When Kenny Moore II was 16 years old, he quit football.

It just wasn't for him, he thought.

He was just going to be used for practices, he wasn't going to get to play in a game, he was just wasting his time. He should just walk away and focus on the other sports he was playing.

He'd been to one practice, and he'd had enough.

Less than 48 hours later, Moore went back. 13 years later, he hasn't taken the pads off – and isn't planning to anytime soon.

***

Standing outside the visitors' concession stand at Martin Stadium in Valdosta, Ga., a 16-year-old Moore watches the Lowndes High School football team warm up. It's something the teenager often finds himself doing every Friday night, soaking everything in before he gets to work serving up hot dogs and hamburgers.

"Dang," he says to himself. "That's so cool."

The Vikings football team was a perennial powerhouse in the state of Georgia, with five state championship titles and consistent high-level talent every year. Head coach Randy McPherson turned the program around with his arrival in 2002, and by the time Moore was a junior in high school in 2011 the team was coming off four straight seasons with double-digit wins.

But as Moore stands there on the concourse watching his classmates, he never imagines himself playing alongside them. Not because he believes he can't, but because he doesn't want to.

Moore played Pop Warner football in middle school but decided not to play high school ball after realizing his size could hold him back (he was barely over five feet tall at the time); that, combined with the overwhelming physicality of the game, deterred Moore from ever imagining a future on the gridiron.

So, for the first three years of high school, Moore focused instead on other sports like basketball and track and field, excelling in each one and even making it to state championships for 110-meter hurdles his junior year.

During the spring of Moore's junior year, he was approached by fellow track and field teammate who was a cornerback on the football team. Moore's friend was not going to be able to play football come senior year and, knowing the team only had freshmen and sophomores behind him, started trying to convince Moore to give the sport a shot again.

"He was like, 'You play every other sport at the school, you might as well just try it out,'" Moore recalled.

It took a couple of weeks for Moore to come to a decision, but eventually he found Coach McPherson and told him he wanted to play football.

McPherson's answer was immediate: yes.

The football coach had known Moore since he was in middle school, and had been trying to get him to join the team for years. As a witness to Moore's growth as a basketball player over the previous three years – Moore was a lockdown defender despite being barely 5-foot-9 – McPherson was determined to get that kind of talent onto his football team.

"He was like glue on whoever he covered," McPherson explained. "You could just tell, he could float."

There was one problem, though: Moore didn't want to be a cornerback. He still wanted to be a wide receiver. So, on the first day of practice, McPherson let Moore start out doing receiver drills – but by the end of the day, Moore was with the cornerbacks.

"We put him in pads and on day one, nobody was catching passes on Kenny," McPherson recalled. "I mean, we didn't teach him nothing...you couldn't complete a pass on him. He was right next to the receiver, no matter what, from the first day."

McPherson knew immediately how special Moore could be. But for a kid who wasn't even sure he wanted to play the sport in the first place, it was easy for uncertainty to rise quickly to the forefront of Moore's mind when things didn't go the way he expected. And after someone suggested to Moore that he was just going to be used as a "practice dummy," the teenager made a snap decision.

The next morning, McPherson showed up at Moore's house as he had the day before to pick him up for the team's early morning workout; the two lived on the same side of town, and McPherson passed by Moore's neighborhood every day on the way to school. But Moore didn't answer the door. He was done with football.

"I'm not even thinking (McPherson) as picking me up every day," Moore said with a sheepish smile. "I was a 16-year-old, what do I know? I'm not thinking about others."

McPherson wasn't going to let him get away that easily, though. He hunted Moore down in the school hallways later that day and made it explicitly clear: I want you on my team.

"He was doing too good from the first day out there to quit," McPherson said. "I never believed he was going to quit. I was going to go to the house, I was going to do everything I could do to get him not to quit, right? It was not going to happen."

McPherson's support and encouragement was all Moore needed. He was back in.

"I think he just wanted to finish what he started," Moore said. "He was just a good light in my corner, just making sure that like, look, you can play for us. You're not just a practice dummy or whatever it is. We gonna have some fun. We want you to play for us. So having that type of leadership and advice from him, it gave me some comfort and confidence."

From then on, Moore knew he could count on McPherson's support – not just as a coach, but as a friend. McPherson continued to pick Moore up every single day for morning workouts, proving how much he valued Moore's presence on his team.

"He was like a grandfather to me," Moore remembered with a smile. "He had that cup of coffee every day, and he was of few words, deep voice...He was the parent without your parents being around. He kept a lot of people straight."

