The tattoo etched on the massive left forearm of Maryland senior defensive tackle Dre Moore is an ambigram — an inverted spelling that forms two different words. Read one way, it spells “choice,” but from another angle, it reads “destiny.”

“It’s my outlook on things,” Moore said. “Depending on how you look at certain situations, some people tag it as destiny, some tag it as a choice that you can make that affects your destiny. Every decision I make, I try to understand that it’s gonna affect me in some way later on down the road - help me or hinder me.”

The 6-foot-4, 311-pound Moore got the tattoo summer last summer. He looks at it as a reminder of the choices he has to make that affect his future — one in which he hopes will include football.

“Doing the extra stuff for football, doing the extra reps in the weight room, going in early and leaving late, that’s going to help,” Moore said. “Doing the little things right helps the big things.”

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Moore claims he was destined to play football, but he didn’t choose to play until his junior year of high school.

“I just didn’t want to play,” he said. “I didn’t make varsity until my senior year.”

That year, Moore played in the Shrine Bowl, the annual all-star game between seniors from North Carolina and South Carolina. It led to Maryland outside linebackers coach Al Seamonson recruiting him to play for the Terrapins.

“He’s really matured, he’s a guy who used to be on my list,” Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. “It’s no longer that way. He’s really developed as a football player also. I’m really proud of him, he’s kind of really found himself. He’s one of the silent leaders of our team.”

Moore leads the Terps this year with four sacks, and is tied for seventh with 30 tackles, including making 10 in an 18-17 loss to Virginia last week.

“I didn’t really change anything [last week], I think some things are just finally coming together,” Moore said. “It’s hard to get tackles out there. Erin [Henderson] behind me is like a tackling machine, there’s not a lot of tackles to go around.”

This afternoon at Byrd Stadium at 3:30, the Terrapins (4-3 overall, 1-2 ACC) face Clemson (5-2, 2-2), which boasts the an offense that averages 35.5 points per game, best in the conference. Earlier in the week, Tigers junior running back James Davis guaranteed a victory over Maryland, telling a group of reporters in Clemson: “I don’t see us losing this game. We’re going to win this game. We’re going to win.”

Moore’s response: “I don’t think this team needs any extra motivation. We’re going to ready to play despite what other teams think and what other players say.”

dduberstein@baltimoreexaminer.com