Benet’s Jack Moran chooses Furman

Jack Moran would like to add the prefix, “Dr.,” before his name.

The determined senior plans on being a pre-med student at Furman, where he’ll also play lacrosse, as the Benet midfielder signed a national letter of intent on Wednesday.

“Academically, I tried to pick a school that was the best fit and Furman is a very good academic school,” he said. “I want to be a doctor and they have a good program which I thought would be a good fit, and if that doesn’t work out, they have one of the best business schools, which is my second choice.”

It’s no surprise that Moran’s on-field IQ has raised his game to the next level and his coach, who is also his father, has seen it first-hand.

“I’ve been coaching for seven or eight years now and watched a lot of players on the East Coast and Jack’s lacrosse IQ is up there with the best of them,” Benet coach Rich Moran said. “He’s really a smart player that can look ahead and be in the right place at the right time. He sees the games before it happens and it’s been exciting to watch him develop.”

Located in Greenville, South Carolina, Furman is a private, co-educational school that is adding lacrosse beginning in the 2014-15 academic year.

Jack will have an opportunity to play for 35-year veteran coach Richie Meade, who was also selected by US Lacrosse to be the U.S. men’s national senior coach.

“The coach staff is amazing, Coach Meade is the best coach of all time and the assistants are all really good guys,” Jack said. “The first thing they asked me about was how my family is doing and about school. They wanted to get to know me.

“Plus, the campus is beautiful. It’s gorgeous and I’ll be a part of a new program and have a chance to compete for a spot.”

As lacrosse continues to grow in the Midwest, we’re beginning to see more standouts like Jack, who have played the game for a long-time and ultimately are talented enough to play in college. He started in third grade and was hooked right away.

“It’s a mix of so many different sports,” he said. “You have the soccer mentality of running and conditioning, football and hockey with hitting and then basketball with movement on offense and defense. It’s a really interesting, fast-paced game and you never have a dull moment.”

Current Benet freshman coach Doug Tillett, as well as True Lacrosse’s Mike Gabel, Tom Wood and Mike Blouin are just a few of the many coaches that have helped turn Jack into the player he is today.

“We’ve been really lucky with the coaches,” Rich said. “Jack’s been able to learn so much from some great coaches who are known for developing kids into great players.”

Benet’s got another prized recruit in defender Riley Mann, who signed on Wednesday to play at Georgetown.

With the two in the lineup next spring, the Redhawks will look to improve on last year’a 12-5 mark and make a run at a state championship, something that until recently wasn’t considered possible from a team not named Lake Forest or New Trier.

“Last year we had a great year getting to the quarterfinals and everyone is excited about next year,” Jack said. “I’ve been playing with some of these guys since sixth grade so it’s going to be a really cool final year.”

And then a new start in South Carolina.