Texas Tech football defenders train eyes on Oregon QB Dante Moore
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The last time the Texas Tech football team played Oregon, the Ducks won and, in the next spring’s NFL draft, their quarterback was taken in the top half of the first round. That was Bo Nix, now in his second year behind center for the Denver Broncos, who have an NFL best 13-3 record.
This year’s Oregon quarterback seems likely to be drafted even higher. Dante Moore’s pegged to go first or second overall in many mock drafts — provided he leaves school early — and the Red Raiderswill face him on New Year’s Day in the Orange Bowl.
“I think the thing he excels at for them is really doing a great job of managing the offense,” Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood said on Saturday, Dec. 27. “They give him the ability to do a lot of things within what they do schematically, and he just has a really good mastery of what they’re doing, being able to get them into some checks into maybe a better play at times based on the look they’re seeing. And then just distributing the ball across the field and playing within the parameters they have.
“He’s a very talented player, but you can see on tape he has a really good understanding of what they’re doing and puts them in really good positions to be successful.”
Texas Tech and Oregon, both 12-1, square off at 11 a.m. CST Thursday, Jan. 1, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It’s a 4-seed/5-seed quarterfinal matchup in the College Football Playoff.
Moore’s completed better than 72% of his passes this season for 3,046 yards and 28 touchdowns. He’s yielded 12 sacks, and that’s an area in which the Tech defense excels. Edge defenders David Bailey and Romello Height have 13 1/2 and 9 sacks, respectively. As a team, the Red Raiders have 39, tied for sixth in the FBS.
They’ll have to be wary of Moore’s ability to escape, though.
“He has a good pocket presence,” Height said. “He has a good feel for when he’s feeling pressure, and he knows how to move. He can throw the ball well, can move in the pocket great. It’s going to be critical to collapse the pocket, because he can easily slip through a gap. He can move around and stretch out a play to six to eight seconds, easy.”
Moore’s a 6-foot-3, 206-pound sophomore from Detroit. He began his career at UCLA, playing in nine games with five starts in 2023 as a true freshman. Upon transferring to Oregon, he played in five games last year but maintained redshirt status.
He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, and his stock’s not diminished over the past three seasons. The consensus of most current NFL mock drafts has Moore as the No. 2 overall pick, and a few project him No. 1.
Moore said in mid-December he’s not decided whether he’ll declare for the draft. But there’s one team that knows for sure it’ll be facing him soon, the Red Raiders.
“I think he’s pretty accurate,” said Tech cornerback Brice Pollock, who leads the Big 12 with five interceptions. “I think he has a good deep ball. He sits in the pocket pretty well. He’s an NFL quarterback, he’s projected pretty high in the draft, so yeah, he’s going to be a challenge, for sure.”
Both teams are scheduled to arrive on site on Monday. The Red Raiders will practice Tuesday and Wednesday at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton. Former Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley is the FAU head coach and has several former Tech staff members.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football defenders eye Oregon QB Dante Moore in Orange Bowl
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