Texas A&M snags commitment from R250 athlete Jordan Moore

The expectation with Jordan Moore had been that his brother would likely play a heavy role in his commitment. As it turned out, a cousin may have had more to do with his decision.

After helping lead his Yoakum, Texas, team to a 3A state championship appearance, Moore released his top five of Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M. On Christmas Eve, the 2018 four-star athlete announced that the Aggies were the pick. Now the work begins on his brother, Joshua, a four-star wide receiver from 2018 who is rated No. 107 nationally.

“Just when I stepped on campus (at Texas A&M)it was amazing,” Jordan said. “The work ethic they have, the players that are already going there, it’s just a family.”

Moore’s main recruiting contact on Kevin Sumlin’s staff has been wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead, but the biggest influence in his decision as it relates to A&M may have been his cousin, Damion Ratley. Ratley joined A&M this season as a junior college transfer and played in 12 games.

“He told me the real story about it,” he said. “Sometimes he told me things that weren’t great about A&M, but that’s what he’s supposed to do. He was excited about it, but he talked to me about A&M just about how it is, and those were good talks.”

The sales pitch was handled by Sumlin, who has been actively involved in Moore’s recruitment as well. Moore delivered the news to his future head coach in a facetime conversation so he could see his reaction for himself.

“He was happy - he was excited,” Moore said. “I talked to him on my birthday he really wants us both down there. I just talked to him again and he’s excited.”

Both Jordan and Joshua play on both sides of the ball for Yoakum. Jordan has shown particular prowess as a defensive back, but as things stand now, Jordan thinks that his abilities on offense give him the clearest path to earlier playing time for the Aggies.

Taking a hard look at likely personnel scenarios between all the teams he was considering was a major factor in his decision.

“We’ve just talked about what they like about me and they like my versatility,” he said. “They’re getting a lot of defensive guys here in 2017 and a lot of their offensive guys will have been leaving them by the time I get up there. It’s going to be interesting, but if I had to choose what I was going to play when I get out there, it’s probably going to be slot receiver.”

Many will be watching to see what happens with Joshua’s recruitment going forward, but having Jordan already committed is a pretty big bargaining chip for A&M. That said, the door could still swing the other direction, as Jordan said he won’t completely shut down his recruitment.

“I am still going to allow (others) to recruit me - I still want to take all of my official visits,” he said. “I’m solid on A&M, but I have friends everywhere. I still want to take my visits and get a chance to hang out with them and enjoy the recruiting process.”

Speculation on where things go from there is for another time. Now, the moment belongs to the Aggies, who gave themselves the inside track from the moment Moore was on-hand for Texas A&M's season-opening win against UCLA.

“It was great,” he said. “The atmosphere was amazing. The coaches are awesome and the players get after it, so seeing all that was great.”