Dante Moore put himself back on Oregon’s radar with a phone call to Dan Lanning in December.

But the two didn’t talk football, at least not at first.

The former UCLA quarterback, who was once committed to Lanning and the Ducks, reached out to the Oregon coach soon after entering the transfer portal when the 2023 regular season ended.

“I called him, really just checking up on life,” Moore said Thursday. “My mom, sadly, she had breast cancer and I was playing through that throughout the season. She got diagnosed with it during spring ball last year, so really, the first couple things he asked me was checking in on my mother.”

Moore’s mother has improved. His own prospects for personal growth seem to be trending in that same direction as well. 

The road to Oregon hasn’t been the most straight forward for Moore, a former five-star recruit in the class of 2023 who was ranked as the nation’s No. 2 overall player by ESPN and No. 3 overall by 247Sports.

He was verbally committed to the Ducks throughout the fall of 2022 then flipped to the Bruins right before the start of the early signing period that December.

The Detroit native said his change of heart came after Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham was named head coach at Arizona State in November 2022.

“As a quarterback, your OC needs to be your best friend,” said Moore, who added that he and Will Stein — Dillingham’s replacement at Oregon — did hastily attempt to build a relationship but ultimately he chose to sign with UCLA and play for coach Chip Kelly.

Dante Moore plays through mistakes at UCLA

Moore, who the Bruins listed as 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, played in nine games and made five starts for UCLA last season. He completed 114-of-213 passes (53.5%) for 1,610 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

He started his career by throwing for 615 yards, seven TDs and one interception in his first three games as the Bruins opened 3-0. 

Then came a brutal stretch for the freshman. In consecutive games against then-No. 11 Utah, then-No. 13 Washington State and then-15 Oregon State, he threw for 689 yards, three TDs, six interceptions and was sacked 16 times. 

He also had an interception returned for a touchdown in each of those games.

“It was kind of like my freshman year of high school,” Moore said. “I remember my freshman year of high school I threw 12 picks and I was like ‘Damn, what are you doing?’ But at the end of senior year I threw two picks. And the end of the day, it’s about development. College football is hard.”

Once the season ended, Moore said there was a sense around the program that changes were coming and sure enough, in early February, Kelly departed Westwood for Ohio State to the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator. 

Moore was long gone by then, having transferred to Oregon in mid-December.

“When I hit the portal … I kind of knew where I was going already,” Moore said. “(Lanning) just checked up on me, laughed, joked around, got a visit out here and I knew it was time to get back out.”

Dante Moore learning from Dillon Gabriel

Before Moore transferred, the Ducks had already signed Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel, a sixth-year senior and veteran of 49 career starts who enters 2024 tied for fourth in NCAA history in career total touchdowns (152), seventh in total yards (15,925), eighth in passing yards (14,865) and eighth in passing touchdowns (125).

Gabriel is the presumptive one-year replacement for Bo Nix, the 2023 Heisman Trophy finalist who led the Ducks to 12-2 record and Fiesta Bowl victory. 

“You know, DG, he’s been in college football for quite some time now,” Moore said. “Really, when I first got here, no cold shoulder, no bad blood at all, I’m just thankful to be around him. He’s taught me many things and I ask him many questions.”

Moore said he is competing with Gabriel every day and thrilled to be in the Oregon locker room, even if it took an extra year to get there.

Still, he said he has no regrets about his journey to Eugene.

“I was just blessed to even play college football at 18 years old as a true freshman,” Moore said. “Learned a lot, made a lot of mistakes, but at the end of the day, all I can do is just learn.”

Follow Chris Hansen on X @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com.