Dan Mozes

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Dan Mozes (born September 15th, 1984 in the Pittsburgh area town of Washington, Pennsylvania) is an American football player for the West Virginia Mountaineers. Mozes is projected to be a first-day draft pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.

[edit] College career

Mozes was a four-year starter at West Virginia University. For the first two years of his career, Mozes played at left guard on the offensive line. For since the middle of his junior year, Mozes moved to center.

After redshirting a year, Mozes started every game his redshirt-freshman season at left guard. Mozes earned second-team All-Freshman honors and was named to the Big East All-Freshman team. Mozes tallied a team high six knockdowns against the Miami Hurricanes and five against the Virginia Tech Hokies. Mozes suffered a hip sprain against the University of Pittsburgh. Mozes won MVP honors against the Wisconsin Badgers and was named rookie of the week against the University of Cincinnati.

During 2004, Mozes was named first-team All-Big East while starting every game. He totaled 32 knockdowns and was the MVP against the University of Central Florida and Rutgers. Mozes won the Gridiron Gladiator Award from the WVU coaches for his play on-field.

During his junior year, Mozes started at left guard. For the game against the University of Maryland, Mozes was moved to center. Since that game, he started at center. After totaling seven knockdowns, Mozes sprained his left ankle in the game against Cincinnati. Mozes was named Offensive MVP against Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. Mozes was named 2005 second-team All-American by the Associated Press. Mozes was also named first-team All-Big East, Rimington Trophy finalist, named to the ESPN All-Conference squad, and named to the All-ECAC squad.

As a senior, Mozes was named to the 2006 Playboy All-American team and won the Rimington Trophy for the nation's best Center. Mozes led the way for the Mountaineers team that totaled over 3,600 yards rushing in 2006. Mozes' offensive line also was formidable in the passing game, where they only gave up 1.17 sacks per game. Mozes and the back he blocked for, Steve Slaton, were the only Big East players named to first-team All-American team, and they were the first pair of consensus All-Americans in school history.

[edit] Pro career

Mozes leaves West Virginia as a senior and expects to be a first-day pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. During the Senior Bowl, Mozes did fairly well. On Wednesday, a botched snap occurred between Troy Smith and Mozes, but it was not determined who caused the botch. On the 23rd, Mozes reportedly "cheap shotted" defensive tackle Amobi Okoye on the neck. On January 25th, Mozes was said to have been "blown by" by Okoye. Mozes started the game for the North side at center.

After the game, NFL Draft Countdown's Scott Wright reported that Mozes was the 9th prospect whose stock was slipping the most, saying "[He is a] Highly-decorated college player who lacks the physical tools for the next level." [1]

ESPN reported that Mozes was their #8 Center in the '07 class. His effort was a big positive, while they worried about his size against NFL defenders. He was compared to Colts' center Jeff Saturday.