The Washington State Cougars made an unexpected addition to their 2019 recruiting class on Thursday when they signed defensive back Shahman Moore to a national letter of intent on the second day of the early signing period.
Moore isn’t rated by any of the recruiting services, and he had offers from the Hawaii Warriors, San Diego State Aztecs, New Mexico State Aggies, as well as Liberty University.
WSU’s announcement on Twitter listed Moore as a 6-foot-1/185-pound defensive back. That’s notable for a couple of reasons.
First, WSU has trended toward bigger, longer corners in this recruiting class, and Moore played corner at El Camino College. So, he would fit that mold ... if he sticks at corner, which isn’t how they listed him.
According to Moore ($), the coaches haven’t decided if he’s going to play corner or safety or even nickel. An interesting fact about Moore is that he’s grown a couple inches since leaving high school, and the staff could be looking at him as someone who could add even more weight and become a player on the back end with natural coverage skills.
Another thing to ponder: Is this a hedge against losing safety commit Don Chapman? The three-star high school recruit flipped to WSU after the Colorado Buffaloes fired Mike MacIntyre, and he was expected to sign with the Cougs yesterday. He didn’t, though, and it sounds like he’s wavering.
It might not be, though; in that same article from Cougfan, Moore said the coaches had been waiting on him to get his grades in order before extending an official offer. Interestingly, Moore played as a freshman and sophomore in 2016 and 2017, but was not qualified to transfer to an NCAA school. He got his grades in order this fall, using a redshirt in the process. He’ll have two years of eligibility remaining.
Here’s some video of Moore from his freshman year in juco. You can check out the entire signing class as it stands here.