He had just made the biggest decision of his life. Millions of dollars, a jumpstart on an NFL career, and possibly a spot with the New York Jets were all discarded for one more shot at winning a national championship. And the first thing Dante Moore did after announcing he was coming back to Oregon for another year was grab his clubs.
"As soon as that happened, I turned my phone off and went to go golf," Moore said at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago this week, grinning. "Probably the best thing I had done that day."
Only Moore would handle walking away from a potential $55 million NFL contract the same way most people handle a bad week at work. If you're wondering, it wasn't all good. He golfed badly that afternoon in mid-January.
Six months later, the 20-year-old quarterback sits at the center of Oregon's national championship ambitions in 2026. The Ducks enter this season as one of the sport's most dangerous teams, ranked No. 3 in CBS Sports' spring top 25, with 14 returning starters -- tying for the second-most returners in the country -- and 66% of their production from last season also back.
It all starts with Moore. He completed nearly 72% of his passes for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns against 10 interceptions while leading Oregon to the College Football Playoff semifinals, where it was blown out by eventual national champion Indiana by 34 points. Moore threw a pick six on the first offensive play of the game and then fumbled twice in the first half as the Ducks fell behind 35-7 at halftime.
When the game ended, Moore went back home and thought hard about his future. Draft experts projected him as high as the No. 2 overall pick, just behind Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Surely, it crossed his mind that he didn't want his final game as a Duck to be that bad.
"Yeah, there were days when I, for sure, looked back," Moore said this week. "When I first made that decision, I was kind of just thinking to myself, is this the right way? But it's the past now. I'm making sure I'm bringing full pressure and applying pressure to this upcoming year."
He added: "There ain't nothing else after this, so might as well."
When Oregon coach Dan Lanning found out Moore was staying, he didn't send a text or make a call. After all, he was in the same building, watching ESPN's SportsCenter, where Moore made his announcement. So, instead, he came through the door.
"I didn't tell anybody, actually," Moore said. "My agent and my dad were the only ones who knew. And then I announced it, and then coach Lanning came pushing through the door and jumped on top of the desk and started screaming."
He paused and smiled. "So I think he had a great time."
Finding ways to get better
What's changed for Moore since then is mostly physical. He put on nearly 17 pounds of muscle this offseason, going from 203 pounds after the Indiana game to 220. He credits head strength coach Wilson Love and dietitian Jessie Dart with pushing the process forward.
The schematic changes are real, too. New offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer, promoted from within after Will Stein left for Kentucky, sat Moore down this spring and asked him what he liked and didn't like. Then the two went through the entire playbook and changed things up.
"If it's just a play I don't like, how can we change it?" Moore said. "Change our perspective on how we look at it."
Lanning describes Moore's growth in simpler terms.
"He used to drink a lot of apple juice all the time," Lanning said. "I don't see that near as much. No -- he's just matured. He's always been a player that has confidence, but he does an unbelievable job handling that confidence."
What makes Moore a good leader?
"It starts with self-awareness," Lanning said. "Understanding your strengths and weaknesses. Knowing that it's OK to be vulnerable in front of your team. Not a guy that's resting on his laurels."
Mental health advocate
In March, Moore opened up about his own mental health struggles and wrote a letter to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, advocating for more virtual mental health services. Moore said he battled depression at 18, the result of the high pressure of college football and his mother's breast cancer diagnosis.
As Moore opened up about his struggles, Oregon opened up, too. Teammates initiated player-led meetings every Wednesday. In those meetings, 25 teammates open up about their lives, mental and physical struggles, and the leaders in the room ask questions that maybe coaches would never get answers to.
"We're able to really learn and dig into who each teammate is," said Oregon linebacker Teitum Tuioti, who also opted to return to school rather than pursue the NFL. "Once you learn about their why and who they are, you're going to play harder for them."
The arc of Moore's career is not a straight line. It never is for the kids who grow up in Detroit with a football in their hands and a weight on their shoulders.
Moore attended Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, leading the program to back-to-back Michigan Division 3 state titles in 2021 and 2022. He finished his high school career with nearly 10,000 passing yards and 130 touchdowns, ranking as the No. 4 overall recruit in the country. Growing up, he watched receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones make it out of Detroit as a top-tier football prospect and believed he could do the same.
"He gave me life," Moore said of Peoples-Jones, who went on to become a freshman All-American at Michigan and NFL Draft pick. "He gave me the 'I could make it out of Detroit.' … Seeing that talent make it out of Detroit, you feel like you can do it as well."
A trendsetter
Moore originally committed to Oregon, then flipped to UCLA, where the dream got complicated fast. As a freshman, his mother called with bad news: she had breast cancer. He threw three consecutive pick-sixes during a brutal three-game stretch against top-15 opponents and was benched after a Week 7 loss to Oregon State. He finished the season with nine interceptions. By December, he was in the portal.
Moore had originally been committed to Oregon before flipping late in the recruiting cycle to become one of the highest-profile signings in UCLA program history. There was one catch to going to Oregon this time: the Ducks had landed Dillon Gabriel, one of the most experienced quarterbacks in FBS history, with more than 14,000 career passing yards. Gabriel had the job locked up.
Moore viewed it as an opportunity. He redshirted, studied and waited.
It helped me a lot being able to sit one year," Moore said. "You get to learn so much. You go through all your practice reps. You get to learn from a vet. You get to ask all the questions you need to ask, and then if the person in front of you makes mistakes, you learn from them. It's like you're the little brother of a big brother, you know? If the big brother goes out there and does something stupid, you learn from it."
His completion percentage jumped nearly 20 percent from his UCLA season to when he took over as Oregon's starter in 2025. His interception rate plummeted.
A year later, Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola, once a five-star himself, followed Moore's new blueprint: he left a starting job in the Big Ten to become a backup at Oregon, where he aims to grow and learn before taking over as a starter in 2027. Moore is a trendsetter, whether he gets the credit or not. He may have sketched a new blueprint as a top-two projected draft pick who opted instead to return to school and pursue a national title -- with the help of NIL money, too.
"I think that'll be another trend," Moore said.
Added Lanning: "I think it's already a trend."
The grand finale
Moore projects as a potential No. 1 overall pick in 2027. He enters his final season at Oregon tied for the sixth-best odds to win the Heisman Trophy, according to FanDuel.
Preseason camp will begin soon in Eugene, which means his complete attention will turn to the field after spending the last few months enjoying the golf course. He's apparently a fast learner. He started playing golf in June 2025, and says he's now a 16 handicap. He plays Bandon and Pacific and has his eye on Augusta, and often teams up with his offensive coordinator on the course, strengthening a coach-player bond they hope later materializes in January with a national title.
One more year, one last chance to win Oregon's first national title.
"You never get the opportunity to go back," Lanning said. "You couldn't go back to high school after you leave high school. In college, you have a choice, you have a decision, you don't have to leave. That speaks volumes. He said, ' Hey, I want to take advantage of this opportunity that sits in front of me and use it.'"
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