Jordan Moore reveals he never considered leaving Duke after Mike Elko departure

Former Duke head coach Mike Elko left for Texas A&M last November, leading to several Blue Devils players entering the transfer portal. All-ACC receiver Jordan Moore was not one of the Duke players to exit Durham.

In fact, Moore never even considered going anywhere else. He spoke at the ACC Kickoff event about what kept him at Duke.

“I mean, I’m Duke through and through,” Jordan Moore said. “My brother’s on the team. My sister goes here. I love Duke. I feel like they’ve given me everything I could’ve ever asked for.”

Moore’s brother Jayden Moore is a freshman receiver for the Blue Devils. He enrolled at the school back in January after being rated as a three-star recruit by the On3 Industry rankings.

In addition to wanting to play with his brother, Jordan Moore also wants to continue to get an education at an exceptional school like Duke.

“I just graduated in the spring. I’m getting my Masters right now. And my parents always taught me, you can get seen from anywhere,” Moore said. “So go to the place where they love you the most, and that’s where I went.”

Moore was also asked if he was ever approached by any other schools about heading elsewhere. He didn’t give a definitive answer either way as far as whether or not other schools reached out, but he reiterated that he never considered entering the transfer portal.

“I’m not too sure about that. I’m very focused on being here at Duke, and that was always the focus,” Moore said. “So if that happened, I didn’t ever respond.”

Jaylen Stinson addresses decision to enter, withdraw from transfer portal

While Jordan Moore never entered the transfer portal, another Duke player did at one point, before returning to Durham.

Only three days after Duke named Manny Diaz its next head coach, cornerback Jaylen Stinson entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. However, five weeks later, Stinson announced his decision to return to the Blue Devils for a fifth season. At the 2024 ACC Kickoff, Stinson pulled back the curtain on his decision.

“I did test the waters with the transfer portal ’cause during that time we had doubt. We really didn’t know where this would go,” Stinson said. “When Manny got to come to the front and talk to us, tell us his plan, what he had planned for this team, it just built confidence in us as a whole as far as like the locker room.

“We knew he wanted to do the right thing with us. We could trust him as a coach. I know that he would take this program in the right direction.”

Stinson’s return is a massive boost to Duke’s defense.  In the 2023 campaign, Stinson tallied a career-high 82 tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack, six passes defended and an interception.