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Oregon quarterback Dante Moore is not expected to return this season, coach Dan Lanning announced Monday night.
Moore has not played since getting concussed on a late hit at Southern California in late September. He resumed practicing earlier this month but remained in the concussion protocol.
“I’m not anticipating him being back, no,” Lanning said during his weekly news conference in Eugene.
Moore returned to school as a senior instead of declaring for the NFL draft when he could have been a top-10 pick. The Ducks were ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25 ahead of this season and Moore was considered a candidate for the Heisman Trophy; they are now 4-3 and unranked.
Moore, 21, threw for 926 yards and nine touchdowns with no interceptions in four games this season.
“I think if it was up to Dante in any shape, way, he would want to be out there playing for the guys. But unfortunately, it’s not really up to Dante. It’s not really up to me,” Lanning said. “We can control the setting at practice where he’s able to do things for us, where that’s not always the case in the game. And you know, we said before that this is a serious deal that he’ll 100 percent be able to make a full recovery from. That hasn’t changed, definitely feel that way. But for him to be out there on the field for us right now, that’s not going to happen.”
Lanning declined to speculate about whether Moore might return to Oregon next season.
“We’d love to have Dante out there. He’s still going to be a big part of this team and helping us move forward, finding opportunities for us to be better. I can tell you, we’re getting one of the best scout team quarterback looks every single week in practice, and he looks good out there,” Lanning said.
Moore threw for 3,565 yards, with 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season. Oregon had just one loss in the regular season, at home to Indiana, before losing to the Hoosiers again in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
A five-star recruit, Moore started five games for UCLA as a freshman, throwing for 1,610 yards with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He transferred to Oregon and spent 2024 as Dillon Gabriel’s backup, eventually taking a redshirt.
Dylan Raiola took over for Moore against the Trojans, throwing for 289 yards and two touchdowns in a 41-27 victory. But Raiola, who previously started two seasons at Nebraska, struggled in a 17-15 loss to UCLA, completing 6 of 19 passes for 43 yards with two interceptions.
Third-stringer Brock Turner started the next week against Nebraska, but he was ineffective. Raiola relieved him and found Jamari Johnson for a 4-yard scoring pass with 28 seconds left that gave Oregon a 17-14 win.
Raiola was 27 of 41 for 246 yards last Saturday in a 21-10 loss at Illinois, which effectively ended the Ducks’ hopes for a playoff berth. The next day, Oregon fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer.
The Ducks host No. 20 Northwestern on Saturday.