By the time the 2012 high school football season rolled around, Moore was a cornerback – and a darn good one. He had 18 tackles, two interceptions and two more pass break-ups in his first season playing football, helping the Vikings to a 9-2 record.

"He ended up being one of the – probably the best corner in the league," McPherson said, referring to GHSA Class 5A, the conference Lowndes High School played in at the time. "It's, I would say, one of the best high school conferences in the country as far as competition goes. And he stood out immediately."

Moore was a natural – and even better, he was coachable.

"First year high school player, and let's say you're coaching him a technique, a cornerback technique – you coach him the technique, run him through a couple drills and that's it. It's done forever. He's one of those guys that once you get it in him, you can count on it being like that every single play."

That reliability and commitment wasn't just for sports either; it was in Moore's character, in his blood. Even at just 16 years old, it was clear to everyone around him that Moore cared about others much more than he would ever care about himself or his own success.

"The character that kid had, I mean, top notch," McPherson said. "He just loved people...coachable, smart, wants to win. Don't want to disappoint nobody."

Neither McPherson nor Moore knew at that time where Moore's talents and character would take him. With just one year of film, Moore wasn't highly recruited for college ball and ended up attending Valdosta State, not even 10 minutes down the road from Lowndes High School.

It wasn't even until the spring of his junior year of college that Moore realized he could truly have a chance at making it to the next level. He'd been a reliable player on defense and special teams since his freshman year, but 2015 was truly his breakout year. As a junior, Moore established himself as one of the top cornerbacks in the conference, earning All-GSC, All-Region and second-team All-American honors.

Entering his senior season, Moore's confidence was at an all-time high; he knew he was among the best and was eager to continue to prove it. So, when the Blazers had two safeties go down in spring practice, Moore volunteered to step in.

"I was comfortable and confident enough to be like, 'Hey, let me try out safety, let me see what I can do,'" Moore said.

On the very first play, he got his hands the ball.

Spring practice, immediately making plays. Sound familiar?

With encouragement from his defensive backs coach James Rowe – "I'll make you the best safety at D2," Rowe told him – Moore switched to safety for his senior season.

"It was a spark for me from there," Moore said. "Now this is a new challenge for me. Now I want to be the best safety."

Moore ended up leading the team in tackles (65), interceptions (5) and pass breakups (8) and earned AFCA First-Team All-American honors for his stellar season. By that point, it was clear he had all the potential to make it to the NFL.

"After seeing what he was doing there, it was pretty obvious he had a shot," McPherson said. "He was doing it all."

***

Fast-forward nine years later to 2025 and Moore is still doing it all. Nothing has changed for the now 30-year-old, not since he was 16 and putting the pads on for the first time or 21 and signing his first NFL contract.

"I'm attacking the day the same way," he says. "I was still a grinder, I still worked hard as a young kid. Everything just slowed down. I'm more comfortable now...I've been able to live my best days that I used to dream about in 2017."

A former undrafted free agent now in his ninth year in the NFL as an established starting cornerback, Moore's story is inspirational. He's earned Pro Bowl honors and Walter Payton Man of the Year nominations; he's set franchise records and worn the captain's "C" patch for four years. He's in his third contract with the Colts and is an invaluable member of the organization and the city of Indianapolis.

What could possibly be left for him to accomplish?

That's simple: everything.

Because despite the incredible journey Moore has had to this point, sometimes he's still that 16-year-old who needed to prove to himself that he belonged out there on the football field and who won't rest until he's done everything he can to be the best.

"Just being an undersized guy, being an undrafted guy, being a D2 guy, I think the chip is just embedded at this point," Moore says. "It's just a part of who I am. It's my identity already."

Make no mistake, though – it's not about proving himself to other people, and it never has been. Moore's entire purpose revolves around his desire to be the man he knows he can be, on and off the field.

"A lot of people expect you to lay off the gas whenever you hit a certain pinnacle in your career," he explained. "But you want to show yourself that even (if) the noise is telling you that you're good enough, you can still prove to yourself that you got another wave to hit."

For the last three years, Moore has felt like he's been on "cruise control"; the Colts' prior defensive systems didn't afford the cornerback many opportunities to make impactful plays, and he often felt as if he was "scratching and clawing for crazy plays."

With the arrival of new defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, though, who is known for fostering highly explosive secondaries, Moore now has an advocate for playmaking.

"I don't really have to chase those plays now," Moore said. "I can just play my game and let the game come to me.

"...This is the happiest I've been in a long time."

