If you thought Oregon’s QB room was in for a wild makeover this offseason, Dan Lanning had other plans. Despite having just one player with any real starting experience, the Ducks’ head coach doubled down on what he’s got. After the spring game, when pressed on why Oregon didn’t dip into the transfer portal for another quarterback, Lanning didn’t flinch. “I like the guys that we’ve got right now,” Lanning said. Translation? No emergency shopping spree needed—Lanning’s riding with his guys.
And it’s not just the QB room where he’s holding firm. When it comes to linebackers, same story. Oregon could have easily snagged a few more bodies from the portal, but Lanning stayed true to his evaluation. “We won’t pursue anybody in the portal for a linebacker. I feel really good about our linebacker group, I like the guys we have,” he said. It’s a big shift considering how aggressively Lanning has used the portal before. Remember, this is the same program that turned heads by pulling in names like Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel in recent years.
But the tide is shifting in Eugene. Instead of loading up on mercenaries, Oregon is moving toward a more homegrown formula—one that still includes a few key transfer splashes like UCLA’s Dante Moore. And while the Ducks are riding a wave of recruiting and portal success, there’s one looming threat that could either make or break this whole plan. On the April 28th episode of Josh Pate’s CFB show, Oregon’s “what-if” scenario took center stage. And let’s just say it wasn’t all good. “Oregon, everyone blindly expects to be in the national championship hunt every year. I’m one of those people. I’m not blind; I know what they’ve done…. They’re the kind of brand now that has earned the benefit of the doubt,” Pate said. But then came the gut punch…..
“Oregon could have had terminal issues on the offensive line had they not addressed it,” Pate warned. “They could have been a team that came into this season, and you looked at it and said, ‘What wide receiver has been for Penn State lately, the O-line will be for Oregon.’ Don’t care how good they are elsewhere; that offensive line’s going to hold them back.” That’s a brutal but fair assessment. Without shoring up the trenches, Oregon risked watching their championship dreams crumble, no matter how stacked the roster elsewhere. Think of Penn State’s wide receiver drama—now imagine it on the O-line. That’s the “terminal” problem Pate was hinting at.
Luckily, Dan Lanning wasn’t caught sleeping. Oregon aggressively patched those gaps, adding Isaiah World at left tackle, Emanuel Pregnon at guard, and Alex Harkey at right tackle. And according to Pate, it’s not just a quantity game—it’s about quality fits. Schools like Oregon, he said, tend to “hit” at a much higher clip when they bring transfers in. Pate also tipped his hat to Makhi Hughes, a running back from Tulane, who comes in with star potential, and Dillon Thieneman, a ball-hawking safety from Purdue, who could immediately be an all-Big Ten caliber performer.
So, is Oregon in the clear? Well, sort of. Their Vegas win total sits at 10.5, and they’re the No. 2 favorite to win the Big Ten. But as Pate put it, “if all those pieces gel and the injury luck is on their side,” is the magic phrase. “Copy and paste that for every team,” he joked. In short, Oregon’s portal haul wasn’t just for show—it was survival.
Still, even with a reloaded offensive line, Lanning isn’t without his headaches—and one of them comes in the form of blunt expectations for his shiny new quarterback.
Dan Lanning’s QB vision for Oregon
Since the early 2000s, Oregon’s been a quarterback factory. Joey Harrington set the tone, leading the Ducks to national prominence. Then came Dennis Dixon, Darron Thomas, Marcus Mariota—a Heisman winner—and more recently, Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel carried the torch.
Gabriel, the transfer from Oklahoma, was electric last year, helping Oregon to an undefeated season and a No. 1 College Football Playoff seed. Now, it’s Dante Moore’s turn. After transferring from UCLA, Moore sat and learned behind Gabriel—and now, the Ducks are handing him the keys.
Moore’s freshman numbers at UCLA were a mixed bag: 11 touchdowns, 9 interceptions on 213 attempts. Solid, but not earth-shattering. And given Oregon’s ridiculously high QB bar, he’s walking into a pressure cooker.
“The bar has been set pretty high at Oregon. You got to be a Heisman finalist, right? That’s an absolutely unfair thing to say,” J.D. PicKell said on his show. He didn’t sugarcoat the challenge ahead. “To be the guy at Oregon feels like kind of, you know, heavy expectations,” PicKell added. “But look at how the system is built. They’re not going to ask him to make all these NFL-caliber throws. Get the ball to playmakers, be on time, be on schedule.” In other words, Moore doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Oregon’s system is built to make life easier on quarterbacks—quick decisions, rhythm throws, and let the athletes around you do the rest. It’s not about hero ball. It’s about execution.
The good news for Moore? He’s not walking into a new playbook cold. Having a full year inside the Oregon system, even from the sidelines, gives him a major leg up compared to other transfer quarterbacks trying to learn everything by August. If Dante Moore can tap into the blueprint Oregon laid out for him—and handle the crazy expectations that come with it—he might just be the next star in Eugene. And if not? Well, that “terminal” issue Josh Pate warned about might not stay limited to just the offensive line.
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