Oregon Ducks in 2025: Ducks usher in a new era of 'Ballers' at Quarterback
For the first time in years, the Ducks don't quite know what to expect under center.
With the days getting shorter, it’s time to kick off our preseason coverage of the Oregon Ducks 2025 college football season. We begin today by looking at the quarterbacks.
Dante Moore was walking into receiver Dakorien Moore’s apartment earlier this spring when the QB Room group chat lit up on his phone.
Redshirt freshman Ryder Hayes had the news: Dillon Gabriel had just been drafted. Oregon’s 2024 quarterback was selected in the third round by the Cleveland Browns after a spectacular collegiate career that saw Gabriel pass for 18,722 yards and 155 touchdowns — the last 3,857 and 30 of those coming in his one season with the Ducks where he finished third in Heisman Trophy voting.
It was a proud moment for Moore, who transferred to Oregon in the same offseason as Gabriel and served as the team’s backup throughout a 13-1 season. A former 5-star who started five games as a true freshman at UCLA in 2023, Moore had places he could have played immediately outside of Westwood, but instead chose to compete with and learn from a player whose talent was validated with his April NFL selection.
“The adversity he's gone through playing for three different schools, people saying his height and that he wasn't a good player, but if you just look at the stats, they talk for themselves,” Moore said. “He's a winner and a great competitor. He pushed me a lot. I pushed him. I was born in East Cleveland and he'll be in Cleveland now. I feel like that's a good spot for him to be at to learn. Overall, he's a baller and he always told us, ‘Ballers ball, so go be a baller.’”
The Ducks have grown accustomed to those at quarterback throughout the Dan Lanning era, which is what makes the state of Oregon’s quarterback room in 2025 so intriguing.
First, the known: The Ducks have been exceptional at the position since 2022. Over the last three seasons, Oregon QBs have averaged 4,000 passing yards, 35 TDs and 6 INTS while finishing first (Bo Nix), first (Nix) and second (Gabriel) nationally in completion percentage. With their calm and veteran play at the position, Nix and Gabriel were the focal points of an Oregon program that went 35-6 in their three years to solidify the Ducks as one of college football’s powerhouses.
Yes, the prolific numbers Nix and Gabriel produced were aided by an offense that thrives on efficiency, with quick passes and screens accounting for a hefty portion of each’s completions. But these are also two quarterbacks who went to New York for the Heisman ceremony and are now on NFL rosters, with Nix being a finalist for the 2024 NFL Rookie of the Year award with the Denver Broncos.
Ballers, indeed. And a tough act to follow.
Here’s where the Ducks stand.
Moore is the heir apparent. The redshirt sophomore from Detroit totaled 9,880 yards and 135 passing touchdowns while leading Martin Luther King to consecutive Michigan state titles in high school. He earned 5-star status, was named the No. 1 player in the 2023 class by Sports Illustrated, committed to Oregon, flipped to UCLA and found himself in his first spring camp with the Bruins as a 17-year-old fighting for a starting job.
He lost the race to Ethan Garbers to start the opener, but Moore ultimately started five games for the Bruins in 2023, passing for 1,510 yards (53.5%) with 11 touchdowns and 9 interceptions — including three straight games where an interception was returned for a touchdown, which ultimately led to Garbers reclaiming the job.
“I think he’s a very resilient young man. He’s mature beyond most kids of that age. He’s still an 18-year-old kid, 18-year-old young man,” Moore’s former coach Chip Kelly said amidst his turnover struggles. “But I think that’s one of the things. He’s got a great set of intangibles. He’s a really, really resilient person. I think he has the ability to live in the present. He doesn’t live in the past. He doesn’t live in the future. He lives in the present and that’s a really special quality for people to have. So, I think it’s something in every situation he learns and he’ll grow from it.”
Kelly left UCLA that offseason. So did Moore, who ended up back in Eugene with a pretty good highlight reel and has spent the last year sharpening his command of everything about the position not taken care of by his God-given talent.
