It took a while for a full article of Paxton Moore‘s commitment to Michigan to surface, but PhillyLacrosse.com has published one such article, so we have enough material to start putting together a commitment post.
Haverford School's Paxton Moore (Photo via PhillyLacrosse.com)
- Relevant Articles
We start with the commitment article from PhillyLacrosse.com:
Moore helped the Fords finish 23-0 and claim the Inter-Ac League and Inter-Ac Invitational championships while finishing atop every national poll in 2011. He plays club lacrosse for HEADstrong.
Moore was a Gait Fab 40 pick at the Philly Showcase in 2009 and 2010 and also was selected to play in the EPSLA Showcase in 2010 and 2011.
A member of America’s best team (per LaxPower, among others)? I think we’ll be revisiting that in a moment. As a junior, multiple sources considered him a key member of that team coming into the season, either as a second-line LSM (behind Maryland-bound senior and all-name team member Goran Murray), or a second-ish line defenseman.
His participation in the inaugural and second-annual Philly Lacrosse Showcases didn’t garner him any special mention from ESPN Rise. As a sophomore, his Blue team tied White 6-6, and his White fell to Black 1-8 last fall.
He was listed as one of the best rising junior LSMs in the Philly Area by Random Message Boarder, so take it for what it’s worth.
His profile for Team HEADstrong Green (his club team) actually has quite a bit of useful information:
Position: LSM, Defense
Height: 5’10″
Weight: 155 lbs
Awards: MS A Team Football Award
Acomplishments: Haverford Varsity, Inter-Ac Champs, Philly Showcase Fab 40 Sophomore Selection (2009), Philly Showcase Fab 40 Junior Selection (2010), Team Philly (2010), EPSLA Sophomore All-Star Selection (2010)
Other Sports: Squash, Golf
Running the gamut on “sports white people play.” He is also strong academically, with a 3.6 GPA and an interest in studying Biology. Most recently, his team won the Upper Atlantic Championship.
Other Interest
Speaking of those strong academics, his other schools of interest include Penn, Villanova, Yale, Lehigh, and Colgate, some pretty tough schools. Of course, it’s unclear from a simple profile how much that interest was reciprocated from the schools, but Villanova was #13 this season to Laxpower, Yale was LaxPower’s #15 team, Colgate was #19, Penn was #20, and Lehigh finished #32.
Teammates of Note
As implied above, the High School National Champion is loaded with talent. In Moore’s class alone, he is the eighth Ford to commit to a Division-1 program, with teammates headed to places like Georgetown and reigning champs Virginia:
Moore is the eighth Haverford School rising senior to commit to a Division I college. The others are: defensemen Connor and Warner Bailey and attackman Zach Rego (Georgetown), face-off specialist Will Gural and attackman Henry Blynn (Brown), midfielder/defenseman Will McNamara (Virginia) and midfielder Sam Rohr (Penn).
The outgoing graduating class was no slouch itself, with 12 seniors signing with Division-1 programs (you’ll note that’s more guys than there ever are on the field, meaning that even some backups earned scholarships). At Moore’s position, longpoles Alex Beatty, Vince Garman, and Goran Murray signed with Princeton, High Point, and Maryland, respectively. Princeton also picked up Midfielder Brendan McGrath, with Penn the only other D-1 program to pick up multiple 2011 players in attack Chris Hupfeldt and midfielder Joe McCallion. Midfielders Carl Walrath and Matt Walters signed with the highest-profile programs, picking Virginia and Syracuse, respectively.
The 2010 class saw only three prospects sign with Division-1 schools, and the 2009 class had five signees. It’s clear that this program pumps out plenty of talent, and landing one of their (projected) starters is certainly a recruiting win.
Video
There aren’t any individual highlight videos that I could find available on the internet, but Lax.com has a couple highlight videos from Haverford this year. You’re looking for #18 with a longpole. 11-6 W v. Conestoga, 10-9 W v. St. Paul’s.
The Upshot
As his measurements above indicate, Paxton isn’t the biggest guy in the world, but coming from such a strong program, the lacrosse IQ and athleticism are sure to be strong aspects of his game. Being a two-year contributor for a team that won the National Championship in his junior year (and for all we know, could repeat the task in 2012) brings a certain amount of cachet.
There’s not a whole lot of information about Moore’s game available, however, so it’s tough to say how soon he’ll be able to contribute. He’s certainly a really skinny guy, so at least a year bulking up seems to be in the cards, unless he adds a bunch of weight during his senior year. After that, there are too many variables in play to make specific predictions.
One thing this commitment definitely helps with is getting a foot in the door at The Haverford School, which certainly seems to be pumping out plenty of talent under head coach John Nostrant. Michigan may be able to land more of that talent going forward, especially if they see success on the field.