In the last week of Fall Camp the media asked Dante Moore to compare himself to Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel. How close do you feel to their level of mastery of the quarterback position? the reporters asked.
"I would say truthfully and being honest with myself, Bo and Dillon were very experienced. They'd been in college for a long time. I would say I'm not close to them at all, to be honest. They've really very really experienced. I understand they played over 60-70 games in college and I've played in or started in seven or six," Moore said.
Erik Skopil of 247Sports did a feature today where broke down the "better or worse" of this year to last, position-by-position. At QB, it's obvious Moore doesn't have the game experience Nix and Gabriel had, the two longest-tenured starters in college football history. Gabriel broke Nix's NCAA record with 63 starts.
UCLA true freshman QB Dante Moore is special, truly elite prospect.
— Luca Sartirana (@SartiranaLuca) September 16, 2023
He's able to generate impressive velocity on his throws, his technique is top-tier just like his tools. Superstar in the making.pic.twitter.com/dF9d3Ld4oK
It's not easy taking over at quarterback where four of your predecessors are in the NFL, Gabriel, Nix, Justin Herbert and Marcus Mariota. That's a lot of legacy.
Though Moore's modesty is genuine, he doesn't lack confidence. He's focused on the process.
He told Skopil and the other reporters,
"My experience is what I'm doing at practice now. The way I'm pushing at fall camp. The way I'm training. The way coach Lanning is pushing me. The way I'm bettering myself every day. I'm getting my experience up there, but when I look at them, they're very successful."
"I don't want to look at them and try to follow them. I just want to follow myself and understand that these are things I have to get better at. Because if I start looking at their success, at some point in my life, I'll probably be like 'Am I not good enough?' So I'm just making sure I'm dialed in and keeping where my feet are at and push myself every day."
Moore had a rocky start to his college career at UCLA, completing just 53.5 percent of his passes, throwing for 11 TDs with 9 interceptions over nine games, sacked 25 times, but he's had a year to reset and work on his craft while inheriting a much better situation.
Over or Under: 30 passing touchdowns for Dante Moore this season 🤔 pic.twitter.com/yYkrTr1Mui
— Oregon Updates (@oregon__updates) August 24, 2025
Like the contributors and writers at Duck Territory, it's hard to expect the offense will suffer much drop-off from Gabriel to Moore. The running game, defense and offensive line all look strong. The offense should be potent.
Will Stein and Dan Lanning have provided Moore with a great foundation for his development, teaching him to focus on getting better every day while taking what the defense is giving him. There may be some growing pains, but the Ducks have significantly more talent than most of the teams on their schedule.