“I feel like I’m out there making more fast and decisive decisions. I’ve been protecting the ball really well,” Moore said in April. “Something I’ve been keen on is protecting the ball. I learned a lot my freshman year, but I thought this spring has been a better spring.”
He’s also letting himself make some mistakes, reminiscent of Gabriel’s arrival in 2024.
Despite coming into Oregon a year ago as one of the most accomplished passers in college football history, Gabriel was far from perfect a year ago as he grew accustomed to his third collegiate offense.
Said Gabriel in December: “Coach Lanning and [offensive coordinator Will Stein] know this spring wasn't the prettiest, but they also understand it's a marathon, and that growth happens through failure and learning,” Gabriel said. “How are you ever going to know if you can fit a ball through a tight window or challenge a certain coverage, if you don't do it?”
And said Moore in April: “This is the first phase of the season, spring ball. There's going to be a lot of mistakes, but that's good. If you're perfect, and it's insane how it can be like that, but overall I’m glad to see mistakes because you get to learn from it and build from it — especially with the young guys — it teaches a lot of great things. The chemistry is going to get there for sure.”
Plus, if Moore doesn’t push himself, Austin Novosad and the Ducks backups are nipping at the 5-star’s heels.
Novosad, a former 4-star from Dripping Springs, Texas, has seen limited game action — 13 career attempts — but has showcased a lively arm the last two springs and continued to earn praise from Oregon’s staff for his development.
“I think the guy's just a winner. I mean, he has become really comfortable in our system,” Lanning said. “He understands it, you know? And I think that Coach Stein and the offensive staff do a good job of continuing to push that, but he's just really level-headed."
Novosad isn’t the projected starter heading into the fall, but Oregon’s coaching staff hasn’t ruled him out. And while he could have been one of the dozens of quarterbacks to enter the transfer portal in the offseason and spring window, Novosad has instead kept his focus on climbing the ladder in Eugene.
"I think the biggest thing is just what we have going here, like Coach Stein, Coach Lanning, the whole offense," Novosad said when asked why he’s stuck around. “I think it's a good fit for me, and I just wanted to come out here and get better this spring.
“I think the competition within the room is super healthy. We go out there each day and push one another and help one another to be the best room that we can be. Because, you know, come fall, we're going to need all of us within that room, and I think we got a really talented one. And so it's gonna be a fun year for sure.”
Behind Novosad is where things get interesting. Luke Moga is a second-year freshman who drew eyes every time he touched the ball in the spring game. The former three-star out of Phoenix is 6-foot-2 with track star speed who showed improved touch in passing for 112 yards and a touchdown during the spring game.
With his dual-threat athleticism the position, Moga is reminiscent of Robby Ashford, who began his career with Oregon, was Auburn’s offensive player of the year in 2023 and has since moved on to South Carolina and now Wake Forest.
As more advanced passers, Moore and Novosad fit an Oregon system reliant on a high completion percentage better than Moga. But if he keeps improving, don’t be surprised to see him featured in a package or two this season to showcase his explosiveness.
Moga could also see his stock rise for the 2026 season, when the Ducks could conceivably — though highly unlikely — return an entire QB room that also includes four-star true freshman Akili Smith Jr. and walk-on redshirt sophomore Brock Thomas.
Coming off their Big Ten championship, Oregon’s roster has far more questions heading into the season then it did a year ago. They’ll need receivers to emerge, new faces on the offensive line to gel and a defense to maintain the standard set by a group that held eight opponents below 20 points in 2024.
But this is still Oregon, which means the Ducks’ roster is loaded with game breakers across the roster with a ceiling that will be determined by whether their quarterback can get them the ball at the right time.
Want to become a baller at Oregon? Start by putting the ball in the hands of one.
“Everyone wants these 50-yard bombs every play,” Stein said last fall. “It’s not reality…Everyone wants air yards and all this BS crap. Let’s score touchdowns. How do you score touchdowns? Get it to your playmakers fast.”
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor
Love it, great work Tyson!
Great article. The kid that transferred yo Texas Tech then Louisville got drafted pretty high too.