From both a personality and a football perspective, Moore – with his talent for blitzing and taking the ball away – has many qualities Anarumo appreciates and expects from his players, making it easy for the coach to trust Moore to get the job done.

"I like Kenny a lot," Anarumo said. "He's, first and foremost, a great person that does so much for the organization, for the community.

"...His instincts and just being around – things happen fast in the slot. He's been doing it for a long time, and just his overall communication, his calm demeanor will help some of the young guys that may have to play. So, just a lot of arrows up with Kenny. Big fan."

Moore's efforts in the community are just as integral to his identity as football is – if not more. He's determined to make a difference on the football field, but he's truly called to make impactful, long-lasting change in his community.

Over the course of his NFL career, Moore has founded Love One Foundation and proudly supported the Mighty Mason Fund to honor his “little brother” Mason Garvey. He's advocated for a multitude of causes through the NFL's My Cause, My Cleats initiative, is a vocal proponent of the Colts' own Kicking the Stigma campaign and has been the Colts' nominee for the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which recognizes an NFL player for his excellence on and off the field, twice (2021, 2024).

Now, Moore has set his sights on creating a mentorship program at Cardinal Ritter High School, the local Indianapolis school he partners with through his foundation.

"It's all about impact and reach," he said. "It's never about me. I just want to throw the spotlight on everybody else, not myself. If it's about me, it gets boring. If you're the only person smiling, then it doesn't really make much sense. It doesn't give me purpose, if it's all about me."

***

Standing in front of his locker after the Colts' first game of the 2025 season – and the 119th game of his NFL career – Moore is quiet and reflective as he ties his shoes and fields questions from the media about his contributions to the Colts' first season-opening win in 11 years.

In the victory over the Miami Dolphins, Moore recorded four tackles, a strip-sack and a pass breakup in the end zone, making the kinds of plays he used to dream of making and the ones that caught the attention of the NFL nine years ago.

But he doesn't talk about that. Instead, he talks about his teammates and his coaches. He talks about honoring late Colts owner and CEO Jim Irsay – he talks about loss and he talks about legacy.

Legacy.

What is Moore's legacy?

It's the question that remains in the cornerback's head, the one he doesn't – can't – fully answer yet. But he knows one thing: whatever he leaves behind will be greater than football.

"Positivity, opportunity, perseverance, determination," Moore says. "That's what I want to represent.

"We all have a time clock when it comes to wearing the Shoe or wearing the shield. So I just think in my time that I have to wear the logo, wear the brand, I just want to represent in the best way possible."

Everywhere Moore goes – Lucas Oil Stadium, Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center, NFL stadiums around the country (and world) – there's one thing he always makes sure he has: a plastic bag.

It's nine years old, worn down and beat up. It doesn't look all that important. But inside the bag are about a dozen brightly colored rubber bracelets, and they mean more than words can describe.

They're the bracelets that adorn Moore's wrists every time he steps onto the football field on Sundays, as integral to his uniform as his helmet and pads. They're the bracelets Moore has collected over the years, from strangers-turned-family he's met through his efforts in the community.

They're a source of strength and joy.

They're reminders of Moore's purpose on this earth.

"In life in general, it's good to live by reminders, and that is just one type of reminder that I have," Moore said. "It's people I've met along the way who've battled cancer, who maybe have lost their lives, people who are still fighting...it's sense of blessing to do what I can to be able to represent them in the best way."

Moore can list the bracelets off one-by-one: where he got each one, who gave it to him, what it represents. He won't play a game without them.

There's no way Moore could have imagined, at 16 years old, what his life and legacy would grow to become. He joined the Lowndes High football team simply because of a promise to a friend and a connection to a coach. Sure, he had big dreams just like every little boy from a small town where football is religion. But he didn't think he'd be able to live them out – not like this.

He didn't think about what he might come to represent.

It could be as simple as raising his arms above his head in celebration, showing off his bracelets. It could be roaring past opponents for a sack, leaping higher than a 5-foot-9 man should be able to for an interception or sitting down with a rookie to give words of encouragement on the sideline.

It could be taking care of his family in Valdosta – notably, helping provide meals for thousands of people following the devastation of Hurricane Helene – or flying his grandmother out for her first game at Lucas Oil Stadium. It could be visiting children in the hospital or hosting youth football camps. It could be signing jerseys, taking pictures and giving high fives.

Everything Moore does is done with purpose and intent; he knows what his story means to those who know him, and even those who don't. He doesn't take anything for granted, realizing everything is a sign that, nine years into his NFL career, he's still living out his younger self's biggest dreams while inspiring others to do the same.

That's all he's ever wanted.