Two former Maryland Terrapins are reaching new heights at the halfway point of the 2020 NFL season and have shown no signs of slowing down.
Philadelphia native, DJ Moore, wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers continues to deliver in his third season with the team after being the 24th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
In his rookie season, Moore contributed only 788 yards and two touchdowns as a wide out. His first two seasons as a Panther, he was primarily given opportunities on special teams totaling a combined 192 yards on kickoff and punt returns.
Now, in this unconventional 2020 season, Moore is averaging a sparkling 18.8 yards per catch with 33 receptions for 622 yards capped off with three touchdowns.
Moore began to be widely noticed at Imhotep Charter High School, where he was a 2014 four-star recruit and earned Pennsylvania Class AAA All-State honors.
He’s currently Maryland’s all-time reception leader in a single season with 80 in 2017. Also in 2017, Moore was recognized as the Big Ten Receiver of the Year and was First-Team All-Big Ten.
Moore isn’t the only wide receiver Maryland football has groomed for the NFL. Stefon Diggs, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills a native of Gaithersburg, Maryland, has proven to be a late-round steal. Before arriving in College Park, Diggs was a consensus five-star recruit from Good Counsel High School. He was ranked the No. 13 prospect in the nation by ESPN.com and rated as the No. 2 wide receiver in the nation by Scout.com.
In 2014, during his junior year as a Terp, Diggs earned Second Team All Big-Ten honors from coaches and was named as an honorable mention All Big-Ten honoree by the media. Reminiscing on his days at Maryland, Diggs described Maryland as “the perfect place for me,” according to Maryland athletics.
Diggs was taken in the 5th round with the 146th overall pick by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2015 Draft. After five seasons with the Vikings, Diggs was traded to the Buffalo Bills earlier this offseason. In his first year in Buffalo, Diggs is putting up Pro-Bowl caliber stats averaging 12.9 yards per catch with 54 receptions for 695 yards and three touchdowns.
However, Diggs became a household name in a divisional playoff game in 2018 against the New Orleans Saints. In the final seconds of that game, Diggs caught a game-winning touchdown pass from quarterback Case Keenum to move onto the NFC Championship game. That remarkable play is now forever coined as “The Minneapolis Miracle.”
Moore and the Panthers (3-5) travel to Arrowhead Sunday to take on Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs (7-1) while Diggs and the Bills (6-2) welcome in Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks (6-1) to Orchard Park, New York.
