After this season, the Oregon Ducks will longer have the luxury that the ultra-experienced Dillon Gabriel brings to the quarterback position, but the program is already setting itself up for success under center in the near future.

Per reports from On3’s Hayes Fawcett, the Ducksx are currently the front-runners for 2026 five-star quarterback Jared Curtis, who de-committed from the Georgia Bulldogs on Thursday before their 30-15 win on the road over the No. 1 Texas Longhorns.

“My interest in Oregon is above the others right now,” Curtis told On3. “It’s my relationship with coach (Will) Stein and coach (Dan) Lanning.  It’s great and we had a great time when we went up there.”

According to Fawcett, Curtis is “currently working” on setting up a trip to Eugene for Nov. 9 to watch the Ducks take on the Maryland Terrapins. Despite de-committing from Georgia, Curtis has yet to completley cross the Dawgs off his list, as he will visit Athens on Nov. 16 after visiting Auburn on Nov. 2.

A product of Nashville Christian School, Curtis is a five-star quarterback on On3’s rankings and a four-star on 247Sports’ rankings. On3 has him listed as the No. 4 overall player in the 2026 class and the No. 1 quarterback.

Curtis has received offers from programs like Florida, Colorado, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Indiana, Miami, Michigan, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Penn State, USC, Tennessee, Texas and many more.

During the 2022 and ’23 seasons, Curtis went a combined 303 of 529 passing for 4,807 yards, 52 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He added 161 rushes for 1,024 yards and 20 more scores.

Should Oregon land a commitment from Curtis, he’d be the second quarterback commit for the Ducks in the 2026 class, joining four-star Jonas Williams. The other current commits in the class include four-stars like offensive tackle Kodi Greene, running back Tradarian Ball and defensive linemen Tomuhini Topui and Tony Cumberland. Three-stars in defensive lineman Viliami Moala and edge rusher Dutch Horisk round out a class that currently has seven commits.

According to 247Sports’ scouting report of Curtis, he’s a productive deep-ball passer.

“Not afraid to dial up the deep ball and tends to connect on plenty of vertical shots,” wrote 247Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivins. “Also excels at hitting timing-based breaking routes over the middle. Shouldn’t be classified as a true dual-treat talent, but can move the chains with his legs and work off-script when the pocket collapses.”

No. 1 Oregon will host No. 20 Illinois on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT.

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