Oregon's redshirt sophomore quarterback Dante Moore has played lights out in his first two starts with the Ducks. Moore has completed 34 of his 44 passing attempts for 479 yards and six touchdowns.
Moore started his career at UCLA before transferring to Oregon in 2024 and sitting behind Dillon Gabriel for a year. Now, the young quarterback is ready to be the man in charge for the Ducks in 2025.
Fox Sports' college football analyst Joel Klatt watched Oregon's film this week, as he'll be on the broadcast for Oregon's game against Northwestern on Saturday, and had a bold statement after watching Moore's performance through the first two weeks of the season.
Klatt Believes Moore Could Be Better Than Nix, Gabriel
On his show, The Joel Klatt Show, the college football analyst broke down why he believes Moore could be the best quarterback head coach Dan Lanning has had in recent years at Oregon.
"Dante Moore, ladies and gentlemen, is a quarterback that I think could be better than the quarterbacks that Lanning has had at Oregon in the last few years," Klatt said. "And I loved Bo Nix and I loved Dillon Gabriel. So that's saying a lot."
Nix and Gabriel are a couple of the most accomplished quarterback, stat-wise, in recent college football history.
Nix threw for 15,351 yards and 113 touchdowns in his college career and led the FBS in completion percentage and touchdowns in his senior year. Gabriel topped Nix's incredible career numbers with 18,722 passing yards and 155 touchdowns, and he led the Big Ten with 275.5 passing yards per game in his senior year.
Now, both former Ducks are in the NFL. However, Klatt believes Moore has the ability to outshine both former Oregon greats.
#Oregon QB Dante Moore has looked incredible through the first two weeks of the CFB season.
— Andy (@AndyyNFL) September 9, 2025
479 pass yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs — I expect Moore to build off of this and kickstart a pedigree in the 2026 NFL Draft. pic.twitter.com/OQybFgyJza
"His ceiling is going to be higher than those guys, and he's already been there. Now remember, he transferred and sat last year behind Dillon Gabriel," Klatt said. "So he's got enough of the offense and enough of a grasp of the offense under Will Stein, the offensive coordinator, that they're already doing things that Dillon Gabriel never got to.
"(Bo Nix) was a first round draft pick, and Dante Moore has more talent than he does. He just does. His arm talent jumps off the tape. His ceiling is higher."
That's a lot of expectation for the 20-year-old quarterback, but he's exceeded expectations through the first two weeks.
Klatt may be jumping the gun on the Ducks' signal caller, or he may see the potential Moore brings, and believes Lanning and his coaching staff will bring it out.
Moore's first road test comes on Saturday against Northwestern, and Big Noon Fox will be in attendance.