In this installment of The Recruiting Notebook, we meet a long, lean edge rusher with All-American credentials and a world of talent off the edge: Las Vegas (NV) 4-star EDGE Cyrus Moss.

Bio

In that he committed to Miami at his All-American game, I’m going to use the Welcome to the U piece for this part of the narrative for Moss.

Recruiting Ranking

On the 247sports composite, Moss is a 4-star prospect, the #8 EDGE nationally, #2 in the State of Nevada, and #69 (nice) player overall in this class.

Moss committed to Miami over interest from Oregon, Notre Dame, and USC from a list of 30 scholarship offers from around the country.

As a Player

Moss is well built for an Edge Rusher at 6’6” 220lbs. He’s a bit thin at only 220, but as an early enrollee, Moss is already on campus and working with S&C coach Aaron Feld to develop and reshape his body. Moss should easily be able to get to the 240-250lb range while keeping his athleticism in his time at Miami.

Apart from being very tall, Moss has long arms. That is a great trait for an Edge Rusher to possess, as most OT’s also have long arms and he can fight to keep their hands off of him as he moves up the field. Additionally, he should be able to affect the passing game by batting balls at the line of scrimmage with his height and length.

Even though he’s a bit lighter than you’d want in a perfect world, Moss shows great signs of physicality in the run game. He sets the edge well against both RBs and QBs, and closes down running room with authority.

Like most players his size, Moss is a former Safety who outgrew the position. You can see in his movements that he grew up playing in space, and that let’s him have some freedom that other, bulkier players don’t possess because they’ve always been the biggest kid in the class.

Moss is relatively new to the EDGE position, but he shows great feel for rushing the passer. He’ll need to develop more moves as he progresses.

For another look at Moss, here’s an eval from 247sports Mountain Region recruiting analyst Blair Angulo:

Long, projectable frame with room to add mass. A former safety that has continued to fill out physically. Bulkier upper half, with high-upside build. Twitchy and athletic edge rusher. Flashes terrific speed and burst to the outside. Constantly keeps blockers on their heels. Dynamic with his pass-rush moves and fluid bender. Quick and disruptive with counter moves. Displays good hand usage to shed blockers. Flashes very good awareness and takes efficient angles to the football. Shows tremendous closing speed in the backfield. Ability to drop into flats and sit in zone coverage. Could continue to improve in run support, but demonstrates very good effort in back-side pursuit. Potential early contributor at elite Power Five level and All-Conference type performer.

Strengths

• Height
• Length
• Athleticism
• Good instincts and potential

Weaknesses

• A bit light/needs to add weight
• Can get stronger
• Needs secondary/tertiary rushing moves

Miami Outlook

Note: changed this up from just a freshman-season outlook to a career outlook for each player last year and we’re continuing that style this year as well.

Miami needs players to get after the QB. After losing several to the NFL draft in recent years — 1st round picks Jaelan Phillips and Gregory Rousseau, as well as 4th round pick Quincy Roche — Miami’s DE group has been a bit bereft of talent. Adding Moss to the group is a big step towards addressing that talent gap.

Depending on his ability to reshape his body in the next 7 months — Moss is an early enrollee so he’s already working in the S&C program — there are at least rotational snaps available for him as soon as he’s ready to take them as a true freshman.

Beyond that, the goal should be high end starting performance, with All-Conference honors coming at a minimum, and more awards in the realm of possibility as well with his performance hopefully leading the way there. And, with that kind of performance, Miami should be able to win plenty of games with Moss on the field for his time in Coral Gables.

That’s it for this installment of The Recruiting Notebook.

Go Canes