Sun Devils DE Travez Moore seeks double-digit sacks to prove doubters wrong

TEMPE — Arizona State Sun Devils defensive end Travez Moore may not be a new face, but he’ll feel like a new addition after suffering a season-ending knee injury last year.

After transferring over from LSU following the conclusion of the 2020 campaign, Moore played in three games for ASU in 2021 before going down with an ACL tear against BYU.

In those three contests, the defensive lineman garnered six total tackles (2.5 tackles for loss) and one sack.

“When my injury happened, I did a lot of self-meditation, talking to myself,” Moore said at Sun Devil football media day for returning players on Monday.

“It sounds crazy but that’s what I did. … I went through like a little stage like where I was like depressed for like a good two weeks. Then I just remembered everything (DL coach Robert Rodriguez) — all the advice he gave me. I said, ‘OK, let me lock in, let me get right, let me get ready for next year.'”

That advice was the Latin phrase “Amor fati,” which means to love the fate or the hand one has been dealt in times of great adversity. Moore used the Latin phrase to remind himself to “stay tough.”

He also gave credit to his former head coach at LSU, Ed Orgeron.

Moore added that because it was the first time he had ever been injured, a lot of people around him started doubting whether or not he could return to the high level of athleticism and play that was expected from the defensive end when he transferred to Arizona State.

“I always kept that in the back of my head, so I’m gonna prove y’all wrong,” he said. “When I come back, fall camp — y’all gonna see, ain’t no fall off. I just kept it in the back of my head.

“People around me every day didn’t believe me. It’s alright, I’m gonna show you something. So I went into this offseason to get my mental right, get in the playbook more because I couldn’t run, couldn’t lift weights like I wanted to. So that was my whole approach: get myself right mentally and get in the playbook.”

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound defensive end made clear what his personal goal on the field is: double-digit sacks.

And if all the outside noise doubting both his and Arizona State’s ability as a team wasn’t enough, Moore took self-motivation to a whole new and personal level.

“I have people saying a lot of bullcrap about me on Twitter. … So what I did, I literally spent two to three hours and I went through every Twitter post that said something negative about me,” he said. “I wrote it down on my wall.

“And that way before I walk out the door, I see it on my door. Whatever everybody said on Twitter about me, I see what they said. And I’m like, ‘OK, cool. I gotta prove this person wrong, I’m going to prove this person wrong today or I’m gonna do this today to prove this person wrong. So that was my motivation in using that.”

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