OSU football: Receiver Charlie Moore is the spring finale's big surprise

Well, almost everybody.

“I've been saying that he's gonna be an All-American since the first day of spring,” Cowboys running back Joseph Randle said afterward. “I was like, ‘That's a future All-American right there.'

“It doesn't surprise me at all. I think he's gonna be great for us this year.”

Moore, a junior wide receiver who's been but a bit player at OSU so far, must first command a starting spot — which is no guarantee — yet Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium, he put up the kind of numbers a certain recent two-time Biletnikoff Award winner used to produce: nine receptions, 243 yards and three touchdowns.

And those numbers even surprised Moore, when informed, following the game.

“That's a good day,” he said, after allowing those totals to sink in a bit. “That's awesome.”

For a Cowboys offense missing the alluded to Justin Blackmon and quarterback Brandon Weeden … uh, yeah.

And Moore's big day doesn't sound like one of those spring sensation stories, where a guy shines for two hours and then fades into the background come fall. By all accounts, and Randle's talent evaluator skills, Moore has been one of the pleasant developments of the past month and more.

“He finished the spring in the right way, on an upswing,” said receivers coach Kasey Dunn. “But he's been getting better every week. It's not like today he had a great day. We see that every day.”

Outside the OSU inner circle, however, few saw it coming.

Moore came to the Cowboys after starring as a dual-threat quarterback in Bullard, Texas. Signed as an “athlete,” he was tried at receiver and has been toiling there ever since, through a redshirt year in 2009 and two seasons of working on special teams and totaling seven receptions for 143 yards and one touchdown in 25 games.