Moore Lovin': Oregon's Dan Lanning Dishes on What Makes Dante, Dakorien Special

Oregon’s Dante and Dakorien Moore aren’t related, but their approach to the game reveals striking similarities.

In an interview on "The Joel Klatt Show," head coach Dan Lanning highlighted the work his quarterback and wide receiver have put into the overlooked details — the kind that’s helped fuel Oregon's fast start to the 2025 season. He pointed to Dante Moore's growth since transferring from UCLA, noting that the third-year quarterback has been stellar in his first season as the Ducks' starter.

"The work has made Dante different," Lanning said. "I think about it myself, like what was I like as a coach when I started coaching? I wasn’t very good. … Things change over time. Dante’s a great example of someone who’s grown over time, learned how to prep and learned the answers to what defenses are doing.

"I think you look at a guy his freshman year, it’s like, ‘OK, these protections are a little bit different. These packages are a little bit different.’ Now, you’re looking at a guy who is calm within the chaos and makes big moments seem small with the way he handles them."

Before sitting behind Dillon Gabriel last season, Moore got a chance to start at UCLA in 2023. As a five-star freshman, he faced challenges, finishing the year with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions — including throwing a pick-six in three consecutive games.

Through the first three games of the 2025 season, Moore has emerged as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. He has completed 78.1% of his passes for 657 yards, seven touchdowns and an interception so far this year.

While those individual numbers might not pop out, it’s clear that Moore is in command of his team's offense. Oregon has scored a touchdown on 17 of the 22 drives he’s been on the field for, with two drives resulting in field goals. That’s why FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt recently ranked Moore as his third-best quarterback in the nation.

Dakorien Moore, a five-star recruit himself, has been a beneficiary of Dante's efficient play so far this year. The freshman wide receiver has nine receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown, adding three rushes for 42 yards and a score.

While Dakorien has made several highlight-worthy plays, Lanning emphasized that it’s his work in other areas that makes him a "really special" player.

"If you go watch him block in practice, that’s what gets you excited," Lanning said. "He’s figured out early on that the impact he can make for the team isn’t only when he has the ball. You can make an impact for your team the way you play every single down. He’s really taken huge steps in that direction.

"He’s going to be a really special player. He’s already hard to guard. He’s dynamic with the ball in his hands. But when he’s a guy that’s going to create explosive plays because of how he blocks down the field, that will be a special piece for us."

There isn’t a quantifiable stat that shows how well a wide receiver can block. But Moore has already made a few blocks that have garnered some love on social media, with Urban Meyer naming him his "Edge Player of the Week" for a block he made in Week 1.

"This is all about effort," Meyer said of Moore’s block. "He made a decision to finish the play. Look at his finish, one of the greatest finishes I’ve ever seen. That’s the culture of Oregon football: toughness and finishing plays. I promise you, Dan Lanning [showed that] as the first play in the team meeting."

As Meyer said, that effort is just an example of the culture that Lanning has built at Oregon through his first few seasons at Eugene. But even as the team has gotten off to a 3-0 start after making the College Football Playoff last year, Lanning knows he has to continue to set the bar high to maintain that culture.

"When you know you can do better, you get disappointed when you don’t reach that," Lanning told Klatt of Oregon’s 34-14 win over Northwestern. "That’s our job as coaches, is to get the best out of our players. We found out some things about our team in moments of adversity. But when you have to convert third-and-8s and third-and-11s consistently, that’s going to be hard chopping for you. When you don’t stop the run the way you want to on defense, that’s going to create some hard roads ahead.

"We know what it has to look like in the future and what has to improve. That’s what we walked away with. Ultimately, we won the game in a defining manner. There’s a standard here at Oregon that we want to play by and we probably didn’t reach that last Saturday."

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