4-star OT Reese Moore signs with Texas

On Wednesday morning, Seminole offensive tackle Reese Moore faxed in his NLI to the Texas Longhorns ahead of a ceremony at his high school.

The decision to ink during the early signing period ended an eight-month commitment by the 6’6, 280-pounder, who was one of the first pledges in the 2018 recruiting class. When Moore committed in late April, he was the sixth commitment in the cycle and helped jumpstart recruiting momentum that continued throughout the summer.

The Longhorns initially offered Moore just after the previous class signed in February and hosted the Seminole product for an unofficial visit for the Orange-White game, shortly before he made his decision.

At the time, Moore was a rising prospect who subsequently received offers from Virginia, Baylor, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma State. He also held offers from Northwestern, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas Tech, and others.

When Moore pledged, he was considered a consensus three-star prospect, but he’s since earned his fourth star and ranks as the No. 345 player nationally, the No. 23 offensive tackle, and the No. 44 player in Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. In other words, the industry opinion eventually caught up with the evaluation by the Texas coaching staff.

Mostly a tight end and defensive end in high school, the question with Moore is when he’ll be able to contribute — he needs to add strength, mass, and learn the technique of a position he hasn’t played much to this point.

However, he’s an intriguing and projectable prospect because of his height, length, athleticism, and the ability of the Texas strength and conditioning program to mold him without forcing him to drop bad weight.

As evidenced by the takes of Derek Kerstetter and Samuel Cosmi in the last class, this is the preferred approach by head coach Tom Herman and offensive line coach Derek Warehime.

Moore has also tested well for his size, running a 5.09 40-yard dash, a 4.69 shuttle, and posting a 21.3-inch vertical leap.

On film, Moore backs up those numbers — he’s athletic enough at tight end that he could conceivably play the position in college if he didn’t have so much upside as an offensive tackle. As a blocker, he shows some strength and footwork to acquire defenders in space, as well as the nastiness to finish plays with knockdowns.

The need to add strength and learn the intricacies of the offensive tackle position means that Moore is a developmental prospect who ideally won’t have to contribute until he’s a redshirt sophomore. However, if he’s able to fulfill his significant potential, the ‘Horns could have a left tackle with elite athleticism by that point.

And despite the comparisons to Kerstetter and Cosmi, his closet analogue might be Connor Williams, who also played tight end in high school. The difference is that Williams had more strength coming out of Coppell, but the similarities are intriguing.