Former Florida LB Jeremiah Moon shares unique experience with Marine at Ravens game

Sports and life have an interesting way of intersecting, with athletes having a platform to impact lives in ways that are often unexpected. Sometimes sports just lead to flat-out cool moments. Former Florida standout Jeremiah Moon was part of one such moment recently.

He shared the experience on his Twitter account on Tuesday evening.

Moon, who played at Florida from 2016-2021 before going on to the NFL, met one fan at a Gators game back in 2017. After meeting that fan, Jacob Long, Moon gave him a pair of cleats.

Fast forward several years and Long and Moon were reunited at an NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins. There’s a twist, though.

Instead of meeting up with Moon as a fan this time, Long was also taking part in the game’s festivities. He’s now a Marine, and he took part in the stadium flyover of the game before linking up with Moon in the stadium after the game.

You can view video of the flyover in the tweet Jeremiah Moon shared about the chance encounter below.

After a @GatorsFB game in 2017, I met Jacob Long and gave him a pair of cleats. 6 years later, Jacob is now a Marine and was in the flyover crew at the @Ravens game this past weekend. I was able to meet him and his family and sign the same pair of cleats. Crazy how life works! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/FWYTFXdhpo

— Jeremiah Moon (@jmoonvii) January 3, 2024

The final part of the story? Long was actually carrying the cleats that he had picked up from Moon years ago at the Ravens game, and he got the former Florida standout, now a linebacker for the Ravens, to sign the cleats.

All in all a pretty cool story.

Jeremiah Moon was a standout at Florida for several seasons, though injuries cut into his collegiate production. He managed to rack up 151 total tackles, 14.0 tackles for a loss, 8.0 sacks, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, a blocked kick and four passes defended.

Perhaps due to his several injuries in college, Moon went undrafted out of Florida.

He caught on in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent, and he’s been with the team since the 2022 season. Moon has played in seven games for the Ravens, with one start.

He has logged eight tackles and a forced fumble in the NFL.