You only have one chanced to make a good impression especially when a coveted four-star prospect such as Joe Moore makes your school his final visit of the recruiting process. By all accounts, the St. Louis Cardinal Ritter four-star defensive lineman enjoyed his Arizona State visit quite a bit and shared with Devils Digest his impressions from that experience.
“The atmosphere at the game was crazy,” Moore said. “The fans were really hyped and supporting their team. I really liked the facilities there. The coaches really stood to me because they all had the same mindset and they were really open with me. They were really straight forward.
“The game was lit. I loved the way the way the defense was grinding. They didn’t fold and towards the end of the game, they came together as a team and got the dub. I hung out with Steph Wright and Jordan Clark. They said that being on this was ‘life-changing.’ They both had some big offers and could have gone anywhere they wanted, but when they visited Arizona State, they realized it was home and they didn’t want to leave.”
Moore stated the Sun Devils’ defensive line coach Jamar Cain saw him as an explosive pass rusher and liked how quick he can get off the ball.
“I like coach Cain and I think he’s a funny guy. He’s very open and answered all of my questions and has been very straight forward with me. He’s been one of my earliest offers (back in February of this year) and he never went away. Even when I was getting a bunch of other offers, he was still there with me.
“I talked to coach Herm and I like how he treats his players and how he talked about education and life after football. That school really takes their academics seriously there. I really liked the academic support there and the one-on-one coaching.”
Moore officially visited both North Carolina and Minnesota back in June as well as unofficially visiting Illinois. Minnesota and Illinois along with ASU are the schools the defensive lineman is expected to choose from.
Moore’s brother lives in the Phoenix metro area and accompanied him on his trip. While the two are close, it remains to be seen how much of a factor he could play in his recruitment.
“It’s big because it’s my brother and if I went to ASU it would feel like a home away from home because it’s family,” Moore commented. “But at the same time, I’m not going to go to a school just because he lives near there. I need to go to a school I feel most comfortable with.
“The visit to Arizona State was a real eye-opener. I’ve been waiting to come visit Arizona State because I had questions about the program and I got all my questions answered. Seeing what scheme they run, how do I fit it and what do they see for me? I got to see everything I needed to see about the school. So, this my last visit and now I can just sit down list all the pros and cons of each school, and come to a decision really soon.”
Moore added that while he didn’t have an announcement date, yet he expected to make his pledge “this month.”
“Seeing who my position coach will be is the first thing I will be looking at,” Moore stated, “since he’s someone I will be around 24/7. I’m going to look at the atmosphere because I don’t want to go anywhere where I’m going to be in the transfer portal later. I want to go to a place where if something goes wrong, I have coaches that I feel comfortable talking about that stuff.”
Moore will be graduating in the spring but plans to sign his Letter of Intent in December.
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