5-star WR Dakorien Moore commits to Oregon over Texas with smoke bomb

The nation's top wide receiver recruit is headed to Oregon. How we learned that is a lot less straightforward.

Dakorien Moore, a 5-star wide receiver prospect and a consensus top-5 national prospect overall, announced his college decision from his Duncanville, Texas home on Thursday evening. The following sentence has never been written in the history of the English language, but it's now entirely true:

A top-five overall college football prospect announced his future school at 8 pm CT after previously leaking that he would announce at 7 pm CT, at which point ESPN reporter Pete Thamel and ESPN itself released Tweets proclaiming his commitment to Oregon, only for the prospect to clap back on social media , delay the announcement to its originally scheduled time, then announce his choice via a green smoke bomb following 30 minutes of idle chatter and multiple internet connectivity issues as he took his streaming gear outside his house.

Even for the drama inherent in college football recruiting, that was a lot for a single day. And it doesn't even count the sudden shift in timeframe, where Moore shifted his announcement to Independence Day after previously planning to announce in late July or early August. Thamel and ESPN swiftly deleted their Tweets on X after Moore's Tweet questioned their alleged scoop, but Moore eventually made their earlier leaks prophetic.

The end result is an absolutely massive recruiting victory for Oregon, which steals the top-rated player in the state of Texas, the top-rated receiver in the Class of 2025 and arguably the top prospect on Texas' recruiting board, all in one fell swoop. Moore had previously committed to LSU, but after decommitting from the Tigers was widely considered a "lean" to Texas. He commented favorably on other Texas commitments and the Texas staff allegedly felt confident that he would eventually land in their class.

Instead, Moore's head was apparently turned during his final official visit to Oregon, which came in the past month. While it's far too early to know, some have speculated that Oregon was able to tap its substantial Nike roots to put together a massive NIL package for a top offensive prospect who could be a complete game-changer in Eugene. Note that the artistic flourish in Moore's commitment tweet from commitment artist Hayes Fawcett featured a Nike shoe held to the ear:

Of course, that's assuming Moore doesn't change his mind again. He insisted at the start of his Fourth of July Instagram Livestream , "After today, I'm done with my recruitment. I'm shutting it down." There's no definitive reason to doubt his claim, except for the fact that he's already decommitted from another school in this cycle.

For Texas, the loss is a significant blow in a recruiting class that is increasingly looking more shaky than in previous years. Moore is the second highly-targeted, in-state 5-star prospect that Texas has missed on in the past week, following Conroe (Texas) cornerback Dorian Brew's commitment to, you guessed it, Oregon .

While the impact of both Brew's and Moore's decision to head to Eugene are significant for Texas, the sheer drama and Kabuki theater surrounding Moore's pick was far more ... unique. Moore's Instagram Livestream lasted roughly 30 minutes, of which there was roughly 30 seconds of content for which thousands of viewers tuned in. The preceding minutes were comprised of Moore talking in soliloquy, flipping around a phone to showcase his family and friends in attendance, and eventually taking the entire entourage outside for the commitment itself.

It was in that process that the Livestream twice froze due to internet connectivity issues, though it resumed before Moore lit a large box, which turned out to be a green colored smoke bomb which released plumes of bright green smoke, behind which Moore pranced with a throwback styled Oregon t-shirt.

For Texas coaches and fans, that was a nasty ending to their Fourth of July. The miss leaves Texas with two remaining 5-star wide receiver targets in Kaliq Lockett and Jamie Ffrench . Missing out on both would be painful, particularly Lockett, who is another top Texas high school football product.