Elijah Moore has always considered Ohio State to be a dream school.
Although the three-star 2024 wide receiver grew up in Maryland, the two college football teams Moore planned his Saturdays around watching were the Buckeyes and LSU. In particular, he wanted to watch Ohio State’s wide receivers play and focus on the Tigers’ defensive backs. He has vivid memories of watching past OSU teams, recalling watching Ezekiel Elliott, Braxton Miller and Michael Thomas when they donned the scarlet and gray.
Since he started playing wide receiver in high school, Ohio State has become a must-watch as Moore works to pursue a dream of one day having an opportunity to play college football at the highest level. After breaking out his sophomore year, the Buckeyes were impressed by what they saw on film and stayed in contact with Moore throughout the summer and into the fall.
When Moore’s school, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School (Olney, Maryland), traveled to Ohio in person in September to play Archbishop Moeller, some Ohio State coaches were in attendance to see Moore go off with a nine-catch, 123-yard, two-touchdown performance against one of the better teams in Ohio. Brian Hartline, Devin Jordan and Mark Pantoni had all been in contact with Moore for months and were eager to get the 6-foot-4, 190-pound prospect to a game at OSU.
On Nov. 26, Moore and his family finally had the opportunity to make their first-ever visit to Columbus for the Buckeyes’ game against Michigan.
Enjoyed Columbus last weekend pic.twitter.com/CaRrBpOqhP
— Elijah Moore (@3lijahmoore) November 30, 2022
“It was really nice,” Moore told Eleven Warriors. “First time at Ohio State, so it was a big game. I wasn’t expecting it to be that packed. The fans are crazy. Seeing coach Hartline and coach Day out there on the field – it was a surreal experience. I got to see Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka on the field and see some Heisman (trophies) and stuff. It was a great feeling being with the coaches on the sidelines.”
Moore eventually saw the Buckeyes fall 45-23 to their arch-rival but said he was still captivated by how Hartline and Day coached in the defeat and liked the spread offense the Buckeyes ran. On Sunday, Moore’s itinerary was filled with meetings. He had an extended sit down with Hartline, as the pair discussed the ins and outs of playing wide receiver at the next level. Primarily an outside receiver, Moore said Hartline told him he was impressed by his route-running ability and run-after-catch skills. Hartline even said Moore reminded him a little bit of a younger Marvin Harrison Jr. because of his size and told him he could be a great addition to Ohio State.
“Coach Hartline likes me a lot,” Moore said. “I got to talk to him for a long time about route concepts and receivers he’s had in the past. We got to talk a lot, and we had a strong bond, just about the passion he has for receivers.
“He just loves what he's doing. Like his passion is being the receivers coach. He just talks about it all the time. He loves his receivers that he's had as a receiver coach. He just knows what it takes to be a receiver. He knows all about it. He showed me some of his stuff, and he was a good receiver when he played in the league, too. That’s his passion, and it’s one of my passions, too. I like learning about what it takes to be a receiver. So that’s something that we had in common.”
Moore also met with Day in his office, with his parents and his sister behind him. This was one of the better experiences for Moore on the trip, as OSU’s head coach presented the Maryland standout with his 20th Division I scholarship offer.
Extremely Blessed to receive an offer from The Ohio State University!@OhioStateFB @ryandaytime @brianhartline #GoBuckeyes pic.twitter.com/l9oN8QXBO1
— Elijah Moore (@3lijahmoore) November 27, 2022
“I was hoping to get down there and get the offer,” Moore said. “I knew I had to get down there and have a chance to meet them, and I hadn’t had that yet. But once I got down there, I was surprised. That’s like a dream school. I was really taking everything in. I wasn’t expecting all the coaches to know who I am. I got down there, and everyone was pretty familiar with me.
“Sunday, my parents, my sister and me went to talk to coach Day in his office, and he sat me down and said, ‘We’ve been recruiting you for some time, and we want to offer you a scholarship to come to our school. And we’ve been watching you since your sophomore year and have been to a couple of games, and we like how you play. Coach Hartline likes you and thinks you could be in the class.'"
Also attending the game with Moore was his high school teammate, 2025 safety Faheem Delane, who also holds an Ohio State offer. While the two haven’t discussed their recruitment by OSU, the two briefly compared notes while on the visit. OSU is also recruiting another of their high school teammates, four-star 2024 defensive lineman Aaron Chiles.
“I haven’t gone into depth about Ohio State with Aaron and Faheem,” Moore said. “But Faheem was up there with me at the stadium at the Michigan game, so we were talking about how we enjoyed our experience at the stadium and talked about how good this team is and how good they’ll be in the future and stuff.”
With 20 offers in hand, Moore said he was thankful for every one of them, but getting the opportunity from Ohio State was special to him.
“Ohio State is definitely up there at the top, top of my offer list of where I want to go,” Moore said.
A decision could be coming sooner rather than later for Moore, who hopes to commit sometime this spring or before his team starts summer workouts. He’s likely to make a spring visit to Ohio State before deciding, though.
“Most definitely,” he said. “I’m already working on that with coach Hartline right now.”
