Oregon Football: Breaking down flip of 4-star Austin Novosad

Oregon football pulled off one of the big early surprises on Early National Signing Day by flipping four-star quarterback Austin Novosad from Baylor.

A couple of days ago, it seemed like Oregon football might get left empty-handed when the quarterback carousel of the 2023 recruiting class stopped spinning.

Dante Moore, the five-star quarterback out of Detroit, who has been committed to the Oregon football program since last summer, flipped his commitment to UCLA just days before Early National Signing Day.

It obviously caused a panic among Duck fans. Moore was one of the top recruiting wins the Ducks have ever had and while it still stings and will continue to in the coming years, Oregon football fans got some good news on Early National Signing Day as the Ducks flipped four-star QB Austin Novosad from Baylor.

Here’s a look at what it means for both the Ducks and the Bears.

Oregon football gets its QB

Novosad isn’t Dante Moore, but he’s still a really good get for Oregon. He’s ranked 119th overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings and is ranked 10th among QBs.

The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder out of Dripping Springs, Texas has really seen his stock rise too. He was ranked in the 400s when he committed to the Bears.

However, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, and other programs pushed to flip him earlier in the 2023 cycle, before he reaffirmed his commitment to the Bears.

Yet, with a huge need for a long-term option after Bo Nix, the Ducks struck quickly and you can bet that NIL certainly had something to do with the decision of Novosad. There was a rumor of a huge NIL deal for Moore and with Phil Knight lurking, you know that’s part of it.

Baylor football fans have a right to be salty and they will be. The Bears struggled to a 6-6 season this year under Dave Aranda which also maybe took some of the shine off the Bears, who were the defending Big 12 champions coming into the season.

It’s hard to say exactly what happened, but the hiring of Will Stein certainly seemed to help Oregon’s cause as did a late unofficial visit last weekend. Baylor didn’t take a quarterback in the 2022 recruiting class either and it’s frankly devastating for the Bears, who now have the No. 28 overall class but no elite fixture at QB to develop.