Oregon Ducks' week goes from bad to worse after Rose Bowl loss with unexpected news
As if things weren't going bad enough for the Oregon Ducks, days after their humiliating Rose Bowl loss, they've received some unexpected news that adds insult to injury. Life after Dillon Gabriel was lined up with the most recent recruiting class. Quarterback Dante Moore is the presumed starter for next season, 5-star recruit out of Hawaii […]
As if things weren't going bad enough for the Oregon Ducks, days after their humiliating Rose Bowl loss, they've received some unexpected news that adds insult to injury.
Life after Dillon Gabriel was lined up with the most recent recruiting class. Quarterback Dante Moore is the presumed starter for next season, 5-star recruit out of Hawaii Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was one of two quarterbacks that were going to have to chance to take the mantle in the future.
Less than a month after signing with Oregon, Sagapolutele has apparently decided Oregon isn't for him. Sagapolutele has entered the transfer portal.
There's little out there at this point in what went into Sagapolutle's decision to leave, so anything would be speculation. What is known is that it was a tough decision between Oregon and Cal, where Sagapolutele was first committed to, before he decided to flip his commitment on signing day.
That leaves Akili Smith Jr., a legacy quarterback and the son of Akili Smith, who was the starting quarterback at Oregon from 1997-1998, as the top quarterback recruiting for Oregon in the 2024 recruiting class for the Ducks.
Smith finished off his high school football career with a four-touchdown performance to win a California 1-AA State Championship.
The Oregon commit is a 4-star quarterback in his own right, and has a prototypical build at 6'5" 233 lbs. Sagapolutele and Smith both arrived as early-enrollees and participated in Rose Bowl practices with the Ducks. Both quarterbacks were in attendance for the January 1 game.
It's an interesting, and surprising, situation. According to Justin Hopkins of On3's Scoop Duck, Sagapolutele wants to play right away, and after seeing Dante Moore at practice, he realized it wasn't going to happen.
Moore was always the presumed starter. Any incoming freshman is going to need to wait their turn in line at most programs around the country. Oregon will move forward without Sagapolutele in tow.
Was this a successful season for the Oregon Ducks? We look back at the 2024 season that was
Let’s take a step back.
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