Former Bruin Prepared to Be Full-Time Starter with Oregon

The UCLA Bruins better be prepared for the noise surrounding former quarterback Dante Moore. Because it’s coming.

The Bruins won’t be squaring off against the Oregon Ducks this year like they did last season, but the fact that their old friend in Moore is now a conference rival can’t sit well with them.

Moore spent his freshman year in Westwood, coming out of high school as a five-star recruit, and started out of the gate for then-coach Chip Kelly. And everything seemed to work out just great to start off the season.

Kelly eased Moore in as the starter, attempting to focus on the run with his hefty running back room, featuring Carson Steele and TJ Harden, while also showcasing Moore’s skills that made him out to be a five-star.

Moore started his collegiate career with a 4-1 record and completed passes at a 56% rate. He also threw eight touchdowns and four interceptions.

But then, after one abysmal game against Oregon State, where he went 14-for-33 with a touchdown and three picks, Kelly benched him for Ethan Garbers.

It wasn’t until Week 12 where Moore got another crack at it against Cal when Garbers went down with an injury. Moore then threw for 266 yards, a touchdown, and two picks on 60.5% completion.

It was clear there was dissent between Moore and Kelly, and it led to Moore entering the transfer portal and finding himself in Eugene.

It wasn’t a hard choice for him. Prior to committing to UCLA, he originally committed to Oregon and realized that the grass wasn’t greener in Westwood than it was in Eugene.

Sitting behind Heisman candidate Dillon Gabriel, Moore sat and learned how to conduct himself as a pro under Gabriel’s tutelage.

“When I hit the portal, yeah, I kind of knew exactly where I was going,” Moore said. “More of it was just understanding I was really close to the coaching staff out here. [Offensive coordinator] Coach [Will] Stein, I didn’t know—it’s kind of hard to build a relationship in high school when coach [Kenny] Dillingham left—but overall had a great, productive year with Bo [Nix] and then Gabriel for the past two years. He’s a great coach.”

Now, with Gabriel onto the NFL and getting drafted to the Cleveland Browns, it’s Moore’s turn to handle duties as the head honcho under center, and he’s impressing the important people.

“Dante has all the ability in the world, has the arm talent,” said Oregon coach Dan Lanning during spring practice. “I’ve been really pleased with his intelligence to get us checked into a positive play. A lot of times playing football, it's advantage offense, advantage defense based on the call. He's done a great job of getting us in an advantage call. Whenever he sees a certain look, being able to adjust and adapt to that.”

He also impressed incoming freshman Dakorien Moore, the five-star-plus wide receiver who was ranked as the top recruit in the nation for the 2025 class.

“I think he will win the Heisman this year,” Dakorien said on Ryan Clark’s The Pivot Podcast.

It’s finally Dante Moore’s time to show out, and even though UCLA won the prize of the transfer portal in Nico Iamaleava, eyes will certainly be glued to Moore’s progression in Eugene.

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