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Blake Baumgartner, ESPN Staff Writer
LSU has been long known for its wealth of talent at various skill positions.
The victory Brian Kelly scored on the recruiting trail Saturday with 2025 five-star wide receiver Dakorien Moore, a product of Duncanville High School (Texas), hits a little differently.
Moore, who’s No. 10 overall in the 2025 ESPN 300 and the cycle’s second-best wide receiver, would be the first five-star wide receiver to sign with the Tigers since Terrace Marshall, Jr. (No. 10 overall, No. 2 WR) in 2018.
“Since August really started, in general, LSU was one of the main ones really messaging with me and showing me the most love,” Moore told ESPN. “So I felt like even though they couldn’t really talk to me and stuff like that, they were still trying to reach out and get in touch with me, get me down to the school and all types of stuff like that. So I just felt like it was home.”
Moore, the top-ranked player in the state of Texas for the 2025 cycle, chose LSU over Texas and Oregon and is LSU’s first 2025 ESPN 300 commit. He took a pair of unofficial visits to Baton Rouge in April and July, respectively.
“Really just them showing love and communicating and talking to me,” Moore said. “I’m real big on communication and building relationships. So they [were] the ones to build the relationships the most. So I had to lock in with ’em.”
Kelly pulled in a top-10 recruiting class (No. 6 overall) during his full season in Baton Rouge in 2023 and LSU’s 2024 class currently resides at 10th overall and owns 14 ESPN 300 pledges, which is second only to Georgia. A pair of ESPN 300 wide receivers — Jalen Brown (No. 62 overall) and Shelton Sampson, Jr. (No. 73 overall) — were part of the Tigers’ sixth-ranked class in 2023.
Kelly and wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton aren’t letting up in getting skill guys on the outside.
Klein Forest High School (Texas) wide receiver Jelani Watkins (No. 105 overall, No. 10 athlete) committed on Aug. 4 to join the Tigers’ 2024 group. Duncanville went 15-0 on the way to claiming Texas’ Class 6A D-I state title and the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Moore contributed significantly as a sophomore, catching 44 passes for 764 yards and six touchdowns.
“They run an offense similar to the one I have in high school,” he said. “They throw it a little bit more, of course, because [it’s] college football. But I think I’m going to fit in very well. I have already seen a couple plays on a playbook, so I think [my skill set] is going to fit in.”