SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Rob Moore, Syracuse's all-time leading receiver, said Thursday he will forego his final season of eligibility to enter the NFL supplemental draft.
'I realized it would probably be in my best interest to leave,' he said. 'What else could I do at the collegiate level to really improve my stock?'
Moore has one year of eligibility remaining, but has received a bachelor's degree in sociology. He said he will soon submit a petition to the NFL to enter the supplemental draft.
Jim Heffernan, an NFL spokesman, says he expects the draft to be held in late June or early July.
'(Moore) would simply be the same as Bernie Kosar was: he graduated while he still had eligibility remaining,' Heffernan said. 'We will notify the clubs. The clubs are aware of Rob Moore.'
Said Larry Kimball, a school spokesman: 'He passed everything, so to the best of our knowledge he graduated.'
Heffernan said he did not know of any other player who has petitioned to be entered in the supplemental draft, and said anybody considering it must have graduated and should notify the NFL by about June 15.
Syracuse Coach Dick MacPherson has called Moore one of the school's greatest football players.
Moore, a 6-foot-2, 201-pound wide receiver from Hempstead, N.Y., caught 106 passes and set school records by gaining 2,122 yards and scoring 22 touchdowns during three seasons. In 1989, he led the Orangemen with 53 receptions for 1,064 yards, both team records, and nine touchdowns.
Moore says he probably will be represented by New York agent Gary Wichard. He says it would be easier for his family if he played in the Northeast.
'I wouldn't mind staying close to home,' he said. 'The (New York) Jets, Philadelphia, something like that.'
In the supplemental draft, each of the league's 28 teams receives markers corresponding to its overall ranking. Those markers are placed in a lottery barrel for the draft.
The Dallas Cowboys, for example, would receive 28 markers for finishing with the worst record. They would be followed by the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets.
