When fourth-year Burke Moser walks across the stage this June, he will graduate as one of the most accomplished football players in Maroon history. Moser will leave Hyde Park holding eleven different school football records after passing for 6,363 yards and 51 touchdowns in his two years as the starting quarterback in the high-octane Maroon offense.
Moser holds the records in the following categories: career passing touchdowns (51), career completion percentage (58.3 percent), season passing yards (3,766), season touchdown passes (30), season completions (317), season completion percentage (58.5 percent), season pass attempts (542), game passing yards (588), game passing touchdowns (7), game completions (43) and game pass attempts (76).
The accolades do not stop there however—Moser was a captain, two time UAA Athlete of the Week, two time SAA Athlete of the Week, three time UAA All-Academic, Second Team All-UAA, and Honorable Mention All-SAA. Perhaps the only Maroon in program history to surpass Moser's football accomplishments is Heisman winner Jay Berwanger.
Despite all these achievements, Moser did not even see the field until his third season. After two seasons of riding the bench, Moser questioned whether he wanted to continue to play, given the physical impact of playing football and hefty time commitment it entailed. Despite that, Moser came back for what would end up being the most impressive two seasons by any Maroon quarterback in the program’s long, storied history.
Fellow captain and third-year Chandler Carroll, who started every game at running back the last two years next to Moser, said Burke’s biggest impact on the team was not his stats. Carroll continued, “Burke had an outstanding career here at UChicago, if not the most prolific in the program's history. You will find his name all over the record books. However, what made Burke such a special guy was his character. He sat for two years when he certainly had the ability and never complained once. I'll never forget the memories of me and Burke in the backfield.”
Moser lead the team through the tough transition from a ball-control, pro-style offense his third year into the hurry-up, spread offense his fourth year. While a complete switch of systems is known to rattle quarterbacks, Moser put in the work for the transition and set an example for the entire team to follow.
When talking with members of the team, Moser’s character came up time and time again. "Burke is a natural leader who made every practice enjoyable because he knew when to laugh and when to work,” said second-year Trevor Anderson. “People followed Burke because of how much respect they have for his work ethic and for the care that he has for each individual player.”
Anderson has a truly unique relationship with Moser. In Anderson’s first year, he was Moser’s primary backup at quarterback before being moved to wide receiver as a second-year. Moser helped Anderson make this transition, and Anderson ended up being named an Honorable Mention All-UAA wide receiver in his first season playing the position. "Being a quarterback who moved to receiver, Burke and I had great chemistry from the start because we were on the same page, and his tremendous talent always made my job easier,” added Anderson.
Moser, often called “B-Mo” by the team, is originally from Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to football, Moser was involved in the Chicago Basketball League and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity during his time as an undergraduate. After finishing his A.B. in economics in the winter quarter, Moser started working at a trading firm in Park City, UT.
