"Clutching" a 4 inch binder

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Bryan Harsin reflects on Kellen Moore for a new audience | KTVB.COM Boise

More on Moore

There’s not a more talked-about undrafted free agent this spring than former Boise State star Kellen Moore. Detroit’s rookie minicamp begins today—and which rookie ends up in a feature story in the Detroit Free Press? There’s Kellen. The most interesting excerpts from Dave Birkett’s “Kellen Moore 101” of sorts for Lions fans come from an interview he did with Bryan Harsin. The former Bronco offensive coordinator refers to the four-inch binder Moore was clutching when he first met the Prosser prodigy in 2006. It was packed with football plays Kellen had collected since grade school, and he remembered every one of them. Said Harsin: "When you're sitting there as a coach and you go, 'Hey, I'm going to run this,' and he goes, 'Yeah, that's what BYU did back in 1998,' you're thinking, 'Damn, I thought I was coming up with something new here.'”

Where did the chip on Moore’s shoulder come from during his Boise State career? Just where you thought it did, according to Birkett’s article. “Harsin said Moore has taken the questions about his size and arm strength that have hounded him for years and used them as ‘extreme motivation’ on the field. ‘He understands the parameters that colleges look at and NFL teams look at,’ Harsin said. ‘When we had him at Boise State, you'd put him in drills and there's other guys that looked better, ball comes out of their hand and they've got cannons, everything you're looking for. They're like pretty cars out there. And all of a sudden he gets into a game, and he just moves the ball down the field and takes shots and gets right back up. As far as quarterbacks go, he's the toughest one I've ever been around.’”

And this from Birkett’s story validates what so many people felt after Kellen’s first road game as a college quarterback: “For all of Moore's success—he led Boise to three straight bowl wins and a 14-0 record as a sophomore—Harsin said his defining moment came as a redshirt freshman when he helped the Broncos beat Oregon, 37-32, at Autzen Stadium, in the third start of his career. Moore completed 25 of 37 passes for 386 yards that game in the face of relentless pressure and in the process convinced Harsin, himself and others he was going to be a successful quarterback for a long time. ‘I think everybody on the football team and the coaching staff was like, OK, this guy is the real deal,’ Harsin said. ‘We had something really, really special.’”