Oregon had one of the best quarterbacks in the country last season in Bo Nix, who finished third in the Heisman trophy race and will be a very high pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Still, even with Nix leaving Eugene this fall, the Ducks went out and landed Oklahoma’s transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who started his career at UCF in 2019 and then headed to the Sooners in 2022, where he recorded 6,828 passing yards and 55 passing touchdowns. He also picked up 688 rushing yards and 18 scores with his legs.
Dillon Gabriel Will Start For The Ducks In 2024
Gabriel is heading into his final season of college football and will be the starter for the Ducks this season if he doesn’t get injured. Still, the biggest storyline at the quarterback position for Oregon this offseason had nothing to do with Gabriel but had to do with UCLA true freshman Dante Moore.
Dante Moore Was One Of The Best Players Coming Out Of High School In 2023
Moore walked onto UCLA’s campus in 2023 and became the starter on day one, starting in nine games, throwing 1,610 yards and nine touchdowns. Still, the freshman quarterback was a five-star recruit and the third-ranked quarterback in the 2023 class, so he had high exceptions. After one season with the Bruins, he hit the transfer portal and was ranked as one of the top quarterbacks in the portal.
Moore could’ve had his choice to go to almost any college football team and start in 2024, but instead, he decided to head to Oregon, where he will have to sit for a season behind Gabriel before he has a chance to be the starting quarterback again in 2025.
A player like Moore, who has so much talent, usually doesn’t transfer to a team where he will have to sit for a season before he can see the field again. Usually, when a player hits the portal, they are trying to see the field as soon as possible, and that’s why they leave the school they were at. But for Moore, he did the exact opposite, and he will benefit from it.
Moore Got Thrown In Way Too Early At UCLA
When Moore got to UCLA, he was heading into a program that had just lost starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson to the NFL, and there was a void at the starting spot; Moore’s talent was so much more incredible than everyone else at the position on the roster so he was thrown in as the starter right away and most true freshman quarterbacks have a hard time seeing the field in their first season but for Moore he was put up to the test from day one when he wasn’t ready.
UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, whom many Oregon fans have known since he served as their head coach from 2009-2012, runs a speedy flying offense. Moore was the right fit to be the player in charge, but there were some serious issues in his game, like turning the ball over where he had nine interceptions and -84 rushing yards.
Oregon Is Going To Be The Perfect Spot
The quarterback from Detroit, Michigan, wasn’t ready to start at the college level. He is heading to Oregon because he knows he needs that redshirt year where he can sit and learn the position all over again, and there’s no better place to do it than under Dan Lanning.
Lanning took Bo Nix, who struggled when he was the quarterback at Auburn and then worked with him for two years, turning him into one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Moore will get to sit behind a legit veteran quarterback in Gabriel, who will teach him the ways of the college game, and many people took a shot at Moore for not transferring to a school where he would start right away. Still, the soon-to-be sophomore quarterback knows himself and needs a season to sit and learn, and there’s no better place than Oregon to do it.
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