There’s a stark contrast between the top two quarterbacks on the Oregon roster in 2024.
The Ducks have a seasoned veteran versus a sophomore quarterback still finding his footing in the collegiate football landscape. They have a recent five-star recruit versus a player who was a consensus three-star six years ago.
The experiences that transfer quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore have had up until this point are very different. What Oregon possesses, however, is a quarterback duo that most programs across the country envy.
The Ducks were aggressive in the transfer portal in an offseason like no other. They replaced their Heisman Trophy finalist Bo Nix with not one, but two of the top quarterbacks in the portal. Now, Oregon is set up for success beyond just the 2024 season.
Gabriel is the presumed starter for 2024. He spent 2019 through 2021 at the University of Central Florida before playing two years at Oklahoma University. Gabriel recorded 30 passing touchdowns on 3,660 yards to go along with 12 rushing touchdowns for the Sooners last season.
Oregon gets a proven quarterback to ease the transition from the Nix era of Ducks football. Gabriel also has the experience of being a transfer quarterback at Oklahoma to help him.
“It’s like getting a new car but there’s new buttons and accessories but you have to go out and race it,” Gabriel said at Oregon Media Day. “As you find out more about it, you can do more fun tricks and kind of show off while doing it. I just feel like I have full command of it now.”
The sixth-year quarterback enters the Ducks’ program with 49 career starts. His 125 career passing touchdowns rank eighth all-time among college quarterbacks.
Moore, on the other hand, enters his sophomore year after a difficult season at UCLA. He was thrown into action early with the Bruins, starting five games and appearing in nine. He tallied 11 touchdown passes, but threw nine interceptions and was sacked 25 times.
“Last year, I truly appreciate playing as a true freshman. Many times it was challenging being out there,” Moore said at Media Day. “A lot of mistakes were made, but I feel like the biggest thing as a quarterback is getting developed.”
Moore originally committed to Oregon when he was in high school. He flipped his commitment to UCLA when former offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham left to take the head coaching position at Arizona State University.
Moore finally winds up with the team he committed to in July 2022. Instead of backing up Nix, Gabriel will be the veteran quarterback Moore learns from.
“He’s been in college for a really long time, so just being able to ask him questions about certain coverages, certain ways he just throws the ball in this situation, I just really appreciate it,” Moore said of Gabriel. “I feel like as a quarterback room, we’re just never looking at, ‘This person’s higher than this person.’ We just always look at each other as one.”
Freshman Luke Moga and redshirt freshmen Austin Novosad and Brock Thomas join Gabriel and Moore as members of the 2024 quarterback room.
Moore has expressed that he’s fine with not being at the top of the depth chart this season. Appreciating the journey and being patient is something he said he’s learned from Gabriel’s collegiate career.
“If this is my year, this is my year. If it’s not my year, I’m of course redshirting [and] things of that nature,” Moore said at Media Day. “I feel like the biggest thing [Gabriel] just told me is patience.”
Ducks fans are very fortunate when it comes to star quarterbacks. They will seemingly go from watching Nix to cheering on Gabriel to likely having Moore as the head of the offense.
But Moore had a simple response when asked on media day how he defines a successful season — and it had nothing to do with starting or individual performance.
“A national championship,” Moore said. “It hasn’t been done in the history of Oregon, and I feel like this year we’re very talented. Mentally, we’re really prepared [as well as] physically prepared.”