Urban Meyer hopes Dante Moore backs up as a rookie if he enters NFL Draft

Dante Moore‘s tenure as an Oregon Duck could have potentially come to an end following his team’s 56-22 loss to Indiana in the Peach Bowl (CFP Semifinal) last Friday night. Moore, who is tabbed as Mel Kiper Jr.‘s No. 1 ranked QB prospect in the upcoming NFL Draft, has yet to reveal his next steps.

In his lone season as Oregon‘s starting quarterback, Moore led the Ducks to a 13-2 record and their second consecutive appearance in the College Football Playoff. The former UCLA transfer completed an impressive 71.8% of his passes for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns with 10 interceptions this season. Moore originally transferred to Oregon prior to the 2024 season, but sat behind Dillon Gabriel.

Ahead of Moore’s decision to stay in Eugene or turn pro, Urban Meyer revealed that he hopes Moore gets to sit behind a veteran quarterback for a season if he enters the NFL Draft.

“So many things can happen to you, man,” Meyer said about Moore potentially returning to school. “I just hope if he goes somewhere, he can go sit and learn for a year. I hate that when they throw the rookie quarterback in there and you just wish you had some veteran ahead of him. Jordan Love learned from Aaron Rodgers, and Aaron Rodgers learned from Brett Favre. That was the perfect way for a quarterback to have success.”

Todd McShay claims Dante Moore isn’t ready for the NFL

Oregon has already executed a backup plan in case Moore does decide to dart for the NFL, as it brought in Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola from the Transfer Portal. NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay claimed that Moore wasn’t ready for the NFL following the Peach Bowl loss to Indiana.

“My point is, I’m looking at Dante Moore in his 20th start and he looks like a guy,” McShay said on his podcast after the Peach Bowl. “And yeah, the running back on the RPO shouldn’t have hit his elbow when he went to throw. But the strip-sack and several other plays, I’m watching a quarterback – yes, your receivers are covered up, but we’ve got speed up that clock, man. I don’t think Dante Moore’s ready.”

“He can come back next year, play 12, 13, 15 more games and now, he’s in the range we’re talking about with [Matthew] Stafford, Lamar [Jackson], Dak [Prescott], Caleb [Williams], [Jordan] Love. I feel a lot more comfortable, then. But also, that’s the last game he played with Will Stein, who’s going to be the Kentucky head coach. There’s just a lot of factors here.”

If Moore was to jump to the NFL Draft, he would do so after making just 29 career appearances (nine at UCLA, 20 at Oregon). McShay claimed that he would like to see Detroit native get yet another year of reps before making the leap, but his decision is yet to be seen.