, and family on Thursday and Friday he got on a plane for the nation’s capital, where the Bruins will play Temple in the EagleBank Bowl on Tuesday.

It’s another step in the journey.

“I am so proud of his accomplishments,” said Buchanan, a single mother with three children. “Every kid should follow the path of their dream. Every kid should desire to be positive in life and have a goal. I’ve seen him grow and seen him go after his dream. And he didn’t get into any trouble. That is the most rewarding thing.”

There is little doubt that Moore, a 19-year-old with deep religious beliefs, is the lightbulb around which many of his teammates hover, providing a nonstop monologue to anyone within range.

“We’d be shopping when he was a little kid and he’d start talking to people, adults, like they were friends, and I’d say, ‘How do you know those people?’ “ Buchanan said.

Moore’s presence is felt, whether he is chattering about his fear of roller coasters at an amusement park or trying to inject some passion into the defense.

“He has that same raspy voice ever since I’ve known him,” said UCLA cornerback Aaron Hester, who met Moore when they were opponents in youth football. “When he talks, guys listen. Of course, he talks so fast, sometimes they turn to me and ask, ‘What did he just say?’ I’ve known him so long, I can translate.”

Honors have rolled in, among them a second-team All-American selection by the Walter Camp Foundation. Moore was headed in that direction since he intercepted three passes against San Diego State in the season opener and two more the week after in an upset over Tennessee.

“He’s like a great defensive center fielder,” UCLA safeties coach Tim Hundley said. “He sees the ball and tracks it really well, and he catches the ball. You only get so many chances.”

Moore has seized his, on and off the field.

Rasheed Kees, Moore’s older brother, was a talented football player at Los Angeles Dorsey High, attracting interest from colleges. “My mom still has the letters from schools,” Moore said. But Kees drifted after high school and is currently in jail.

“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” is all Moore will say. “I think he lost his focus.”

Not so with Moore.

“I had a lot of aggression as a little kid,” he said. “I was a roughneck, with the scars to prove it. My mom was like, ‘I’m going to get you in football.’ ”

Football helped. At 4, Moore was a water boy for Kees’ team and he was hooked. But it was not as simple as putting him on the field.

“I could have easily been out on the streets, like guys I knew and some of my family,” Moore said. “My mom stayed on me. She was father and mother. She wanted me to be a great man.”