Alabama Football: Tide Offers 8th Grader from Nevada for Class of 2023

Alabama football does not make many offers to middle-schoolers. When it does, the young athlete is special.

Alabama football has a ‘Big Board’ for every future signing class. Fans don’t know how many names are currently on the board for 2023. One name is known and it is a special young athlete.

According to Hank South of BamaOnLine Alabama football has made an offer to DeAndre Moore Jr. A 5′ 11″ wide receiver prospect out of Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Here is the announcement from Twitter

Normally this wouldn’t be newsworthy. “Oh, the Tide offered another out-of-state blue chip prospect.” However, the reason this recruit is noteworthy is, he isn’t even in high school yet. DeAndre is just about to finish 8th grade and will begin his high school career this fall.

It is hard to judge prospects this young, but when they get offers you know they are for real. DeAndre is no exception. This kid oozes talent. Just watch this highlight reel.

About 26 seconds in you can watch him take a screen pass 50 yards to the house à la Julio Jones against LSU. At 1:33 you can see the footwork so coveted in Wide Receivers. It even shows evidence of his return skills and his ability to play defensive back.

The kid is just about to start high school. He can’t even drive yet, and he has received offers to play at not only Alabama, but Arizona State, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and Hawaii. Five Power 5 schools.

You might remember Alabama offering 8th graders before. The Tide made an offer to one Dylan Moses as an 8th grader. We see how that has worked out. We don’t offer kids this young if we aren’t absolutely certain of their talent.

I’ve only seen the one highlight reel, so take this for what it is worth, but he reminds me of Julio Jones. They appear to be similarly built. Broad shoulders, long lower body, good hands, and YAC-ability. Julio was a master at catching short passes breaking a tackle and turning 5 yard catches into 20, 30, or 40 yard gains. I see that same ability with DeAndre.

The rankings for the 2023 class are not out yet, but you can expect this kid to be at or near the top of not only the wide receiver rankings, but the overall player rankings as well. It is too soon to start making predictions on where he might end up, but you can be sure that Alabama football always has a chance with just about every prospect out there.

Remember DeAndre Moore Jr.’s name. He is going to be an impact player in the future for some team. Let’s hope it’s Alabama.