South Jersey football player excels on the field despite limb difference

DELRAN, New Jersey (WPVI) — When you watch 16-year-old Colin Moore play football, you can tell he puts his heart and soul into the game.

But you might not be able to tell that he does so without a vital part of his body.

“I’ve always had to have a mind of steel, heart of gold, and move forward no matter what,” Moore says.

The Delran High School junior was born missing the lower portion of his right arm. While the limb difference has never stopped him, it has been an obstacle in his life.

“The only thing I really knew is that I’d have to work, double, triple, quadruple hard as everybody else.”

On the football field, Moore hopes to be the starting center — a position that requires tremendous lower and upper body strength.

“I make up for it with speed and strength,” said Moore.

He hits the weight room hard and recently cleaned a personal record of 165 pounds.

So would he say that having to compensate has made him stronger than pretty much any athlete he sees out there?

“Yeah, and just a lot of the doubt that other people have when I told people what I wanted to do,” he says.

His coach, Frank Holmes adds, “The thing I can say about Colin is this: he was born with a challenging situation, life kinda threw him a curveball, but every day he knocks that curveball out of the park. His attitude, intense focus, he is positive self taught, he is just complete intensity in everything he does.”

It’s that underdog mentality that brings to mind another stud center in our area — Philadelphia Eagles’ Jason Kelce.

So does he aspire to be like him?

“Yeah for sure,” says Moore. “Big man, tough guy. I look up to that kind of stuff.”

Kelce even sent Moore a message after Action News shared video of his weightlifting success.

“Hey Colin, Jason Kelce here. I just got done watching that video — that one-arm power clean. And man — you are an inspiration brother,” said Kelce. “You are an inspiration to me, the epitome of perseverance, the epitome of hungry dogs run faster. And I got to tell you — I think I speak on behalf of the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line, we would love to invite you down to training camp brother. I need to meet you. We need to meet you.”