Purdue WR Rondale Moore To Opt Back In For 2020 Season

First-round wide receiver prospect Rondale Moore will return to Purdue for his junior season, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

One of several marquee Big Ten talents to opt out over the summer, Moore is the latest to reverse course. Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade has opted back in; so has Michigan tackle Jalen Mayfield. The Big Ten’s decision to begin play in October, after previously tabling its season to potentially 2021, has helped bring back some of its top players.

Moore will return after missing most of his sophomore season. The high-end Purdue recruit dominated as a freshman in 2018, totaling 1,471 scrimmage yards and 14 touchdowns en route to Big Ten freshman of the year acclaim. A hamstring injury ended the star Boilermaker’s second season after just four games. Rather than enter the NFL only on the strength of his abbreviated underclassman run, the 5-foot-9 standout will return for what will likely be his final college season.

This summer, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler tabbed Moore as his No. 3 wideout prospect for 2021 — behind LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase and Minnesota’s Rashod Bateman. Both players opted out, though Bateman has been connected to a 2020 return. Complications from Bateman signing with an agent have arisen, however.

COVID-19 has impacted the college football season considerably so far. The Houston Cougars have seen four games postponed or canceled. Notre Dame’s Saturday tilt against Wake Forest has been moved to December, and South Florida — which faced the Fighting Irish last week — nixed its Saturday game as a result. While the NFL has a much greater degree of certainty of finishing its 2020 season than the college game does, the Big Ten has agreed to follow the ACC, Big 12 and SEC in playing this fall. The northern Power 5 conference begins play Oct. 24.