Inside The Chart: One Moore Ride

One Moore Ride: Jason Moore arrived at Georgia Tech six years ago as a walk-on offensive lineman. Even he can’t believe how far he – and the Yellow Jackets – have come.

Inside The Chart | By Andy Demetra (The Voice of the Yellow Jackets)

As a fan of Halloween, horror movies and high-level football, Brent Key surely appreciates the synergy with Jason Moore these days.

Even amongst his fellow giants, the 6-foot-2, 300-pound defensive tackle is easy to spot while strolling through Yellow Jacket Alley. He’s the only one with a full-size Jason Voorhees hockey mask clipped to his team-issued, Georgia Tech backpack.

What, did you think a gap-stuffing defensive tackle would have a Labubu dangling there?

The mask isn’t simply in the spirit of Halloween, though Moore did wear it as part of a costume last year (for good measure, he also has the Jason mask tattooed on his right forearm). And there’s more to the accessory than a shared first name. Moore considers the Friday the 13th slasher something of an alter ego on the football field.

Jason Moore-hees, if you will.

“Whenever it’s game day, it kind of gets me into that feeling where it’s time to not be a nice civilian,” Moore said. “You have to be violent to play in the trenches.”

(That fandom now extends to the newest member of his family. At a recent trip to the pet store, Moore’s Mom found a Friday the 13th jumper and bought it for her son’s 50-pound Cane Corso puppy, Kuma. Sometime this week, Moore plans on taking a picture of him and Kuma together, dressed in their respective Jason costumes.)

It’s fitting, then, that the Jonesboro, Ga., native has saved some of the most terror-inducing performances for Halloween season. On October 18, Moore recorded a career-high five tackles in No. 8 Georgia Tech’s 27-18 win over Duke, helping hold the Blue Devils to a season-low 68 rushing yards. A week later he earned the Yellow Jackets’ Defensive Player of the Game award, racking up five more tackles, a half-sack and a forced fumble in the Yellow Jackets’ 41-16 rout of Syracuse. He capped off his forced fumble with a viral, belly-rubbing celebration that Key made him re-enact at a recent team meeting.

Moore pressure. Moore problems 😎@JayMo59 #StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/hTKr0xlHyL

— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) October 28, 2025

“He affects everyone on the team in such a positive manner. Everybody pulls for him, and now he’s really carved out a good role on this football team,” Key said.

Moore doesn’t take this run of success lightly. Not as one of two remaining players from Georgia Tech’s 2020 team. Certainly not after arriving as a walk-on offensive lineman, his hopes of playing time dimmed even further by a switch to a position he had never played.

“Seeing this upward trajectory since then has just been amazing. Being a part of the whole process, and seeing every single brick being laid down,” Moore said.

“(He’s) one of the most improved players I’ve ever been around,” added defensive line coach Jess Simpson.

Moore was twice named an all-region offensive lineman at Dutchtown High School south of Atlanta, where he dueled daily against future Louisville defensive tackle Dezmond Tell and future Alabama defensive end Will Anderson Jr. Anderson, who later became the No. 3 overall draft pick of the Houston Texans, encouraged Moore to attend a camp – lineman camp at Georgia Tech, not Camp Crystal Lake – to widen his recruiting looks before his senior year.

“I did solid. I ended up developing a great connection with now-Detroit Lions running backs coach Tashard Choice, because he’s from the area down there,” Moore recalled.

He and Choice, at the time Georgia Tech’s running backs coach, kept in touch throughout his senior season. Scholarship offers eventually came from NCAA Division I FCS members Morgan State and Southern. Choice offered him a preferred walk-on spot at Tech. Moore accepted, ready to test himself at the FBS level and turn his interest in submarines into a degree in nuclear and radiological engineering.

Jason Moore recorded his second-career forced fumble against Syracuse last week (Danny Karnik photo)

 

Two weeks before the Jackets’ 2020 season opener against Florida State, Moore was summoned into the office of Key, then still Georgia Tech’s offensive line coach. Defensive tackle T.K. Chimedza had just suffered a torn Achilles, leaving that position group perilously thin. Key told Moore that the staff was moving him to defensive tackle, even though he had no experience playing there.

Moore admits to feeling shock at first. He had always envisioned himself as an interior offensive lineman, maybe an eventual ACC center. He leaned on the advice of his Mom and grandparents, who told him that if he was asked to do something, he should always put his best foot forward.

A move like that could make a walk-on feel even more disposable. Moore instead found an immediate advocate for his potential.

