Oregon's Drew Mehringer Highlights Dante Moore's Biggest Area of Growth

Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer is in his first fall camp in his new position with the Ducks, but he has been in Eugene to witness firsthand how quarterback Dante Moore has developed at Oregon.

Moore returns to a familiar role as the Ducks' starting quarterback, and even though Mehringer has entered a new role, he pointed out the biggest change that he's seen in Moore. See what the Oregon offensive coordinator had to say about Moore, the Ducks wide receivers, and being called a scientist by some of his players.

On Dante Moore's Growth:

oregon ducks drew mehringer offensive coordinator will stein dan lanning big ten dante moore dylan raiola quarterback — Nov 8, 2025; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore (5) warms up before the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"I think the area that Dante has grown the most is in leadership, right? And I think for him, two years ago, it's not his team. Even for Poncho (Iapani Laloulu), guys like Poncho it's still not not really his team. And guys like that have grown into those roles, and they are the standard for the way that things operate. So I think his biggest growth in development has been in his leadership role and the way that he pushes guys outside. And not just does it with his words, does it with his actions," said Mehringer.

"Like he'll be the first one at a signal meeting, right? It's really designed for young guys, new guys that haven't been around. But he'll be there, right? And he'll make sure that freshmen are there. So for that, I think the skills, like the tangible skills that you see on tape, yeah, all of those like he pushes, he grows, all that stuff."

"But playing that position so much more than just taking a snap, handing it off or throwing a slant. You're the heartbeat, foundation. You're the spark of what's going to happen. And we saw it in big games last year, and I think we'll continue to see him grow. His understanding and knowledge is fantastic. You know, some of the best I've ever been around," Mehringer continued.

On 'The Scientist' Label:

"That's news to me. I think it's cool that the players have respect for what you know. I didn't know that until now. But I think that we're all just trying to do the best we can to put them in the best position possible and continue to educate them on more than just what they do on any given play, but how the game works. And what can prepare them to play at the next level and play for as long as they possibly can," said Mehringer.

"So, I think anything like that, you know, it's great. Just gotta go out and get a little bit better every day and keep teaching them to keep growing."

How Far the Offense Has Progressed:

"Complexity is a little bit of a double-edged sword, right? So every single year, there's gonna be, especially in this day and age of college football, there's always gonna be new new faces. And you can be super complex, but you it's a little bit of a balance, I guess. It's at at the expense of what? You could run 100 million plays, how many reps you gonna get all those plays, so how well do you think they're gonna get executed in the game?"

"So it's it's our job as coaches to create that balance to where we're not running the same play every single time, and everybody in Autzen Stadium knows exactly what play is coming, much less the defense. But make sure that we get the reps necessary so that when we do play in Autzen Stadium and we call that play, the players know how to execute it versus the myriad defenses they could see and certainly our defenses gives us a lot of those looks already, so they do a lot of stuff."

On the Youth in Oregon's Wide Receiver Room:

"I think that coach Douglas, Ross has done an unbelievable job of bringing in good players. We tell everybody that if you're good enough, you're old enough. There are no jobs that have been solidified or anything like that, you got to go out and earn it every single day. There's been plenty of examples throughout the history of sports and in any other industry, I would assume, right?"

"We use the the Wally Pipp story quite a bit and say, 'Hey, you think you can take a day off? You know, and Lou Gehrig may take your job and may never give it back.' So, it's a meritocracy. You gotta go out and earn it, and I think that we have good culture here on the entire organization, to where guys feel that and they push and they push each other. Even so much so that they want the other side of the ball to push them, which I think is cool."

"So for the young guys in the wide receiver room, I think they gotta continue to grow and see where they're at. I think that at this point still in fall camp, right now, they just came off a great summer. Wilson Love did an unreal job with those guys. I mean, they look completely different which is awesome to see. I mean, it's a testament to him and what the players did over the summer. But I think we'll have a better understanding of where we're at probably, in a week or so to figure that out."

On Iverson 'Strap' Hooks

"We brought Strap (Iverson Hooks) here because he's a good player, right? It's not that, he's got to climb a mountain. You know, it's not like me going out there trying to crack the the depth chart for the Oregon Ducks wide receiver room. Scout team forever over here, you know what I mean? But Strap's a great player."

"I think too we do a little bit more than he was doing from what I gather, from what he's told me. And he's continuing to grow in this offense, and I think that he makes plays for us. He does out there, and so we're excited about where he's at, and like I said, he's got like everybody else, he's got to continue to grow him. But he's in a great spot, and if he keeps pushing, I think that he'll help us a lot this year."

On How He Feels About His New Role:

"I think I have a better understanding of who we are, what we can do at this moment. I do think there's obviously a a clear transition from my role last year to what it is this year. Just the general organization of a lot of people is more of a task that I thought it would be, to be honest. But it's great, and we have an unbelievable offensive staff that takes a lot of charge, and I don't have to worry about as much things as you maybe think that I would."

"So I'm unbelievably thankful for them, but yeah, I think that me and Hamp (Chris Hampton) are are growing and getting better. And like we talked about it as a staff, you know, when we're watching practice tape: 'These are the two things that I messed up in practice, right? These are the two things that I gotta get better at.' And it's cool sharing ideas with him, 'Hey, this is hard for us. All right, let's do something with that, right?'"

