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The Ducks lost a QB over the weekend. Their roster still looks OK.
Here’s quite the quote from now-former Oregon quarterback Jared-Keawe Sagapolutele, who announced shortly after the Rose Bowl that he was entering the transfer portal.
“I just felt that I wasn’t a main priority at Oregon,” the 2025 four-star recruit told ESPN. “Of course, there’s going to be competition anywhere I go. But I’m just looking at other QB rooms and the best place for me to go get on the field early.”
Sagapolutele, who flipped to Oregon from Cal on national signing day, would return to the Golden Bears over the weekend. It was an eventful week for the 2024 Hawaii Player of the Year, who on Wednesday was at the Rose Bowl walking side-by-side with his competition — 2025 Oregon signee Akili Smith Jr.
While it may seem like a negative headline for Oregon coming off a thoroughly disappointing end to its 2024 season, the truth is Sagapolutele was entering a roster crowded with young quarterbacks fighting to be the main priority following the departure of Heisman finalist Dillon Gabriel.
As of Jan. 5, the Ducks have five quarterbacks on their roster. One of them is a walk-on. The rest is a grouping of quarterbacks sought after by some of the biggest schools in the country.
And while we’ll never put it past this Oregon staff to pull a rabbit out of the portal, after four consecutive seasons of the Ducks starting a transfer, the 2025 season is shaping up to be manned by someone on the roster in 2024 or naturally recruited by the Ducks.
There may be one obvious front-runner, but the only thing for certain is that it’s not going to be Sagapolutele.
Here’s more on Oregon’s priorities:
1. Dante Moore, Redshirt Sophomore
5-star in the 2023 class
Career passing stats: 121-221, 1,659 yards, 11 TD, 9 INT
The file on Moore: By now, you know the bona fides. Moore is the highest-ranked QB recruit in Oregon history. He has a cannon for an arm, five games as a starter at UCLA under his belt and had the benefit in 2024 of sitting behind Gabriel as the senior led the Ducks to the College Football Playoff. He was a little erratic as a true freshman starter in Westwood, but he also played behind an offensive line that allowed him to be sacked 25 times in five games.
When Moore came to Oregon, he knew he could get better.
“In high school, I went from 14, 15 picks my freshman year to throwing just a couple as a senior,” he told The I-5 Corridor in August. “I feel like in college football last year, I made a lot of mistakes — threw too many pick-sixes and things like that. Of course, it’s different from high school to college. There’s more fans. Many more things are on the line in college. But at the end of the day, I know I need to get back to the mindset that it’s just football.”
How’s the mindset going?
Let’s hear from Tez Johnson, who over the last two seasons has caught passes from two of the most experienced quarterbacks in college football history.
“He’ll be a Heisman finalist next year, 100 percent,” Johnson said at the Rose Bowl. “It’s something you haven’t seen yet. That boy can throw a ball like no other. I’ve never seen [anything] like it.”
If that’s good enough for Johnson, that’s good enough for The Corridor.
2. Austin Novosad, Redshirt Sophomore
4-star in the 2023 class
Career passing stats: 11-13, 59 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
The file on Novosad:
Novosad was the first big win for Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein upon his hiring to replace Kenny Dillingham in Dec. of 2022. After Dante Moore flipped to UCLA earlier that signing period, Stein was able to get Novosad, the No. 9 QB in the 2023 class, to sign with the Ducks over Baylor. And while Novosad sat the 2023 season behind Bo Nix and Ty Thompson, he reemerged in the spring of 2024 as one of Oregon’s most improved players.
“You go from being a freshman coming in having a little bit of a deer in headlights feel, to where Austin really knows our offense now,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said in April. “He’s able to go out there and operate and do it at a really high level. He’s had a really good spring.”
Novosad highlighted that in the spring game, showing off a lively arm that’s since been overlooked — publicly — thanks to Moore and his former 5-star status.
Novosad only saw the field a handful of times in clean-up duty in 2024, and yes, public perception is that he’s the underdog in this race. But Novosad doesn’t seem intent on running from a little bit of competition.
“I love this team, I love this program,” Novosad told Isaac Streeter at the Rose Bowl. “For me, the best growth is going to happen here, so that’s where I’m at.”
3. Luke Moga, Redshirt Freshman
3-star in the 2024 class
Career passing stats: N/A
The file on Moga:
A year ago, I asked Moga why in the world he would come to Eugene. See, Moga was a three-star recruit from Arizona, one with incredible talent in his arms and legs, but he was unrefined and facing an Oregon depth chart littered with more polished players.
So? Moga asked.
“I’ve been playing this game for four years and have so much to learn and so much room to improve,” he said. “I didn’t peak in high school, I haven’t even touched my potential. I’m going to bring a lot of memories to Eugene.”
Moga is the wild card in this group. He runs a 10.5 100 meters, but Stein swears he’s more than just a snap-and-dash type of quarterback.
“He’s truly a dual-threat, and not just with his legs,” Stein said last spring. “The kid can really throw the football. He’s got high-IQ and character. He’s been running as fast as anyone on our team so far this spring. I’m really excited for Luke and his trajectory in our offense here. You can do a lot of things with him — power read game or zone read game — but then obviously his ability to fit the ball into tight windows and to anticipate and be accurate with the football is huge.”
4. Brock Thomas, Redshirt Sophomore
3-star recruit, 2023 class
Career passing stats: N/A
The file on Thomas:
Brock Thomas didn’t have to be a walk-on. The Sheldon High School quarterback had offers from Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona and Air Force. But of course, none of those had the allure of his hometown Ducks, who shook the college equation up for Thomas during his recruitment when they came in with a preferred walk-on opportunity.
“I was really excited and just kind of relieved,” Thomas told The I-5 Corridor then. “I knew that’s something that I really would consider and kind of wanted to for a while. I mean, I grew up a Duck fan and it’s just kind of exciting knowing that I’m gonna be able to have an opportunity to play for them.”
Of course, no quarterback on the roster faces a greater climb to the top of the depth chart. While Thomas was stellar at Sheldon (The Irish went 12-1 and reached the state championship game during his senior year), his competition has been stellar at some of high school football’s largest hotbeds.
“We’ve had a lot of players that are just kind of underrated and have gone on to prove themselves at the next level,” Thomas said. “I’m hoping to do the same.
“I don’t really care about expectations.”
5. Akili Smith Jr., Freshman
4-star recruit, 2025 Class
Career passing stats: N/A
The File on Smith:
Back in December, Lanning was asked why the Ducks decided to take two highly-rated quarterbacks in the same recruiting class with Smith and Sagapolutele.
“We like competitiveness across the board, and I think you see great results. We’ve got multiple great quarterbacks on our team right now,” Lanning said. “You can’t have just one, because when you have one and one gets hurt, you don’t have any. It’s really important that we continue to build strength into our program, create competition throughout our program, and that goes with every position.”
The two freshmen arrived on campus in late December. They met their new teammates, practiced, took a look around and, well, now it’s just Smith who remains standing.
And he’s a pretty good one to have stuck around: Smith is the son of former Oregon quarterback Akili Smith Sr., and at 6-foot-5 and 200 pounds, looks every bit as talented as his first-round draft-pick father.
“Obviously having a legacy come join us here in Akili Smith’s son, tremendous talent,” Lanning said in December. “He’s done a great job this season, has won a lot of games and has had a ton of success. And we’re excited what he’ll bring here.”
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor
