The Oregon football season has come to an end, which is leading to players making decisions about their future. After Oregon was demolished by Indiana, 56-22, attention shifted to the offseason and the upcoming decision of quarterback Dante Moore. Now, the quarterback has announced his decision on his immediate future.
“I'll be coming back to Oregon for one more year, being able to play for the Oregon Ducks and reach our goal of being national champions,” Moore said in his announcement that he will be returning to Eugene and not heading to the NFL Draft, according to Jackson Moore of 247Sports.
The redshirt sophomore quarterback had a solid year in his first season starting for the Ducks. He threw for 3.565 yards while adding 30 touchdowns. He did throw ten interceptions, but also found pay dirt twice on the ground.
Still, his final game against Indiana may have hurt his draft stock. He opened the game by throwing a pick-six, putting the Ducks down 7-0 just 11 seconds into the game. He would go on to lose two fumbles and be sacked three times, while throwing for 285 yards and two touchdowns.
The move to stay could be seen as surprising for both Oregon and the NFL. To begin with, Oregon was clearly planning for a future without Moore. They brought in Dylan Raiola from Nebraska in the transfer portal. This may be a good thing for both the Ducks and Raiola, though. Moore was a transfer from UCLA. He played in nine games and started five as a true freshman, but had his fair share of struggles. When he transferred to Oregon, he sat behind Dylan Gabriel, attempting just eight passes in 2024, and taking a redshirt season.
Raioloa has starting experience, starting 22 games over two seasons at Nebraska. He could follow the trend that Moore set, and sit a year, learning from the current Ducks' quarterback.
Meanwhile, this is shocking to the NFL Draft as well. ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has Moore as the number two prospect on his big board, just behind Fernando Mendoza. This likely would have made him a top ten pick at least, if not the second pick in the draft. The first NFL Mock Draft by ClutchPoints had Moroe going second overall to the New York Jets.
Now, if the Jets want to draft a quarterback, they may have to settle for someone else, assuming the Las Vegas Raiders take Mendoza. Regardless, Oregon fans are rejoicing, as they get one more year of Moore under center.
