'23 WR DeAndre Moore Jr. Commits to Louisville

The wide receiver from southern California is one of the highest ranked prospects to ever commit to the Cardinals.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program has made yet another massive splash in the 2023 recruiting class, and have further strengthened their blossoming west coast pipeline.

Los Alamitos (Calif.) wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr., one of the top prospects in the nation, told ESPN on Tuesday that he has given his verbal pledge to the Cardinals. He chose Louisville over USC, Texas, Oregon; and also held offers from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Michigan State, Notre Dame and others.

“We can build something there," Moore told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. "I can build something there with my family, my boys from California. We can get some more boys from out of state. We want to build this up and get Louisville back where it should be."

Moore had been previously committed to Oklahoma, and originally had re-affirmed his commitment after Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley left for USC this past November, but opted to decommit in January. It was widely expected that he would follow Riley, but Louisville inserted themselves into the mix immediately after he re-opened his recruitment.

Moore made a pair of unofficial visits to Louisville as part of both their huge recruiting weekends in January and March, and is slated to return for an official visit in June. His recruitment was heavily influenced by UofL recruiting coordinator Pete Nochta, as well as fellow '23 commit Pierce Clarkson, who is one of his best friends.

Landing Clarkson and cornerback Aaron Williams were big wins for the Cardinals in the cycle, but getting a commitment from Moore is the biggest win from a rankings standpoint. The 6-foot, 185-pound wide receiver is now Louisville's top commit in the class, ranking as high as the No. 17 prospect in the class according to ESPN. He comes in at No. 55 in the 247Sports Composite.

With a Composite rating of 0.9759, he is Louisville's third-highest ranked recruit in the modern recruiting era, trailing only Michael Bush and Brian Brohm. With his commitment, three of the Cardinals' ten highest-ranked commits of all-time are in the 2023 class.

While he played second fiddle in the Los Alamitos passing game to fellow top-25 prospect Makai Lemon, Moore was still very effective. He logged 33 receptions for 479 yards and eight touchdowns in 11 games for the Griffins, helping them go 9-2 overall.

Louisville now sports a ten-man 2023 recruiting class, maintaining their status as a top ten national class and the best in the ACC. Moore is the fourth offensive player to commit to the Cardinals in the cycle, joining Clarkson and his St. John Bosco teammate wide receiver Jahlil McClain, plus tight end Jamari Johnson.

(Photo of DeAndre Moore Jr.: Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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