Moch was born in Chandler, Arizona to parents Robert Moch and Rakell Wesley. He has an older brother, Mekell Wesley, who plays football at San Diego State. Dontay Moch attended Hamilton High School in Chandler, where he played on the state championship football team in his junior and senior years and ran track. While there, he was named a First-team All-state player. In track & field, Moch captured the state title in the 200-meter dash event at the 2005 5A State Meet, with a PR time of 21.8 seconds. One year later at the same 5A State Meet, he took gold in the 100-meter dash event, recording a personal-best time of 10.77 seconds, and ran the lead leg on the Hamilton 4 × 100 m relay squad, helping them win the state title with a time of 41.89 seconds.
College career
At the University of Nevada, Moch sat out the 2006 season as a redshirt. In 2007, he saw action in 13 games as a linebacker, defensive end, and on special teams. That season, he recorded 13 tackles, 3.5 sacks, forced one fumble, recovered one fumble, and broke up three passes. In 2008, Nigel Burton took over as Nevada's defensive coordinator and instituted a 4–3 scheme. The new system relied on the speed of Moch and fellow defensive linemanKevin Basped to penetrate from the edge. Moch saw action under this scheme in all 13 games and recorded 50 total tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, two broken-up passes, and four forced fumbles. Moch finished the season tied for 12th in the nation in number of quarterback sacks. The Western Athletic Conference named him a Second-team All-WAC defensive lineman. In 2009, Moch was First-team All-WAC honors and was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year. He started 13 games and finished with 61 tackles, including a WAC-leading 20.0, which set a new Nevada single-season record. He also registered 6.5 sacks, forced two fumbles and broke up three passes. Going into his senior season of 2010 Moch already owns school season records in sacks and tackles for loss and needs 7½ sacks and 10 tackles for loss to set WAC career records.
Moch was selected in the third round with the 66th overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2011 NFL Draft. In 2011, Moch suffered a broken foot in the opening preseason game on August 12, against the Detroit Lions. By October 12, Moch had returned to full practice, but was inactive for the sixth game of the regular season against the Indianapolis Colts on October 17. Moch was suspended the first 4 games of the 2012 NFL season for using a banned substance. His 2012 campaign ended November 1 when he was placed on injured reserve for recurring migraines.