“Funny enough, Coach Key was the first person – even in that meeting, he told me, ‘You’re going to play here at some point.’ It kind of just gave me that innate confidence that I can do this. I’m going to keep working. I’m going to make myself a better player,” he said.

Key’s words gave him confidence, but he still chuckles at the steep learning curve he faced as he made the transition. His former offensive line mates routinely steamrolled him in practice. He had to learn where he’d get hit and how to stay stable. He remembers the agony of position group meetings, his every stumble and misstep scrutinized, the film clicker becoming almost a Pavlovian sound of disapproval.

“It was a long, arduous process of just trying to chip away and chop away,” he said.

Moore continued to work hard on his technique – “getting the offensive lineman’s mindset out,” as he put it – but his first two years passed without any playing time (he also spent those two years living at home to save money). It wasn’t until the Spring of 2022, Moore said, that he finally felt like a true defensive lineman. He appeared in 10 games that fall, racking up nine tackles and recording a sack in Tech’s upset of No. 13 North Carolina. He played in 11 more games as a redshirt sophomore in 2023.

Moore had also switched majors at Tech, graduating in December of 2023 with a degree in Business Administration. He entered the transfer portal without hard feelings – Key offered to help him find a new team – and signed with Temple in hopes of finding more playing time.

Jason Moore has doubled his previous career high for tackles in a season so far in 2025 (Danny Karnik photo)

 

He was challenging for a starting spot during the spring when homesickness started to creep in.

“It was my first time being away. Then Philly is whole different dynamic and change of life from Atlanta. Even with them being two big metropolitan cities and areas, it was two totally different cultures. It felt weird, in a sense,” he explained.

Over spring break, Moore went home to Atlanta and reconnected with some of his old teammates.

“They were saying the same thing. ‘We would love to have you come back. There’s still space in the room. We need help. Having you back would be amazing,’” he recalled.

Moore became Tech’s first boomerang of the portal era, transferring back to Tech at the end of the semester. He returned to the Yellow Jackets’ locker room a familiar face – to most.

“I remember the first interaction I had with [then-freshman] Trelain Maddox. He was so confused at how so many people knew who I was. He was like, ‘Hey, this guy just came here. How do people know him?’” Moore laughed. His first summer workout, he said, was full of double takes and good-natured cracks from teammates asking, “What are you doing here?”

He’s answered that steadily over the last two seasons, growing into a dependable, run-stopping fireplug for a deeper Georgia Tech defensive line. Continuity has helped – Moore notes that he’s had the same position coach (Simpson) in back-to-back seasons for the first time since his freshman year.

Simpson chalks up his production to something else.

“I’ve been coaching a long time. He’s as conscientious, as detailed, has so much intent in everything he does – he is so impressive,” he said.

“He just does everything right. It’s a great testament when you just show up every day and you have intent about your work, how much better you can get.”

That dedication may explain another upcoming achievement. Having already knocked out his B.S. in Business Administration, Moore earned his Master’s in Data Analytics over the summer. He’s currently taking courses toward a second B.S. in Economics, putting him on track to be a rare three-time degree holder from Tech. A two-time all-ACC academic team member, Moore says he’s intrigued by opportunities in machine learning and cybersecurity systems, an interest spurred from long conversations with former defensive line teammate Kevin Harris II.

He’s still mulling how that future might play out. But for now, his focus remains on the immediate future with Georgia Tech, which heads to Raleigh on Saturday to face 4-4 North Carolina State (7:30 p.m. ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network). He and the Yellow Jackets’ line will have to subdue running back Hollywood Smothers, who leads the ACC and ranks 10th nationally in rush average (103.1 yds./game). Quarterback C.J. Bailey also ran for three touchdowns in last year’s matchup at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field, a narrow 30-29 Tech win.

“Winning is paramount at this point,” Moore reiterated. “They remember you for (what you do in) November.”

And on November the 1st, Jason Moore will look to hunt down ball carriers the way his namesake did on Friday the 13th.

2025 GEORGIA TECH FOOTBALL TICKETS

With a fanbase that has been reenergized by the Yellow Jackets’ success, attendance at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field is up 29% over this time in 2024. Fans can still be a part of the excitement on The Flats, as tickets remain for the Yellow Jackets’ final regular-season home game of 2025 at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field:

Saturday, Nov. 22 vs. Pitt (Senior Day/Military Appreciation Day/Michael Isenhour Toy Drive-25^th Anniversary) – Click HERE for tickets.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

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