COLUMBIA, MO. • Mizzou tailback De'Vion Moore learned some valuable lessons about competing at Busch Stadium during the Cardinals' world championship season of 2006. Just not from the Cardinals.

Moore got his insight when he worked at the ballpark as a vendor, lugging crates of water, soda or peanuts up and down the stands on hot summer days. "That was a tough job, a really competitive job," he said. "It prepared you for game time, when you had to compete. You had to perform."

Back then, Moore was relying on his voice and his personality to succeed — "You have to sell yourself," he said — but now he's getting ahead with his legs as the junior from Hazelwood Central High has risen to be the Tigers' top tailback after the dismissal of Derrick Washington from the team. Technically, Moore and sophomore Kendial Lawrence are listed as co-No. 1's, but against Illinois, Moore got the bulk of the work, carrying 16 times for 78 yards while Lawrence carried seven times for 20 yards.

It's one of the first times Moore has really been in the spotlight at Mizzou. He's in his fourth year on campus, and he's always been the other guy in the backfield. He came to Mizzou in the same recruiting class as Washington and redshirted that first season. Two seasons later, Lawrence arrived, again with big high school numbers, and Moore seemed fated to be the guy caught in between. But with Washington gone, there's no longer anyone in Moore's way.

"De'Vion may have flown under the radar because he came in with Derrick Washington and Derrick had the high school numbers and the accolades," offensive coordinator David Yost said. "Then there's the next group of guys and you get excited about the next tailback. I remember when Chase Patton was going to take Brad Smith's (quarterback) job and Chase Daniel was going to take Brad Smith's job. Everyone falls in love with the new recruits. That's how it falls sometimes."

But the coaching staff thought they had a good one in Moore.

"We thought he was really good (in high school)," coach Gary Pinkel said. "I thought he had great speed and acceleration. We thought we had a heck of a player, a real high level Big 12 running back. Everything he's doing doesn't surprise me at all. I think he really stepped it up last week, which a lot of guys do.

"He's experienced, he's run the ball a lot, and I think that shows a little bit. I think him and Kendial are a pretty good 1-2 punch."

Moore "played to the level he's capable of" against Illinois, Yost said, "and it was consistent, play after play after play, where he read it right, he got the ball in the right spot and he did it the way we drew it up."

Moore was considered one of the top players coming out of Missouri his senior year in high school, though that was his only one at Hazelwood Central. Moore grew up in Alton and moved with his family to Lawrenceville, Ga., before his freshman year in high school, where he was a starting cornerback and backup running back at Brookwood High.

But before his senior season, with his mother, Diedra Wilson, suffering from sarcoidosis, an energy-sapping immune system disorder, it was decided it would be best for Moore and his younger brother, Domonique, to move to St. Louis to live with their uncle. Moore rushed for 1,640 yards and was a first-team all-state selection.

"When you move from state to state, you may feel people don't know who you are," Moore said. "But performance-wise, I still had to go out and perform. I did it in Georgia and when I moved to Missouri, I wanted to do the same thing."

(Moore said his mother has since moved back to Alton and is doing well — sarcoidosis is a disease that comes and goes — though he missed a day of practice in camp when she had to have emergency surgery for a ruptured disc.)

Moore has been banged up throughout his Mizzou career and missed part of camp with ankle and toe injuries, but the present injuries aren't sufficient to keep him out of the lineup. Mizzou was already planning to divide the running more among three backs, Washington, Lawrence and Moore, and now it will be mostly divided two ways. Moore should get more playing time than he's gotten in his first two seasons, where he had a total of 489 yards on 104 carries. Last season, he rushed for 258 yards, averaging 4.1 yards a carry, and was named the team's most improved offensive back, sharing the award with quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

Moore says he's ready for more carries and more playing time. What he's not ready for is being thought of as THE tailback at Mizzou.

"None of us are THE tailback," Moore said. "We're a unit. Every single last one of us has to contribute. I don't think any of us has it in our mind that we're that tailback or that guy. We have it in our mind that we need to get as many victories as possible. As far as being that guy, it's not even a question in this program."