"And the same thing vice versa. So we can challenge each other to have better answers, so by the time we come and play this thing live, I think we can be as good as we possibly can be," Mehringer said.

On Dierre Hill Jr:

"I think any time you get a guy that's a dynamic player, right? You just go back a year ago to this point, we really didn't even know at that time what Dierre was really gonna do, right? Really Dierre was kind of coming on, midway through season and you see this burst down the field, and it's like, 'hey, we gotta do something with this guy,'" said Mehringer.

"And I think that that's growing, but I think more of that has to do with the mentality that Dierre has. And him and Jordon Davison had have been unbelievable in in terms of their work ethic. And so as you grow both of their roles, to be honest, they have a lot more to learn, right? So there's going to be some more mistakes, and that's okay, right? They're working as hard as they can at it."

"And so, if you've got a guy that can get out in space and run and score and things like that, let's find ways to go do that and help him help us," said Mehringer.

On Changes to the Offense:

It's kind of that the old they the age old adages of football. We don't turn the ball over and we create explosive plays, right? And so as we continue to do that, Will (Stein) did a great job last year, and we've got to find ways to run the football at times when we need to, and I think, you know, as we get down into the red zone, we can grow there and do some better things there.

"So I think we're looking at all of that, and we got a fresh slate of guys that might be playing for us up front, you know? And so what can they do, and how can we help them? I think every year it's a new puzzle to figure out, and last year is last year and we kind of leave it there."

"And what can we do moving forward rather than. . . You look at it from like where can we improve, but moreso of how can we take the personnel that we have to go improve that rather than we just need to fix this problem, if that makes sense? Because it might be a completely different solution," said Mehringer.

On Dylan Raiola:

"Dylan's a super smart player, great arm talent. Excited about where he's grown. I think he's done a tremendous job of working to get his body right, working on his own to not only know the offense but also like integrate into the team. And I think that a guy like that, it takes a it takes a sense of humility to to be him, and so I have a lot of respect for him and for what he's done and how he's integrated into this team."

"He's growing and doing a great job. Love where he's at. I think that we all knew he was talented. It was never an issue of whether or not he was talented, but it's harnessing all of that and getting it to go in the right direction for him. And I think he's embraced that and is continuing to grow that way. And that for us, that's been really exciting," said Mehringer.

Dante Moore Representing Oregon Nationally:

"I think that one of the things that makes Dante great is Dante is going to be uniquely himself all the time. It doesn't mean that he's going to be himself in spite of his responsibilities. I think he embraces that role. I think probably and again, it's always funny when we start talking about like these types of questions with 20, he just turned 21, right? 21-year-old kids. That they're having to be grow up like 15 years all of a sudden, you know, feeling seemingly overnight, right?"

"But the cool thing about him is he's never not been himself. He's never, despite everything else that goes around him, at his heart, he's still a kid that likes to hang out at his house. He doesn't like to do a whole lot, he'll hang out with the guys from time to time. He's a normal kid. He likes to play golf now, which is great, you know? So how has he handled it? I think he's taking everything in stride, but I think part of the cool thing and you don't see it very often is he hasn't changed who he is."

"He hasn't changed his values. He hasn't changed his routines. He hasn't changed anything about himself. He just understands that, 'hey, there's a few more things I gotta do.' And I think that's that's hard for a 21 year old to be able to do, but he's done it, I think extremely well."

The Value of Iapani "Poncho" Laloulu:

"I don't think that you could ever really put a value on having a great player with a ton of experience that's also a phenomenal leader. I mean, those people are invaluable. So yeah, I'm super thankful that that Poncho is here. Poncho is the the rock, the apex in there, and not only great for the offensive line unit, but great for the offense and the team as a whole. Just the way that if Poncho gets coached on anything, like Pancho's not the fourth year starter guy that's like, 'Coach, I'm good.' Like he's like, 'Got it, coach. yep, I'm gonna get that fixed.' Like it's day one, right?"

I listen to a story about Jerry Rice and his 19th year in the NFL in the same offense, right and they're putting in drag and slant arrow, and he's writing it down. Like he's never run that play before and he's run that play 10,000 times, right? But it's the point to him that he's like he's not he's not too big time to take notes and and learn something new that day. And I feel that way about Poncho, and it just leaves no excuse for anybody else in the program. And he's vocal, he's tough, he's physical, or he's everything that you want that kid to be. So the value of him? I don't know that you could place a value on that. That's extremely hard find," said Mehringer.

On Da'Juan 'Dink' Riggs:

"Dink's doing great. I think that Dink's pushing as hard as he's ever pushed, and I do think that for some guys, setbacks change the way that they view life. I think that probably happens for all of us. And to where, not everything is just gonna happen the way that it always has. You don't just go from JV football to varsity and then 'Hey, I'm pretty good, so I know I'm gonna go play college. It's just a matter of like where.'

So Dink is pushing as hard as I've ever seen him push, and it's been awesome to watch. He's extremely focused and competitive. I think that room is really, really tight. I think Samp (Ra'Shaad Samples) does a really good job in that room, and so he's got two other guys in that room that are also pushing him, but he's also having to lead some of the new guys that are in that room as well."

"So, he's not a super vocal guy or anything like that. He's pretty quiet, right? But he's tough, he works his tail off. . . . I think that if he continues to do what he does, he's right there. He's right in the mix and we're excited about where he's going," Mehringer said.

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