Hard worker, but underdeveloped. Talented, but undersized.
Fringe prospect.
These were phrases that UCLA freshman defensive tackle Chase
Moline heard critics and scouts describe him as a recruit coming
out of high school.
But rather than let the critics get to him and affect him
negatively, Moline used their words as motivation and worked hard
to make the doubters eat their words. Now as a full-season starter
for a top-ranked Division I college team, Moline has gotten the
chance to prove the skeptics wrong a lot faster than anyone
expected.
“It just made me try harder and work harder,” Moline
said. “I never let it put me down.”
When you look at his high school credentials, it is hard to
believe that the only Division I offers that Moline got were from
Boise State and UCLA.
“I didn’t have too many choices,” Moline said
about his status coming out of high school. “(UCLA) was just
a more appealing campus; much nicer than Boise. It’s worked
out great this year.”
While playing on both the offensive and defensive line at
Mission Viejo High School, Moline was decorated with virtually
every honor a high school player can attain. In his senior year, he
was named CIF-Southern Section Division II co-Defensive Player of
the Year, L.A. Times’ Lineman of the Year and was named MVP
of a South Coast League that featured high school teammate and
current USC quarterback Mark Sanchez, who was widely regarded as
the best overall recruit nationally.
Also during Moline’s senior season, Mission Viejo finished
as CIF-SS Division II champions and were USA Today’s No. 3
high school team in the nation.
“A team is built on linemen,” said Mission Viejo
High School boys’ athletic director Bill Smith, who also
worked as a long-time assistant coach in the football program.
“We had five linemen that went to Division I schools and he
was the best out of all of them.”
Still, Moline was labeled as just a two-star recruit by both
Scout.com and rivals.com largely due to his stature. He is listed
in UCLA’s media guide as 6-foot-1, 274 pounds, which is well
under the size of the average Pac-10 starting offensive linemen
(6-foot-4.75, 302 pounds) that Chase goes up against.
Even though the Bruins had a hunch they were getting a better
player than advertised when they recruited Moline, his rapid
development into a starter has come as a pleasant surprise to the
Bruin coaching staff.
“No, I did not realistically see him in the position (as a
starter),” UCLA offensive line coach Tom Cable said.
“His progress is a real credit to his high school
background.”
Even some of those who knew Moline in high school were surprised
by his early collegiate success.
“Absolutely stunned,” Smith said of his personal
reaction when he found out Moline was starting for UCLA.
“When you don’t have that big frame, coaches
won’t even look at you a lot of the time.”
Ever since Moline has been at UCLA, he has shown a number of
attributes to overcome his size deficit and impress the Bruin
coaching staff. Moline’s work ethic, physical quickness and
football knowledge have been particularly impressive to UCLA
defensive line coach Thurmond Moore.
“He’s a tough guy and he’s got the
intangibles,” Moore said. “He’s a guy you can
count on and he’s really an excellent person.”
Being from a successful, well-coached high school program gave
Moline an edge coming into UCLA. But even though Moline had
confidence that he would be able to make an immediate impression on
the Bruin coaching staff, he was shocked when he first found out
that he would be starting for the Bruins.
“I was overwhelmed when I first heard the news,”
Moline said. “Coming in here, I didn’t think I’d
be starting right off the bat, so it was kind of a big thing at
first. I kind of got the jitters out and I’m more relaxed out
there now.”
Moline’s success story is even more special when you take
into consideration his brothers. Chase’s older brother Chad,
a junior, transferred to UCLA from Saddleback College (Mission
Viejo) this year and walked onto the football team as a
linebacker.
Chase’s younger brother, Chane, is a senior at Mission
Viejo and is one of the top running back recruits in the nation. He
has verbally committed to UCLA for next season and if he does end
up coming to Westwood, the three brothers would all be playing
together once again.
“It’s our parents’ dream to see all of us play
on the same team,” Chad Moline said. “When I was a
senior in high school, we all played together and that was my best
experience football-wise. We’re all best friends.”
The possibility of three brothers playing for the same
prestigious university at the same time is definitely a unique
situation. Smith can’t recall anything like it in all of his
years of following college football.
“To have three brothers playing for the same school,
it’s almost incomprehensible,” Smith said.
For Chase, who has 24 tackles and a sack this year, being able
to start in his first season has been a special experience, but he
and his coaches know that there is a lot of room for improvement in
the future. As he gets bigger and stronger and gets more game
experience under his belt, Moore is confident that he will become
even more of an asset than he is now.
“He has already gotten bigger since he’s been here
and lost body fat, so he’s maturing as an athlete,”
Moore said. “The sky’s the limit for Chase.”
Chase Moline agrees with Moore’s assessment.
“I’m going to be getting a lot stronger and working
out harder and trying to get faster,” Moline said. “I
haven’t reached the potential that I’m going to get
to.”