Steve and I are pretty sure that Tavoy Moore is going to be in the Ticats line up on Saturday when the Ticats take on the Bombers (at the expense of Chevon Walker.) How sure? Steve wrote about him in today's paper.

In other roster news, expect defensive backs Arthur Hobbs and Emanuel Davis as well as Canadian receiver Simon Charbonneau-Campeau to be added to practice roster. The first two are so Evan McCollough and Brandon Isaac can return from injured I believe. Local boy Jay Diston has also been released. He was on the PR but was hurt in practice this week (hard to be on the practice roster if you can't, you know, practice.)

Tavoy Moore aims to give his family hope

By Steve Milton

He was the baby of 10 children, but Tavoy Moore has never acted like it.

"Even though I'm the youngest, I want to be the beacon of the family, or something like that, " the 24-year-old potential triple-threat of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats softly explains. "And give them hope that something good can happen."

Like so many driven professional athletes, Moore has transcended unpromising beginnings and compromised surroundings. He was raised in Compton, Calif., one of the toughest gang-infested precincts in the American west and, when he was just 10, his mother, Faye Sitert, died on Boxing Day … after making sure her youngest son got the football he wanted for Christmas.

He then lived with an uncle, a succession of five friends' families and later with his father, just before he went off to play college ball at Idaho State, where he had been recruited by head coach John Zamberlin, who is now the Tiger-Cats linebacker coach.

"I was the first in my family to get a scholarship, " says Moore, who likely will be in uniform for the Tiger-Cats against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday afternoon in Guelph. "In fact, I was the first to even go to college, except for my father who went for about a week."

While he was earning his full degree in communication at Idaho State before transferring to Central Washington last season for a final medical-appeal year of eligibility, five of his older brothers - all but Marquise, to whom he's closest - found trouble and ended up doing time. The last of them got out of jail only recently and was the only brother to miss the family send-off this spring for Tavoy, who was heading to Edmonton to try out for the Eskimos.

"I learned my lesson from watching my brothers, " he said.

But the lesson he wants to give back will come in the form of presence and actions, not lectures.

"It's the vibe, don't want to seem like I'm telling them stuff, " Moore said.

Moore tells his story - more accurately, responds to questions about his story - without apparent bitterness, self-pity or even recognition his path has been rockier and steeper than most.

"I'm always positive, I don't want to be around negative energy, " he says.

Although he might have been selected in the latter rounds, Moore signed with the Esks before the NFL draft. A major factor involved in that decision was, again, the element of responsibility. "I just had a son, " he says. "And I had to support him, so I had to follow the money. He's been up here since Aug. 4, and will be at Saturday's game before he goes back home."

Assuming he plays Saturday, it will be his first regular-season professional game. And assuming again he plays some time on offence as either a receiver, tailback or running mate for C.J. Gable, he will experience his first professional play from scrimmage.

The Eskimos were raving about their potential new kick returner, referring to him in public as something special and even invoking the legend of Gizmo Williams, when he injured his knee on the opening kickoff of the first exhibition game. They quickly released him, which seemed more than a trifle incongruous, and likely didn't count upon the Ticats quickly grabbing him, and waiting for his injury to heel.

"When I got injured, (the Esks) thought it was an ACL, but I knew from hurting something like that before that it was only an MCL, " Moore said. "They wanted to send me home and pay for my rehab, but with no pay and bring me back after nine games, but I didn't want to do that."

Those kind of unofficial nod-wink-nudge release and returns happen all the time in the CFL, but Moore had immediate suitors in Hamilton because, on Zamberlin's high praise, they had scouted him themselves. And Eric Tillman, who had followed Moore closely as Edmonton's GM, likely had input, too, after he became a Ticat consultant.

With Zamberlin as coach, Moore was named an all-American, which means that, if he and Gable find themselves in the same backfield together, the Cats will have an all-American beside the only true freshman tailback ever to start at the tailback factory of USC.

At Idaho State, Moore became the only player in conference history to score touchdowns via kickoff and punt returns in the same game, twice in the same season. With his speed and receiving abilities, this will set Ticat fans to thinking of Chris Williams and Marcus Thigpen, although their head coach settles on a different comparison. It's the same one that Edmonton boss Kavis Reed offered.

"He reminds me of Pinball (Clemons) a little bit, although he's bigger, " Kent Austin says of Moore, who has 196 pounds of muscle packed onto his 5-foot-6 frame.

"I know that's a high compliment. Pinball was a heckuva player. But you look at the skill set, the size, the ability to change direction, " Austin adds.

Moore will likely return kicks and see some offensive snaps Saturday and Austin suggests he will be eased into the offence over time.

"If he's in the lineup, we're not going to overwhelm him with too many responsibilities, " Austin said.

Although he's demonstrating that responsibility is his middle name.