Arizona football signee analysis: 3-star safety Canyon Moses

The Early Signing Period is here at last! AZ Desert Swarm has you covered and will be bringing you analysis of the signees throughout the rest of the week.

Let’s take a closer look at 3-star safety signee Canyon Moses.

Moses is an athlete, there is no doubt about that. During his senior campaign with the Midland Legacy Rebels, he not only flashed play-making ability on defense, but on special teams as well.

We’ll start on the defensive side of the ball first. Moses played all over the defensive backfield for ML and was successful at it. Whether it was safety, slot nickel, or corner, he made plays.

Moses showed that he can play both zone and press man coverage to great effect. He appears to be slightly stiff in his hips, but he more-than makes up for it with is very good speed. This allows him to catch up, or stay in stride down the field, with the receiver and make a play on the ball.

Moses has very good athleticism, though that may be an understatement. He is able to highpoint the ball down field and is very good at winning contested (50-50) balls against the receiver.

He may not be the biggest defensive back, but that doesn’t stop him from playing bigger than he is. Moses likes to hit people and he does produce more power behind his hits than one would think. He will need to rely on wrapping up his opponent more once he makes it to the Pac-12 level. Coupling that tweak to his tackling to his hit power should produce a dangerous mix.

Now we finally get to special teams. Moses’ athleticism has been referenced already, and it is displayed when he is a returner. He mixes that natural talent with his speed and good vision to mold himself into a major weapon on kickoffs and punts. During this past season, Moses averaged 30.5 yards per return on kickoffs....with only 13 returns. Not to mention, two of those returns were for touchdowns.

He is another solid addition to the defense and should prove to be a great addition to Jordan Paopao’s special teams squad as well.