Lakewood coach Cory Moore is one of 10 minority and female candidates accepted into the Los Angeles Rams inaugural scouting apprenticeship program.

The program will provide virtual training, mentoring and networking opportunities starting this month and continuing through the NFL Draft in April. 

Moore, along with the other apprentices, will work with Rams advisors and football operations throughout the year to sharpen scouting skills and even become participants in the team’s scouting process.

“Our vision with this apprenticeship is to provide access and opportunity to many talented, aspiring, minority scouts and player evaluators,” Rams General Manager Les Snead said in a statement. “We have to be intentional in identifying, developing and advising these young men and women and offer hands-on experience and mentorship from scouts and personnel professionals at the highest level of sports. It is imperative for us to spend the necessary time to build a successful, ongoing program that will widen the pool of candidates to be the personnel leaders of tomorrow.”

Each candidate went through virtual interviews with Rams football operations personnel in June.

Moore’s participation will not interfere with his coaching duties at Lakewood. He said the bulk of his apprenticeship comes after the Spartans’ season ends. 

This is the third time Moore has been involved with an NFL mentoring program. He participated in the Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship program with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009 and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012. 

That program, started in 1987, the fellowship program was designed to create more job opportunities in the NFL for minority coaches. After starting with two participants in its inaugural season, the program has expanded to include all 32 teams and has helped mentor more than 1,500 coaches.

Among those who have been in the program are former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant and New York Jets coach Herm Edwards and Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.

For Moore, the scouting apprenticeship was the next step. 

“I have aspirations of coaching or working in the NFL some day,” Moore said. “This just helps with that process.”