Philadelphia natives DJ Moore, D’Andre Swift excited to be reunited with Bears

During their time with the Playmakers, Moore and Swift were coached by Albie Crosby — founder of the team and then-head football coach at Imhotep Institute Charter High School — who was one of the only people to know both Moore and Swift personally and as teammates.

Growing up and playing football as kids in Philadelphia with Swift’s father, Darren, Crosby has known D’Andre since he was an eight-year-old kid playing little league football. He remembers Darren always telling him that D’Andre was special, but Crosby knew it was difficult to fully evaluate a kid’s real skillset at that age. Most of the time in little league, the fastest kid would get the ball, run around the corner and take off, but that wasn’t necessarily what the future will hold.

However, D’Andre quickly became the outlier. Crosby believes D’Andre’s greatness in high school — he led St. Joseph’s Prep to three state titles in four years — was always apparent due to his natural strength and speed combined with his “burning desire to be great.”

“The difference between D’Andre and everybody else was when kids got to high school, they got the ball, they got around the corner and they got caught,” Crosby said. “But D’Andre just kept outrunning everybody. He’s done it since he went to Georgia, he did it when he was with Detroit, then he did it when he with the Eagles, and I’m looking forward to him doing it when he’s at the Bears. So, he just still hasn’t gotten caught.”

Crosby saw Moore chart his path a little differently. When Moore was a freshman at Imhotep, Crosby coached at West Catholic. After it was announced West Catholic would close the following year, Crosby joined Imhotep and was Moore’s head coach for the next three seasons.

Moore was also a talented player growing up. He excelled as a receiver running the ball on jet sweeps and, according to Crosby, also had a knack for kicking. Yet he had only a handful of receptions during his first two years at Imhotep. But the summer before Moore’s junior year, Crosby saw him “transform overnight.”

“We were at the Philadelphia Skills Academy and DJ made this one catch against [former NFL cornerback] John Reid, and ever since that, he just took off,” Crosby said. “He had a little bounce in his step, and he just became what you what you see now — Denniston Moore.

“He has a quiet confidence. If you see DJ play, DJ really believes there’s no one that can cover him. I think that’s the one…