Breaking down flip of 5-star Dante Moore from Oregon to UCLA
UCLA football pulled off its flip of five-star quarterback Dante Moore on Monday. Here’s what it means for the Bruins and for Oregon Football.
The flip of five-star QB Dante Moore from Oregon football to Chip Kelly and UCLA is complete as the Bruins landed one of their biggest commitments in years.
Ever since Kenny Dillingham took the job at Arizona State, there has been a concern on the Oregon football side of things about the commitment of Moore the No. 9 overall prospect in 2023 according to the 247 sports composite rankings.
BREAKING: Five-Star QB Dante Moore tells me he has committed to UCLA!
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 19, 2022
The 6’3 205 QB from Detroit, MI had been committed to the Ducks since July.
He is the highest-ranked QB to commit to the Bruins in the modern recruiting ranking era.https://t.co/BSBBqSi2DD pic.twitter.com/CogpsUJAz1
The five-star QB out of Detroit had a recruitment that was all over the map. Michigan was the favorite at one point, followed by Notre Dame and then Oregon football.
The Ducks won his pledge this summer, thanks to Dillingham, but were unable to hold onto it without him being on staff.
As I wrote last week, UCLA football makes a lot of sense. Kelly has had a lot of success with quarterbacks over the years. He had a lot of success with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and helped Marcus Mariota go No. 2 overall.
Dante Moore is a different kind of quarterback. He’s not a runner. He’s an elite pro-style passer and with him in the fold, the Bruins should be able to build an elite offense.
Moore will certainly push for playing time next season, but the Bruins just added Collin Schlee from Kent State in the transfer portal, so the assumption is the two would compete for the job in the spring and next fall camp.
Either way, the quarterback position at UCLA football is looking better than it has in a long, long time.
What’s next for Oregon football?
This is a huge recruiting loss for Oregon football and there’s no way around it. Dante Moore was the gem of the 2023 recruiting class and now the Ducks are scrambling.
The good news is that Dan Lanning was prepared for this it seems. Adam Gorney tweeted that Oregon hosted another top-ranked quarterback over the weekend and appears to be in a strong position to flip said quarterback by Wednesday.
I've been told Oregon was fully aware Dante Moore's flip was more than possible and has contingency plans in place including a top QB on campus this past weekend.
— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) December 19, 2022
Signing Day is fun.
Steve Wiltfong reported that Oregon was in communication with Austin Novosad, who has also heard from TCU and Notre Dame this weekend.
Novosad is a top-100 prospect and one that had gotten interest from Ohio State too before he recommitted to Baylor. The Bears are still looking to fend off other suitors and if Novosad did visit, that would be bad news for the Bears.
Next. Predicting where top transfer QBs will land. dark
It would be great news for the Ducks, who thought Dante Moore was going to be their next starter at quarterback following Bo Nix, who announced he will return for the 2023 season.