For student athlete Jean-André Moore, his talents extend far beyond the football field.
The senior wide receiver is heavily involved in the arts, beginning his musical career at age 3, when he started to learn to play piano.
“When I was 9, I began to sing during Catholic masses, and also would play piano,” Moore said.
Moore is also a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and has had many roles in his fraternity. He has held the role of social chair and has helped organize and run events for up to 300 people, as well as balancing the budget, which is in the thousands.
Moore also incorporates his love of the arts into the fraternity, and he produces, mixes and choreographs all of their respective dance and strokes competitions.
The 25-year-old has been dee-jaying for the last seven years, beginning with a nightclub he owned in Portland, Oregon.
“I really enjoy performing and creativity, and this extends to writing and poetry as well,” Moore said.
Moore also produces music and composes covers of popular songs.
As a senior on the football team, Moore keeps a line between athletics and pleasure. The wide receiver looks to contribute to the Miners as they break in their second-year offense under offensive coordinator Brent Pease.
Tall and lanky, Moore looks like the prototypical wide receiver and could very easily help out projected starting quarterback Ryan Metz.
“It’s my last season, and that’s a lot to think about,” Moore said. “Football has been a part of my life for a majority of it, and I’m not sure how I’ll react to its absence.”
Moore knows that the easiest way to fill that void is to adopt hobbies or interests, and he’s eying an acting path.
He joined an acting troupe in the summer of 2016, and enjoyed the experience thoroughly. He was cast as the lead in a subsequent production of “The Sorcerer,” and he’s planning on joining the UTEP Dinner Theatre in 2018.
Moore has lived on his own for the last seven years, with this comes self-reliance. He also has dabbled in cooking, and he said that he’s taught himself pretty well. Moore said he enjoys the process of preparing the food as much as eating it.
“My Almond Rocca cream pie is easily my best dish,” said a smiling Moore. “It was tricky to learn and took lots of practice, but it’s what I’m most proud of.”
Moore’s repertoire of varied and unique skills is ever expanding and he is even learning about the world of hypnosis.
Moore is an avid listener of podcasts. He says it’s helped him broaden his horizons, and that he loves learning about unfamiliar ideas and topics. Perhaps not shockingly, Moore is an excellent juggler. His hand-eye coordination is exceptional and he can rotate four objects at once on his own. With a partner, this number goes up to five.
“I think undoubtedly sports have helped my hand-eye (coordination).” Moore said. “The JUGS machine, for example, really helps us on the field, but also with juggling for me.”
The JUGS machine throws footballs to athletes, eliminating the need for a quarterback and also lessening the physical toll on quarterbacks as well.
Despite his activities in the world of entertainment off of the gridiron, Moore says that his main focus is on his last year of college is football.
“The way I see it is that football is winding down, but I have the rest of my life for my creativity,” Moore said. “So, I have a heavy focus on playing this season as hard as I can, and giving it my all.”
