Oregon will be fine at QB, now and in the future

For 40+ years Oregon fans have enjoyed sustained excellence in quarterback play. it's a bit of a jolt when a top quarterback decides he doesn't want to be part of that tradition or recognize its value.

Ryder Lyons chose BYU today live on the Pat McAfee Show, the latest in a series of misses for Dan Lanning and Will Stein on the quarterback recruiting trail.

They had Jonas Williams committed but let him go to USC, going all-in on Jared Curtis, who committed to Georgia in May. Now they've come up second for another five-star with Lyons choosing to play at his parents' alma mater.

On the McAfee Show Lyons said, "It's not about the money, it's about making it to the NFL." That statement was weird, since the Webfoots currently have four quarterbacks in the league, three of whom were first-round draft picks.

Just one question: If a guy wants to be developed for the NFL as a quarterback, why WOULDN'T he choose the Ducks? They have four in the league right now, two in the Hall of Fame, six first-round draft picks, and four that have been invited to New York.

One rule of recruiting that rarely fails: Mama is undefeated. Ninety percent of the time, prospects will follow mom's advice. Curtis did.

Rarely does a recruit choose a hat without her approval. Lyons mom and dad are both BYU grads.

Dante Moore

For the Ducks, they are set in the current quarterback room. Redshirt sophomore Dante Moore is draft eligible after this year but has three seasons to play if he wants them.

Moore earned a 5-star rating coming out of high school, throwing for 9,880 yards and 135 touchdowns at Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, Rivals' No. 3 pro-style prospect in the 2023 class.

He made the mature decision to choose a year of development after a rough year as a true freshman starter at UCLA. At UO he has better weapons and better coaching, plus the value of resetting while observing Dillon Gabriel. Expectations are high in a quarterback-friendly offense.

Austin Novosad

Backup Austin Novosad could win games right now with a manageable amount of dropoff. He has the accuracy and arm talent to be very effective running the offense, an honor role student in high school who's completed 11-13 passes in mopup stints over his two years in Eugene.

When he came out in 2023 the Dripping Springs, Texas native was a consensus four-star recruit and the No. 8 pro-style quarterback according to Rivals, a high school All-American who threw for 8,983 yards and 114 touchdowns while taking his team to the state playoffs for three straight seasons.

Novosad may be too talented to sit. He's been a loyal soldier for two seasons, a redshirt sophomore in 2025. If Moore elects to stay at UO for two or three seasons, it's easy to see how Novosad could hit the portal, either after August camp or at the end of the year.

He'll start for someone in 2026 if it isn't the Ducks.

Luke Moga

Somehow we forget about Luke Moga, the redshirt freshman from Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix, Arizona, 6-2, 200.

Moga has 10.5 sprinter's speed in the 100 meters. Unheralded, from a smaller school and a three-star high school prospect, he's quietly gone about his work, showing intriguing improvement in both of his spring game appearances.

All kinds of things could happen but it would be the greatest of stories for Moga to stick it out and wind up starting for Oregon in 2027 or 2028. Fans would go wild rooting for a guy who worked that hard and paid his dues.

Akili Smith Jr.

A four-star commit in 2025, Smith is 6-6, athletic and smart. In fact, all four of Oregon's scholarship quarterbacks were honor roll students in high school.

Smith won a 1-AA California state title as a senior. He throws from a good base and whips the ball. An Oregon legacy, he could become a great quarterback in Eugene, though it's early in his development. He made a smart decision in coming to work for Will Stein, who has an impressive track record tutoring quarterbacks.

Smith Jr. can make all the throws, the rail shot, the line drive between defenders, the 25-yard out. He surveys the field well. He throws extremely well on the run or off-platform.

Watch his highlights, and see if he doesn't remind you a little of another Oregon great, not his father, who was a wonderful player, but Dennis Dixon.

He has work to do as does every young quarterback, but I can see him outplaying Ryder Lyons, Jonas Williams or Jared Curtis in a few years.

Bryson Beaver

A 2026 4-star recruit from Murrieta, California, Beaver is 6-3, 200, a fast-riser with a 3.86 GPA (a theme with the Ducks at quarterback.)

Beaver stood at the Bay Area Elite 11 Regional and earned a trip to the finals, much like Smith a year ago. He shined in a field of 20 highly-touted quarterbacks, surpassing 5-star schoolboy legends to finish third in the three-day competition.

Beaver committed to Boise State in April but his recruitment went nuts after the Elite 11 Regional and a throwing workout at a camp attended by Duck coaches. He's picked up offers from Auburn, Ole Miss, LSU and Alabama, visted UO last weekend.

A program wants to sign a quarterback in every class, partly to deal with the natural attrition created by the NFL, NIL and the portal. Beaver is top-rated prospect on Oregon's board, and the sites say they lead for him. The sites have been wrong before, recently.

Matt Ponatoski

A dual threat from Moeller High in Cincinnati, Ponatoski threw for 57 touchdowns last season, earning Ohio State Gatorade Player of the Year. He's a baseball prospect with home run power and a 97 mph fastball, so it might be hard to sneak him past the Major League Baseball draft.

He too is a fast-riser, with recent overtures from Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Wake Forest. A gifted athlete who had baseball scholarship offers in eighth grade, he grew into a quarterback prospect with his savvy and decision-making, just three interceptions and 69 percent completions while piloting his team to the state championship game.

Ideally, a coaching staff wants depth and a line of succession. Every year now there are a hundred quarterbacks in the transfer portal, but only four or five are true difference-makers.