Maryland’s D.J. Moore named Big Ten’s top wide receiver

One day after earning all-conference recognition for his outstanding 2017 campaign, Maryland’s D.J. Moore was named the Big Ten’s Wide Receiver of the Year on Thursday.

Moore led the conference with 1,033 receiving yards on 80 catches, the latter of which is also a Maryland program record. The junior finished 2017 with eight touchdown receptions, tied for fourth in the Big Ten.

As has been well-documented, he did all this with about as little help as possible. Maryland’s top two quarterbacks tore their ACLs in the first and third games of the season, and third-stringer Max Bortenschlager was under center for nearly all of conference play. No Maryland signal caller surpassed 1,500 passing yards for the season, making Moore the first Power 5 receiver since Hakeem Nicks in 2008 to accumulate 1,000 yards under such circumstances.

In Maryland’s turbulent 2017, Moore was consistently a bright spot. He’ll make a decision soon regarding his future in College Park or the NFL, but there’s still plenty of time for everyone else to celebrate his success from the last three months.