Terrance “T.J.” Moore Class of 2024 do-it-all wide receiver hailing from the Tampa Catholic Crusaders, a 6-1 Sunshine State powerhouse “chock full” of Division 1 talent competing in the AA (2A) division of the Florida High School Athletic Association. (FHSAA).
The student-athlete who describes his size, speed, and catch radius as his top three attributes on the field has tape and statistics that speak for themselves, and several schools across the United States are starting to take notice, including second-year head coach Shane Beamer’s University of South Carolina Gamecocks, who pulled the trigger on the Central Florida playmaker on October 11th.
Moore, who was at Tuesday afternoon practice at the time, was unsuspecting that he would receive a call.
And while the Gamecocks’ offer caught him off-guard, the first thing that came to his head was a rush of excitement.
Here’s Moore’s personal account of how it went all went down:
“Well, I was at practice, and my coach pulled me to the side. He said, ‘South Carolina offered.’ So, after practice, I hit up (WR Coach Justin Stepp). I got in the car to call him up. He told me that he wanted to offer me,” he said.
The offer from the Gamecocks, who are ranked in the latest AP Top 25 and on a four-game winning streak for the first time since 2013 even put Moore in a ‘state of shock,’ Moore said.
“I was shocked at first, because South Carolina is a really big school, and I hear that their campus is really pretty. So I was just excited,” he said.
It only makes sense for South Carolina to take a shot at an athlete who has a tall, buildable frame that is performing against top-notch competition in the Sunshine State. Through seven games, Moore has recorded 24 receptions and 699 yards along with one carry for 43 rushing yards, averaging 29.1 yards per catch.
Moore has totaled 22 offers so far, with a stampede of eight schools seeking out his services in the month of October, including Cincinnati (Oct. 4th), Maryland (Oct. 5th), Penn State (Oct. 7th), Texas A&M (Oct. 10th), and South Carolina (Oct 11th).
Then, Michigan State (Oct. 12th) and Arizona State (Oct. 16th) picked up where the Gamecocks left off, with 17% of the entire FBS already setting their sights on Moore as he soon gears up for the state playoffs.
Moore believes that while South Carolina is currently seeing success unprecedented in the several years prior, the best is still yet to come.
“They’ve succeeded this season, but I feel like in the future, around my time, things could really start to pick back up. I feel like (head coach Shane Beamer) is steadily working to build back a stacked team,” Moore said.
Regardless of the Gamecocks’ recent gains, the family-first culture at South Carolina was championed by the wide receivers coach Justin Stepp.
For Stepp, that's something extending beyond the hash marks of the gridiron under the Saturday Night Lights of Williams-Brice Stadium in South Carolina.
“He sounds like a really great mind and he loves family, and that’s what I’m looking for,” he said.
Under second-year head coach Shane Beamer’s “Beamer Ball,” it’s something that extends to the entirety of the organization.
"I love how the entire staff has treated me so far. They all sound very confident when it comes to what they’re building, and they all sound pretty strong on their core values,” Moore said.
Moore hasn’t yet booked the 486-mile trip north from the tropics to Columbia, but South Carolina should be in the mix for his services amongst competitors, as the student-athlete is targeting a goal to be on the University of South Carolina’s campus in the Capital City in Summer 2023.
“I haven’t really gotten into that part yet, but I definitely want to get up there. It’s on my bucket list for the summer,” he said.
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