A painful blow for Oregon's QB room of the future. Lanning has to hope Nix will return and some major work to do in the portal/'24 QB class.
I've been told, by somebody who may or may not know the situation, that it was a perfect storm of events for Dante Moore:
* first, and most important, Kenny Dillingham left and he was Dante's main recruiter. It was well known if Dilly left, the Ducks would have a Moore problem
* when Moore committed, it was clear Nix was headed to the NFL and Moore would have an open road to an immediate start. But now that Nix may be leaning coming back for another year, that open road may not exist. Rumor is Chip told Moore he would be that starter
* UCLA sold Moore on something that Oregon couldn't: in 2024 UCLA would start playing games, on the road, against Big-10 teams that Moore grew up watching; and with a great chance he'd get to play at least one game, in Michigan, against a Michigan team. Meanwhile, it's looking more and more like Oregon will still be in the
Pac-10/12/? for Moore's projected college career
like I said...perfect storm
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as for Nix: rumor is one day he's leaning NFL, slightly, the next day, Oregon. He was obviously leaning Oregon when he decided to play in the Holiday Bowl. If he's going to the NFL next season, a serious injury in the bowl game could cost him millions
one thing about all this: the assumption is that Moore has been waiting to see what Nix decided. Likely a fact. But, if Moore goes to UCLA, that would mean whatever NIL package Oregon had lined up for Moore is open, and I've been told the NIL promised Moore was a big chunk of Oregon's budget. Nix getting some of Moore's NIL on top of what he's been promised might end up being the deciding factor for Nix
it would also mean the Ducks have more NIL to add to their NIL leverage with other recruits
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about QB recruiting: remember when Ty Thompson was going to be the next great Oregon QB? Maybe more than any other position, the star-ratings for QB's are unpredictable
Braxton Burmeister, Tyler Shough, & Ty Thompson were all 4 star recruits with Thompson just missing the 5-star level. Kellen Clemens, Marcus Mariota, and Justin Herbert were all 3-star recruits. Oregon may need to focus on lower rated QB's if they want to develop any
and of course the transfer portal has completely changed the landscape for QB recruiting. Dozens of QB's will be transferring every year and there will be many who are high level QB's. I'm not even sure developing a QB is a viable track anymore. I'd imagine that Oklahoma thought they were in a great position with freshman QB Caleb Williams...how did that work out for them?
