دانتي مور هو المايسترو لجريمة أوريغون – وهويته الجديدة الجريئة

Though there were countless highlights to choose from during Oregon’s 66-point demolition of Oklahoma State last weekend, a game in which the Ducks secured their largest-ever margin of victory over a Power 4 opponent, the one that set social media ablaze began with a free rusher bearing down on quarterback Dante Moore.

Uncertain whether his tailback, Noah Whittington, could slide over in time to pick up the blitzing linebacker, Moore instinctively spun to his right and rolled outside the pocket toward the hashmarks. Then, he set his feet, squared his shoulders and held his follow-through like a 3-point shooter while lofting a perfect pass down the sideline toward true freshman wide receiver Dakorien Moore, the five-star phenom and No. 1 recruit in the country at his position, a title that previously belonged to Ohio State standout Jeremiah Smith.

From there, Dakorien Moore, who caught the ball some 37 yards downfield, shimmied back over the middle — at which point he forced two flailing defenders to collide — and raced diagonally into the end zone for a breathtaking touchdown, the first of his highly anticipated collegiate career. It was a thing of beauty from one Moore to another.

“He’s an elite passer,” Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein told me when discussing Dante Moore in a recent phone conversation, “and there are certain things I can’t teach. God gave him the ability to throw the ball when he was born, and we try to capitalize on his skill sets with our passing game and with our approach every single game.”

Having inherited the starting job from Dillon Gabriel, whose one-year stint with the Ducks produced an undefeated regular season and the first Big Ten championship in school history, Moore is now the maestro for what appears to be one of the sport’s most diverse and explosive offenses. In winning its first two games by a combined score of 128-16, which is currently the largest point differential in college football, Oregon has filleted opponents with 18 total touchdowns and an average gain of more than 9 yards per play. 

Five different Oregon players have already found the end zone as runners this season, including Dakorien Moore on a lovely 25-yard end around against Oklahoma State, and four different pass catchers have hauled in scores from the team’s burgeoning Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback.

The stunning breadth of Oregon’s attack, which will be on display Saturday when the fourth-ranked Ducks visit Northwestern for “Big Noon Saturday” (Saturday, noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), reflects a new identity that runs in contrast to last year’s more star-centric approach. Gone is leading tailback Jordan James, a fifth-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers, whose tally of 1,267 rushing yards was more than double that of his closest teammate. Gone, too, are dominant wide receiver Tez Johnson, a seventh-round pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and elite tight end Terrance Ferguson, a second-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams, whose totals of 83 catches and 43 catches, respectively, dwarfed everyone else at their positions.

This year’s version of the Ducks’ offense, which certainly looks good enough for the Ducks to be in contention for a national championship, is invoking a far more balanced approach.

“As a quarterback,” Moore told me in a recent phone conversation, “it’s kind of like the point guard on the basketball court. Just helping make sure that everything is running the right way and making sure that I’m giving the ball to the playmakers.”

It’s a role that Moore is performing exceptionally well with 479 passing yards, six touchdowns and a completion rate of 77.3% that fits nicely between the marks established by Gabriel (72.8%) and predecessor Bo Nix (77.9%) during the last two campaigns. Now a redshirt sophomore, Moore was originally committed to Oregon from July 8, 2022, through early December that same year, a stretch that overlapped with his senior season at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School in Detroit, where he developed into a five-star recruit and the No. 4 overall prospect in the country. But Moore flipped his pledge during the early signing period and wound up enrolling at UCLA, ultimately making five starts as a true freshman for former head coach Chip Kelly with decidedly mixed results. He entered the transfer portal on Dec. 4, 2023, and recommitted to Oregon shortly before Christmas.

Since then, Stein told me, Moore has done nothing but seek opportunities for growth and development without so much as a whimper for additional playing time. Not when Gabriel’s arrival all but assured that he’d be a backup in 2024. Not this past spring and summer when head coach Dan Lanning, ever the competitor, declined to publicly name a starter in the battle between Moore and Austin Novosad, a former four-star recruit, prior to the team’s opener against Montana State. 

