Five-star quarterback Dante Moore has committed to the Oregon Ducks, he announced Friday on SportsCenter.
Moore, who is ranked No. 8 overall in the 2023 ESPN 300, is the highest ranked commitment for new Ducks coach Dan Lanning and his staff. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound quarterback from Martin Luther King High School in Detroit is the No. 3 pocket-passers in the country.
“Coach Lanning is going to be a great head coach, because he knows what it takes to get to a national championship, of course being at Georgia,” Moore told ESPN. “Coach [Kenny] Dillingham as the offensive coordinator, I know I can trust in the coming years. The playmakers and the team they’re building around them will be great for me in the future.”
Despite reports of Notre Dame being the top school at one point during his recruitment, Moore continued to visit schools, including Texas A&M, LSU and Miami, to make sure he was making the best decision.
“Visiting all the schools with different facilities, different coaching staffs and meeting great coaches … and getting to talk to them is probably one of the best things to do through the whole process,” Moore told ESPN. “… There was no one I was showing favoritism to through the whole process, I was open and just enjoyed it.”
Moore, who made his final college visit to Oregon at the end of June, had already established a relationship with Dillingham, who was the offensive coordinator at Florida State prior to joining Lanning at Oregon. Moore wanted to build a better relationship with the rest of the staff and was able to do just that on his visit, as well as get a feel for the university itself.
“Getting out there and seeing the facilities, the best facilities in the country, I believe,” Moore said. “Everything is updated and [Nike founder] Phil Knight has put so much money into the university. Everything that’s at the university is going to help. People that go to Oregon get the best throughout their whole process of being there because they have every tool you need to better yourself.”
Oregon is a school many prospects are looking at for NIL deals and for networking potential beyond the college experience, and Moore understands the potential to build his brand with the Ducks.
“This whole process, many coaches and reporters know about me that, when it comes to NIL, I’m just a kid trying to play football and just better myself,” Moore said. “I know that it’s Nike and Phil Knight. Of course there can be big opportunities for NIL and build my brand. I know it’s going to be a great process, but as of now we haven’t talked anything much about that.”
The timing of Moore’s commitment comes after USC and UCLA announced they both would be leaving the Pac-12 to join the Big 10 in 2024. That leaves Oregon with questions about its future, but the uncertainty didn’t faze Moore.
“I called Coach Dillingham and asked if they were joining the Big 10, and he said they didn’t know yet,” Moore said. “Coach Lanning and all the coaches and everybody didn’t have much input on it, but if they do join them or join the Big 12 or whatever it is, I know we’ll be in a big conference for us to keep competing and be the best we could be.”
Moore has the talent and ability to come in and compete right away at Oregon. Lanning and Dillingham added Auburn transfer Bo Nix for the next two seasons. Former ESPN 300 quarterbacks Ty Thompson and Jay Butterfield are also on the roster.
Thompson and Butterfield don’t have much experience; Nix played for Dillingham at Auburn his freshman season.
“You can have multiple receivers on the field, multiple linemen,” Moore said. “But being quarterback, there’s only one of you on the field. You have to trust your quarterback coach and offensive coordinator to believe that they’ll be able to help you get to the league or help you improve yourself.
“They have multiple quarterbacks on the list, but I want to come in and compete, try to possibly get a starting job or getting to compete. You have to compete everywhere. Looking at the quarterback depth chart, that was a big part of this whole process.”
Moore was one of two ESPN 300 quarterbacks who had yet to make a commitment, leaving Dylan Lonergan (No. 62) as the lone uncommitted top-300 signal caller in the class.
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