Dan Lanning talks balance of Oregon QB room with Dillon Gabriel, Dante Moore

Dan Lanning likes the balance and culture of the Oregon quarterback room with Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore at the top.

Gabriel and Moore transferred in but Gabriel is in his last season. Moore, a former five-star, started a handful of games at UCLA last year before coming to Eugene.

But the talent and culture mesh really well and Lanning can’t wait to see them grow this fall.

“More important than what they are as players, these guys are unbelievable humans,” Lanning said on The Herd. “And they want to be where they’re going to develop but they’re great teammates. You got to see these guys in the locker room interact with their teammates and that’s what I think we have and you know in that entire quarterback room. You also got a young guy and often Austin Novosad that had an unbelievable spring. But you know, Dante can make every throw known to man, Dillon has unbelievable experience. So I’m really excited about our quarterback room.

There are young guns there, but the primary objective is to get everyone prepared, particularly Gabriel and Moore.
“And you just step out there in the field every day and say how can we get better because you never know which one you’re going to need, who you’re going to call on on game day,” Lanning said. “But having that talent in that room, but more more importantly, having those kinds of players with their personalities. You know, growth mindset team guys, I think that really fits our culture.”

Following a scrimmage during Spring practice, Lanning praised his new Gabriela dn Moore for how they played and handled the fast pace.

“The speed of play shows up more and more on scrimmage because it’s just a little bit of a faster pace,” Lanning said. “I thought both of those guys handled it well. Both of those guys were able to move around with their feet a little bit and utilize their feet, which was a positive to see from them.”

Gabriel comes in with plenty of experience, having started three seasons at UCF and two at Oklahoma. During his college career, he’s thrown for 14,865 yards and 125 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Moore was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023 who spent his freshman year at UCLA.