The quarterback pipeline at Oregon Ducks has been nothing short of elite since Dan Lanning arrived in Eugene. In his first three seasons at the helm, the Ducks produced back-to-back Heisman Trophy finalists in Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel—an achievement the program had never reached before. Now, with the baton ready to be passed again, there’s genuine buzz around whether Oregon can pull off an unprecedented three-peat. The spotlight is intense, the legacy is heavy, and the standard is sky-high. But Lanning isn’t handing out starting jobs like free samples at a farmers market. The next man up? He has to earn it.
Enter redshirt sophomore QB Dante Moore. The former five-star phenom from UCLA has retooled his game since arriving in Eugene. Leaner, quicker, smarter. Moore’s redshirt season was a crash course in maturation. But don’t expect Dan Lanning to crown him just yet. When asked to stack Moore next to Nix or Gabriel on The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell, Lanning had a classic coach’s response.
“What would Coach Saban say right now? Rat poison, right? That’s what this is.” The message was loud and clear: no anointing. Just expectations. Lanning went on, “Dante’s a really talented player. So is Austin Novosad. We got some great quarterbacks on our team… I always say the proof’s in the pudding. Look how the quarterbacks have done here at Oregon.”
The praise for Dante Moore came with a reality check. “You look at Bo Nix, he was a Heisman finalist. You look at Dillon, and he was a Heisman finalist,” Lanning said. “We have guys that have come here and performed at a really, really high level. Dante has all those abilities, and so does Austin, so do some of these guys that are on our team. So I’m excited to see what he does, but he knows, and I know, he hasn’t done it yet. That’s what those games are for.” Translation? The job isn’t won in the weight room or on social media. It’s won on Saturdays in the fall.
Still, Moore is gaining traction in the locker room. He’s drawn praise from teammates and coaches alike, not just for his physical tools but for the work he’s put in behind the scenes. Moore has been grinding. Dropping body fat, working on footwork, and speeding up reads. He has all the arm talent in the world, but it’s the mental reps that could make the difference. With the Ducks entering Big Ten territory as the reigning champs this season, the margin for error tightens. Moore’s upside is sky-high, but Dan Lanning knows potential doesn’t win games—performance does.
Credit: Imago
Meanwhile, Austin Novosad refuses to be a footnote in this QB1 saga. A former four-star recruit himself, Novosad stayed patient while watching Nix and Gabriel operate in Oregon’s offensive machine. Now, he’s throwing haymakers in practice. The competition between Moore and Novosad has been fierce, and it’s exactly what Lanning wants. “Iron sharpens iron,” he says—and this quarterback room is full of blades. Novosad might not have the hype, but he’s earned the coach’s respect.
“I think the guy’s just a winner,” Lanning told Oregon reporter Bri Amaranthus. “He has become really comfortable in our system. He’s a guy that can make every throw. He’s a good decision-maker and really a leader of our team.” It’s a classic Oregon setup: two high-level quarterbacks pushing each other for a chance to write the next chapter in a Heisman-worthy legacy. The bar has never been higher, but that’s the beauty of the program Lanning has built.
Swagger and sling: Dante Moore is taking command in Oregon’s QB battle
Oregon’s quarterback room is stacked—and it just might be the most dominant in college football right now. But if there’s one guy separating himself with a little extra juice, it’s Dante Moore. After a single season at UCLA, where he completed 114 of 213 passes for 1,610 yards, 11 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, Moore transferred in December 2023 and has since shown a noticeable transformation under Ducks HC. Dan Lanning is definitely seeing it.
“Dante has all the ability in the world, has the arm talent,” Lanning told Amaranthus. That’s just the start. Lanning also praised Moore’s growing football IQ and his knack for taking charge at the line of scrimmage. “I’ve been really pleased with his intelligence to get us checked into a positive play. A lot of times playing football, it’s advantage offense, advantage defense based on the call. He’s done a great job of getting us in an advantage call. Whenever he sees a certain look, being able to adjust and adapt to that.”
And then there’s the swagger. Oh, the swagger.
“The other piece I think is his poise. He’s calm, collected. He plays with a swagger out there, which I think you want to have in a quarterback. He’s done a really, really good job of that… He has a mentality right now about how he wants to go attack things,” Lanning said. Austin is right there, but does he have the swagger?
The post Dan Lanning Refuses to Give Dante Moore a Free Pass as Oregon QB Faces Rising Pressure to Succeed Dillon Gabriel appeared first on EssentiallySports.
