Oregon QB1 Dante Moore reveals how much he's grown this offseason beyond hitting the weight room to transform his body
The Oregon Ducks are entering an uncertain wave in 2025. After boasting Justin Herbert and Dillon Gabriel as hyper-productive quarterbacks who dynamically changed their game to fit Dan Lanning's offense, now it's Dante Moore's show. Moore is a former five-star quarterback, but his short tenure at UCLA was uninspiring. The Ducks are banking on their […]
The Oregon Ducks are entering an uncertain wave in 2025. After boasting Justin Herbert and Dillon Gabriel as hyper-productive quarterbacks who dynamically changed their game to fit Dan Lanning's offense, now it's Dante Moore's show. Moore is a former five-star quarterback, but his short tenure at UCLA was uninspiring.
The Ducks are banking on their program and infrastructure being a catalyst for his career to get back on track. This week, Moore answered some questions about how it's been operating as the team's immediate future.
When asked about his biggest goals of the offseason, Moore dove into how transforming his body was huge.
"I'm blessed to have him as my strength staff coach. But really it's more just to get faster cut down my body fat. I did really good with that. PR is my fastest speed this spring. So being here, so I've been doing really well, really it was basically getting my body cut down," Moore started.
That will hopefully prove to be the foundation of Moore's game, but he knows translating the nuance of being a quality quarterback is complex. He expanded on everything he's had to consider.
"Mentally, watching the ball. Watch a lot of film, a lot of Intel. Quarterbacks, you've seen how they weigh, they just be decisive on the football field. So mentally, I've been learning a lot of concepts, and physically putting down the body weight faster. Will's previously said that he likes to work with quarterbacks to kind of formulate what contents do look like that. There's four fundamentals that you're trying to do every year. What's that process like of being involved in the room, of trying to find what works for you guys and what works."
Moore was quick to give credit to offensive coordinator Will Stein as a catalyst of change.
"One thing I will say about being here with Coach Stein, and I love him to death. He's played the quarterback position. He knows how it feels to be out there on the football field, how to be in the fire. So when it comes to him coaching us, he knows that covers them. So like, if we're off, you know, missing a couple of receivers at practice, he knows how to get us back in rhythm, a little quick, short throw, things of that nature. So just having him just to relate to us, and we all relate to him."
With only 221 career attempts, and 213 of those coming with Chip Kelly at UCLA in 2023, Moore is a project. It's somewhat shocking Lanning put his program into Moore's hands without much competition, as they could've chased Carson Beck or Fernando Mendoza with big NIL bags.
Instead, Lanning has the chance to show he's an elite developer and visionary, if Moore proves to be the impact starter he was once projected to be.
