Newberry football's Hayden Moore ready to embrace cold as he signs with Minnesota
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Hayden Moore is one of the Gainesville-area’s top wide receivers. When he departs for college in early January, his first purchase won’t be a TV or a phone.
Instead, it’ll be a heavy coat as the Newberry football wide receiver is venturing to the Land of 10,000 lakes.
Moore decided to Row the Boat and play for PJ Fleck and Minnesota football as he signed with the Golden Gophers Thursday afternoon at Newberry High School.
A 3-star receiver, Moore had a whole host of offers. This included Penn State (although he might have dodged a bullet given James Franklin’s firing), but also nouveau riche powers like Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt.
What gave the Gophers the edge? Fleck, the former Western Michigan head coach and head of Minnesota since 2017, is just a good guy.
“He’s always been supportive of me,” Moore said. “Ever since the day I walked into the program, Coach Fleck has actually seen me as a person.”
Moore isn’t the only one to develop this feeling. He’s one of 31 to Row the Boat, which makes up the No. 29 ranked class in 2026. That’s the best class in UM history.
“It’s crazy because, when I committed, I was on the phone with Coach Fleck, and he said this class is going to make history,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of great players that are really talented to take us to the CFP.”
He continues in a nice run of Newberry players to sign at the Power 4 level. Last season, Jarquez Carter and Mykah Newton signed with Ohio State and Miami, respectively. RB Kaleb Woods is expected to do the same in February.
Carter and Newton helped show Moore exactly what it takes to go from the high school level to college.
“They taught me to understand what exact work ethic I need,” Moore said. “Those boys worked really hard to go where they did.”
Moore, though, didn’t start out repping the blue and gold. The Gainesville native started at P.K. Yonge, but he transferred to NHS before his sophomore year.
Coach Ed Johnson hadn’t heard of Moore prior to his freshman year. Moore knew that, which is why he put his head down and worked harder than anyone else.
It showed as he had 940 yards. That continued into 2024 with 982 yards. Each season, the Panthers advanced further from the region semifinals to the region final.
Things changed this season as Carter and Newton graduated, and Newberry was forced to rebuild. New QB Kobe Johnson struggled behind a young offensive line, and it showed in Moore’s numbers with just 387 receiving yards.
Moore wanted to remain involved and did so in the kick return game. In fact, Johnson’s most memorable game for Moore came this season vs. Trinity Catholic. He returned a kick 90 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter and caught an 80-yard TD in the second quarter. NHS needed to win to clinch a playoff spot, and Moore did what great players do and stepped up in the biggest moment.
Moore will be early enrolling at Minnesota in January.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Newberry football’s Hayden Moore ready to row the boat at Minnesota
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