Oregon Ducks Flex Texas Connection With Dakorien Moore’s Commitment

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning hired running backs coach Ra'Shaad Samples, a top-10 recruiter, this spring. The Ducks landed their highest-ranked recruit ever with Dakorien Moore’s commitment to Oregon over the Texas Longhorns, Ohio State Buckeyes and LSU Tigers.

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning, receiver Dakorien Moore /

The Oregon Ducks' 2025 recruiting class is taking shape, skyrocketing up the rankings and flexing it's connection to the state of Texas. On Thursday, the nation's No. 1 wide receiver Dakorien Moore committed to Oregon over his hometown state's Texas Longhorns, LSU Tigers and Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Duncanville (TX) receiver Moore is the third five-star commitment for Oregon coach Dan Lanning's 2025 class, joining fellow receiver Jordon Davison and cornerback Dorian Brew.

The Texas to Oregon connection is strong. Both Moore and Brew (Conroe, Texas) were not predicted to choose the Ducks but a late surge made up a lot of ground with both prospects.

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning, receiver Dakorien Moore /

Texas was a heavy-favorite to land Moore, with a 89.4 percent confidence score to land the five-star per the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine.

Relationship with the staff in Eugene drew both the five-star prospects away from their home state Texas.

Oregon's running backs coach Ra'Shaad Samples' father is Moore's high school head coach at Duncanville (TX).

“I knew him before he really got all the way into college football,” Moore said about Samples to On3. "Obviously his dad is my coach so I know everything that his dad is teaching me is what he taught his son. So I feel like he’s been coached well, he’s been taught well... He’s grown up to be a great man and mentor that I could trust."

Lanning hired Samples, who is just 29 years old, in April from Arizona State. He is a top-10 recruiter and ranked as the No. 1 recruiter in the Pac-12 Conference last season. Samples was the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Arizona State in 2023. In 2022, he earned the honor as the youngest position coach in the NFL as running backs coach for the Los Angeles Rams.

Moore is Oregon's highest-rated recruit ever.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning and the Ducks landed six pledges in June. The Ducks' 2025 recruiting class soared to No. 3 in the On3 national recruiting rankings, trailing only Ohio State and Alabama.

Last week, Oregon snagged commits from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei four-star running back Josiah Sharma and Derby (Kan.) four-star tight Dashaan Brame.

At quarterback, the Ducks have already secured a commitment from Lincoln (California) four-star quarterback Akili Smith Jr. Smith Jr. is the nation's No 1 dual-threat quarterback.

The 6-foot-5, 215-pound signal-caller, and son of legendary former Oregon star Akili Smith, is fresh off a successful showing at Elite 11.

Smith Jr. has been a big advocate for the Ducks program, as he works on recruiting top talent to join him in Eugene.

“We always recruit,” said Oregon coach Dan Lanning during the Ducks' spring practices.  "It doesn’t ever feel like we’re not recruiting. We are going to get some opportunities for our coaches to go on the road and see some people in person, get to be around guys that we want to target, and find some guys that we probably don’t know about. You’re always looking for ways to improve your roster and that’s what we’ll be able to do the next couple of weeks.”

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