What does QB Collin Schlee’s commitment to UCLA mean for Dante Moore and the Ducks?
A couple of days ago, I wrote about the future of the Oregon Ducks quarterback position, and how there were endless outcomes for how things would likely unfold over the coming weeks. With Bo Nix, Dante Moore and, surprisingly, DJ Uiagalelei acting as the main dominoes, it was important to watch their every move.
However, a different quarterback served as the first domino to fall on Saturday. ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke the news that former Kent State QB Collin Schlee was transferring to the UCLA Bruins. The move was confirmed by the school.
Believe it or not, this has a potentially major impact on the Ducks, as I wrote on Friday. Let’s break down why it’s important.
What we know about Collin Schlee
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I don’t think Collin Schlee is transferring to the UCLA Bruins to serve as a backup. He may have been told he is going to be in a quarterback competition with other passers — potentially a five-star freshman — but given the career Schlee has built and with his standing as one of the top available quarterbacks in the transfer portal, he is not going to Westwood to wait in the wings.
I could be wrong, and I have no inside info on Schlee’s thinking or what he was told in the recruiting process. But it feels like he is headed to Los Angeles to become the starting quarterback for Chip Kelly in 2023 or at the very least compete for the job with a high likelihood of getting it.
What this means for Dante Moore
All of the buzz and rumors about Dante Moore’s potential flip from the Oregon Ducks to UCLA were fueled by people believing the Bruins offered a path to immediate playing time as the starting QB. With Dorian Thompson-Robinson out of the picture, UCLA is looking for a new starting QB. Oregon might not be able to say that given the potential Bo Nix will return.
However, Schlee in Los Angeles complicates the path for Moore to become a starter. Might that mean that he would reconsider flipping from Oregon if he knows that he is equally unlikely to play right away in Los Angeles?
What this means for the Oregon Ducks
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In all honesty, I think Duck fans should be happy to see a transfer quarterback head to UCLA. It doesn’t guarantee that Moore is going to come to Eugene, but if anything it further complicates the situation and makes a flip to UCLA less of a slam dunk. I don’t know that I’m significantly more confident in Moore signing with the Ducks now than I was on Saturday morning, but I think that this is a step in the right direction for Oregon when everything seemed to be heading down the wrong path.
Does Dante Moore no longer have interest in UCLA?
This is a question I obviously can’t answer. I don’t know Moore’s thinking. However, I think a commitment from Schlee might not completely turn the five-star QB away from UCLA.
If Moore’s ultimate goal is playing time in 2023, then he’s going to have to compete for it no matter where he goes. He may be the top option in that competition, or he may have some work to do. However, it’s easy to say that Moore has a better chance of beating Schlee in a QB competition than he does Bo Nix.
Where Bo Nix fits into all of this
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One of the biggest questions in Oregon football circles over the past week has been about Bo Nix’s NFL decision and why it’s taken so long for him to announce. I recently heard a theory that I think makes a ton of sense, and I have to give 247Sports’ Matt Prehm all of the credit for this one, which he laid out on the Autzen Audibles podcast.
The theory is that Nix is in a staring contest/leverage play with Oregon right now. He knows that if Moore ends up flipping to UCLA or not signing with the Ducks, his return to Oregon just became that much more valuable. If the Ducks were to lose both Nix and Moore this offseason, it would leave them in a dire situation. Might he be waiting to see what Moore does before he announces a return so that he can leverage that into a bigger NIL package? Oregon would undoubtedly pay more for him to return in 2023 if it knew there wasn’t a five-star QB coming to Eugene this spring.
This is not confirmed, obviously, but it makes the most sense of anything that I’ve heard. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have to wait until after the Holiday Bowl to get Nix’s final decision, but I absolutely buy that he is sitting back and watching how the dominos fall around him, hoping it might get him a little bit more money to return to Oregon in the end.
