Mike Moschetti

1999 Media Guide Biography:

College—This Season: Enters the fall as CU’s starting quarterback, and has received some national mention, College Sports News and Street & Smith’s selected him as a preseason All-American, with most other publications citing him as either a first- or second-team all-Big 12 performer. He was sharp in the spring, and has overcome the smorgasbord of injuries that hampered him as a junior, though none kept him out of the starting lineup. The Sporting News ranked him as the No, 7 quarterback nationally in its all-purpose category. After only one season, he is already 15th in passing yards (2,104), 32nd in total offense (2,049) and seventh in touchdown passes (15) on those respective all-time CU charts. His rating of 135.63 is fourth best in school history. 1998: He started all 12 games, including the Aloha Bowl. After winning the quarterback battle over Jeremy Weisinger and Adam Bledsoe in August camp. He earned third-team all-Big 12 Conference honors from the league coaches, who also selected him as the offensive newcomer-of-the-year. He completed 162 of 276 passes for 2,104 yards, the sixth highest single-season yardage total in school history. He threw 15 touchdown passes, the third highest season mark, to just seven interceptions and had a 135.63 rating which was good for third in the Big 12 and 30th in the nation. Against Oregon in the bowl game, he added to those numbers by completing 11-of-23 passes for 213 yards and four touchdowns (with no interceptions), setting a CU record for most TDs in a bowl game. In earning one of the offensive player-of-the-game honors from the coaches against Colorado State, he arguably had one of the best debuts at quarterback in CU history. He completed 21-of-32 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns (no interceptions), the most passing yards ever in the first game of a CU career. He had minus-55 yards rushing on 101 attempts for the year, but sacks, kneel-downs and aborted plays come off the total; when he actually ran the ball, he had 57 attempts for 294 yards, an average of 5.2 yards per attempt. During the season he played despite suffering injuries to his ankle, shoulder and ribs as well as a concussion, and did not finish four games though never missing a start. He passed for 200 or more yards six times, and completed 72-of-109 passes over the last five games of the season. He practiced at free safety the first week of spring drills (he had two tackles in the first scrimmage), and then moved over to quarterback, He was missed over a week of practice at that position due to severe flu-like symptoms, and he participated in only two scrimmages (he completed 12-of-16 passes for 109 yards). He dislocated his left shoulder (non-throwing) lifting weights in late April and had surgery. He enrolled at CU in January, enabling him to participate in spring practice, Junior College: PrepStar listed him as its No. 1 rated quarterback on its Top 100 Junior College Transfers list for 1997, while SuperPrep ranked him as the No. 68 JUCO recruit overall, but he was the first listed with the designation of “athlete,” and would have  been the sixth rated quarterback. He led Mt. SAC to the mythical national junior college championship as a sophomore, as the multiple-set offense was built around him (including both option and shotgun formations). On the season, he completed 130-of-231 passes (56.3%) for 1,771 yards and 16 touchdowns, while rushing 101 times for 535 yards and five more scores (he was the team’s third-leading rusher). In the state’s JC championship game, a 38-35 win over the City College of San Francisco, he threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-26 passing, with another 51 yards rushing (on just six carries) in rallying Mt. SAC from a 35-17 deficit with eight minutes remaining. As a freshman, he passed for just under 1,600 yards and 13 touchdowns in completing 60 percent of his passes; he also rushed for 520 yards and six TDs. He did not play any defense in junior college. Mt. SAC was 20-3 with him as the starting quarterback. with a 12-0 record his sophomore year and 8-3 his freshman year (winning the Southern Cal Bow!) under coach Bill Fisk.
Pro Baseball—He played three years of professional baseball in the Oakland A’s farm system, as he was selected by the A’s in the second round of the 1993 June draft (shortstop). He was in “A” ball all three seasons, and batted .351 with Modesto in 23 games (in the highest level of “A” ball). In 159 minor league games (Arizona, Midwest, California and Northwest leagues), he batted 309 and stole 45 bases.

High School—As a senior at La Mirada (Calif.) High School, he earned player-of-the-year honors from both the Los Angeles Times and Long Beach Press-Telegram in leading La Mirada to the CIF Championship (the only one in school history). In the four-game run in leading La Mirada to the title, he passed for 1,022 yards and 14 touchdowns in completing a whopping 85 percent of his passes. In earning all-CIF Southern Section honors, he was also his section’s player-of-the-year. He passed for 4,394 yards and 54 touchdowns while completing 65 percent of his passes in his prep career, in which he also rushed for over 900 yards and 12 touchdowns, La Mirada was 10-4 his senior year and 10-3 his junior season (reaching the CIF semifinals) under coach John Mele.

Academics—Majoring in sociology at Colorado.

Personal—Born March 14, 1975 in Los Alamitos, Calif. Hobbies include fishing. Father (Joe) played pro baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and uncle (Matt) was in the California Angels organization. One brother (Joey) played basketball in the 1980s at USS. International (and was among the leaders in Division I-A in scoring one season), with another brother (George) lettering in basketball at Cal-State Fullerton in the same decade. (Last name is pronounced mulvshett-E. )