A month and a half after entering the NCAA transfer portal, former Texas Longhorns wide receiver Joshua Moore announced his commitment to the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Thursday.
Moore, a rising senior who could also use the extra year of eligibility afforded by the coronavirus pandemic, joins former Texas safety Tyler Owens in Lubbock.
“We wish him the best of luck,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said when announcing Moore’s plan to enter the portal back in early November.
The news of Moore’s departure came five days after a reported altercation in practice with Sarkisian. The Longhorns head coach initially downplayed the incident, but it clearly precipitated Moore’s departure.
“He’s getting coached and that’s what we do. I think sometimes people get this misconception that because I’m a ‘player’s coach,’ that we don’t coach hard. We have a very demanding staff, we coach hard, we believe in discipline, we believe in doing things the right way, and when things aren’t going that way, we coach our guys. and so whichever one you guys felt like it was important to report that, that’s that’s your bad, not ours,” Sarkisian said following the altercation.
Moore had appeared in the first nine games of the 2021 season with five starts. Against Iowa State in his final game at Texas, he didn’t see the field until the second quarter and immediately produced the longest offensive play for the Longhorns — a 24-yard catch and run on 3rd and 7. As the offense stalled, however, Moore only made one more reception for eight yards.
Despite ranking tied for second on the team in receptions and third in receiving yardage at the time of his departure, Moore was inconsistent with 24 catches for 265 yards and three touchdowns — he had four catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl and five catches for 64 yards and a touchdown against Baylor, but failed to record more than 32 receiving yards in any of the other seven games. Against Arkansas in Fayetteville, Moore did not record a catch.
The most productive season for Moore came in 2020, when he led the Longhorns with 30 catches, 472 receiving yards, and nine receiving touchdown, but still had games in which he wasn’t able to make an impact. Against TCU and West Virginia, he did not record a catch. In four other games, he failed to make more than two catches.
Moore has also had disciplinary issues in the past — in 2019, he was suspended for the season after an arrest on a gun charge in downtown Austin.
He arrived in Austin from Yoakum as a member of the 2018 recruiting class ranked as the No. 96 player nationally and the No. 19 wide receiver, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.