Dante Moore outside the top 5 of ESPN's pre-spring QB rankings
It didn't take a genius to see that Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore was among the best pure passers in all of college football in 2025. What's even more impressive is that it was the former five-star's first full season as a starter.
He established himself as a Heisman Trophy candidate early in the season and put himself in the conversation to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, despite the weariness that NFL teams have for quarterbacks with a lack of starts at the college level. That's how talented Moore is and how good his film was.
His decision to return to the Ducks for another season in order to further prepare for the pro level and chase a national championship was the mature move, and one that you'd think would lead him to be a no-doubt top five quarterback in college football next season. Well, you'd be wrong, according to ESPN college football analyst Bill Connelly.
With spring practices beginning around the country, Connelly compiled a ranking of all 68 projected Power 4 starting quarterbacks — and it took a little longer than many might expect to find Moore's name.
Kicking off the list was Notre Dame's CJ Carr , who started in 2025 as a redshirt freshman and tossed 24 touchdowns versus six interceptions. Ohio State's Julian Sayin followed, who was the most precise passer in the nation a season ago. Trinidad Chambliss from Ole Miss came next, as he was electric once he took over the starting job for the Rebels and lobbied his way in court for another season of eligibility.
Then, the list begins to get a little questionable.
Texas ' Arch Manning and USC's Jayden Maiava round out the top five, both of which haven't done much of anything significant regarding postseason football. Manning struggled mightily during the first half of the 2025 season before showing improvement and promise in the final six games. Meanwhile, Maiava threw 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, a pair of which came against the Ducks in a late-season matchup with postseason implications on the line. The Trojans had a pair of potential first-round picks out wide in Makai Lemon and Ja'Kobi Lane.
For reference, Moore cycled through several different starting receiver groups and finished the season with the same amount of interceptions but six more touchdown passes than Maiava. Yet in Connelly's list, Moore came in at No. 6, a slot below the Trojans' signal-caller.
Here's what Connelly had to say about Moore:
"When you're receiving top-five draft hype, it's hard to say no to the NFL whether you're actually ready or not. That Moore knew he wasn't ready and returned for one more year was pretty impressive. To be sure, Moore is almost ready. He finished 2025 ranked fifth in completion rate, sixth in touchdown passes (30) and 10th in catchable ball rate (83.3%), and for the second straight season Oregon lost only to the team that eventually won the national title. But against the best defenses he faced -- Indiana (twice), Texas Tech and Iowa -- he struggled mightily, throwing more picks (five) than touchdowns (three), averaging only 9.7 yards per completion and taking 11 sacks.
"It didn't help that his receiving corps was a revolving door with no single wideout starting more than nine games; simply having a more experienced and stable set of options at his disposal will help. So will pure experience . He was a first-year starter, after all. His return gives Oregon a better shot at breaking down its one remaining barrier and winning a national title."
It remains unclear what led Connelly to put Moore behind Maiava considering the entire body of work. At this point, Moore has a season and a half of starts under his belt plus three games of College Football Playoff experience.
There's an argument that there's a better case for Moore to be at No. 1 than at No. 6 — but at the end of the day, everything will come to light once the season kicks off this fall.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Dante Moore outside the top 5 of ESPN's pre-spring QB rankings
