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Published Jul 27, 2023
Ka’Mori Moore talks Oklahoma pledge: “They send people to the league”
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Parker Thune  •  OUInsider
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Scarce more than three months after picking up his dream offer from Oklahoma, 2025 defensive tackle Ka’Mori Moore wasted no time in locking up his spot.

The 6-foot-1, 288-pound warrior from Lee’s Summit (Mo.) North High announced his commitment to the Sooners while on an unofficial visit to Norman yesterday, thus becoming the third pledge of Oklahoma’s 2025 class. He joins four-star quarterback Kevin Sperry and four-star wideout Gracen Harris, both of whom have been committed to OU since the spring.

Shortly after going public with the news of his commitment, Moore dished on the factors that led to the decision in an exclusive with OUInsider.

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“The past few times I’ve been going to OU, and the first time Coach Chavis came up here, I knew it was something,” Moore remarked. “And I went down there for camp, and it went good. It’s always good vibes. Like, yesterday, I had so much fun; I can’t even lie. They send people to the league; they got a good scheme I can fit [into]. And Coach Chavis and Coach Bates, they always get the job done.”

Though his recruitment was still in its early stages when he made the decision to shut things down, Moore also held offers from Iowa State, Nebraska, Memphis, UNLV and others. He acknowledged that Oklahoma had prioritized him more than any other program, and the love he felt from the Sooner staff made his decision that much easier. Moore’s initial interest in OU was spurred last summer when his high school teammate Cayden Green, a four-star offensive tackle in the 2023 cycle, committed to the Sooners. But when he began to take a more intimate look at everything that Oklahoma had to offer, Moore realized that the program perfectly fit his specific needs and desires as a defensive tackle.

“From the past guys that had success there, ever since Cayden committed, I’ve been watching them,” he said. “And I seen they got some great guys — I watched a lot of Perrion Winfrey and Isaiah Thomas. And I’ve been talking to G-Baby [Gracen Halton] and Ashton [Sanders]… They got a great scheme. We was going over film yesterday, and I was learning a whole bunch of new things I never learned before. They teach a lot of things that a lot of people don’t teach you.”

Oklahoma is looking to establish a strong presence for years to come at Lee’s Summit North, a program that has quickly emerged as one of the most talent-rich schools in Missouri. Conveniently, the man responsible for LSN’s rise to prominence is none other than former Oklahoma running back Jamar Mozee, a member of the Sooners’ 2000 national championship team. Though his program’s two most ballyhooed prospects are his own son Isaiah (a four-star 2025 WR) and Williams Nwaneri (the nation’s No. 1 defensive end in the 2024 class), Mozee believes Moore is a player who owns untapped potential — and who represents a fantastic pickup for Oklahoma.

“They’re getting a guy that I think is under-recruited,” said Mozee. “He’s really taken the maturity step as far as losing weight; he lost like 20 pounds this offseason, which will allow us to play him a lot more. [That’s] something he couldn’t do a year ago. [We’ll] play him 50 to 60 snaps a game. He’s strong as a horse; he’s real twitchy. He’s got really good feet, he’s quick off the ball and he’s an explosive kid. I think they got a steal; I think they got one. I think it’s really going to come out this season when we play. I think he’s really going to show everybody what Oklahoma sees. I think he explodes this year, honestly.”

Moore enjoyed a breakout sophomore year for the Broncos in 2022, but heading into the offseason, he was well north of 300 pounds and carrying a good deal of bad weight. It hadn’t conspicuously hampered his play on the field, but Moore realized that if he wanted to truly reach his ceiling as an athlete, he’d have to take his regimen up a notch and re-shape his body.

“It was during the season — back in the season, I realized he’s gonna be a good one,” Mozee recalled. “But my thing was to watch him take those extra steps for himself. You can tell kids what to do, yada yada yada — but he actually did it. He would do the extra running. He would do the extra mile. He would go to the extra training sessions we would have. He really took his conditioning and his eating very seriously, and he changed.

“And once I saw him do that, I knew this dude’s about to take off. And so we start the offseason and we put the pads on — it becomes very evident who he is. It doesn’t matter who we scrimmage. He’s one of the best players on the field every single time, and borderline dominant.”

With two more years to hone his craft before enrolling at Oklahoma, Moore’s immediate focus is domination on Friday nights for the Broncos. But he’s already eager to suit up in front of 85,000 fans at the Palace on the Prairie. In Moore’s eyes, Oklahoma set itself apart in numerous ways, including the manner in which the coaches and commits sought camaraderie with him. He’s built strong connections with numerous members of the staff — and he’s also formed a quick bond with Sperry, who’s been fully engaged in peer-recruiting efforts since his April commitment to Oklahoma.

“Certain schools, they dry with things,” Moore laughed. “But Chavis, Bates, Venables and all them — they straight up. They 100 percent real. [Our class] gonna be number one for sure. They know what they’re doing. And I ain’t going to lie — Kevin’s doing an amazing job.”

Though he believes the Sooners’ 2025 class could be truly special, Moore’s only concerned with recruiting one other player to Norman for the moment — and it’s a member of the 2024 class. With Nwaneri less than two weeks away from a decision, Moore is doing all he can to make sure his teammate on Fridays becomes his teammate on Saturdays.

“We trying to get Will,” he declared.