But once Moore got his chance, there’s no denying how much he’s sizzled in his first two starts: He has yet to register a turnover-worthy play so far this season, according to Pro Football Focus, and he has an average release time of just 2.6 seconds. 

When taken together, those statistics suggest Moore is playing with an enviable blend of accuracy and decisiveness that helps explain why Oregon’s skill players have already amassed more than 300 yards after the catch. He’s placing the ball exactly where it needs to be to maximize production.

“Some guys just have that ‘it’ factor and that ability to put the ball in certain places that other people might not be able to,” Stein told me. “I think what Dante does such a good job of is just calmness inside the confines of a pocket and being able to anticipate throws.”

Said Moore: “I want to make sure it’s easiest for them to catch and run with the ball. As a quarterback, it’s important that you are very precise with your location of where you’re putting the football on the receiver’s body. It’s [about] حماية كرة القدم وعدم التسبب في تحولات. لكن لدينا الكثير من صانعي الألعاب الرائعين ، لذا حقًا [I’m just] منحهم فرصة ورمي الكرة في أي مكان في المنطقة. سوف يتأكدون من أنهم يذهبون للحصول عليه. “

ويشمل ذلك الأسماء المنزلية التطور السريع مثل النهاية الضيقة كينيون صادق، الذي لديه ثلاثة مصيد لمدة 60 ياردة وهبوط ويمكن أن يكون اختيار الجولة المبكرة في العام المقبل مسودة اتحاد كرة القدم الأميركي. ويشمل نجوم ناشئة مثل داكوريان مور ، الذي تعثر على ثلاث تمريرات لمدة 26 ياردة في ظهور هادئ نسبيا ضد ولاية مونتانا – بصرف النظر عن عقبة مدافع مذهلة على طول الخط الجانبي – قبل أن تنفجر لتسجيل لمس أرض واحدة كعداء ومستقبل الأسبوع الماضي. ويشمل رجال الرحلات المخضرمين مثل ولاية ألاباما/ولاية فلوريدا السابقة على نطاق واسع مالك بنسون وسوفاء USC المتلقي غاري براينت جونيور ، وكلاهما مرتبط بتقدم الفريق في حفلات الاستقبال (سبعة) وتلقي الهبوط (اثنان) بعد الانتظار بصبر وراء إيجابيات مستقبلية متعددة للحصول على فرصة لكسب المزيد من الأدوار البارزة.

لقد جاء الصابورة من هجوم سريع قام بتمزيق أول خصمين في ولاية أوريغون على بعد 565 ياردة و 10 لمس أرض مجتمعة – إجماليات زلزالية تحتل المرتبة الثامنة في البلاد والثانية في البلاد ، على التوالي. تنتمي The Ducks’s Seven التي تبلغ مساحتها 20 ياردة إلى ثلاثة ظهورات مختلفة للركض ، ومتلقي واحد على نطاق واسع ، وربع لاعب واحد ، مع فريق Texas Tech هو فريق Power 4 الوحيد الذي يمكنه مطابقة عدد أوريغون من المتفجرات. كل ذلك أصبح ممكنًا من خلال خط الهجوم الذي أعيد بناؤه لم يستسلم سوى ثلاث مباريات للخسارة ولم يسمح بعد بإقامة ثلاثة مبتدئين من بوابة النقل ، بما في ذلك كل من المعالجات الهجومية.

وقال لانينج “هذا يعود أيضًا إلى القيادة التي لدينا في فريقنا”. “من المحاربين القدامى ، من هؤلاء الرجال الذين يتمكنون من رؤية ما يبدو ، وكيف يتعين عليهم التحضير ثم تقييم جيد ، والتطوير الجيد لهؤلاء الرجال ، ووضعهم في وضع يسمح لهم باللعب. لذلك فهو الفضل لمدربينا ولاعبينا.”

بحلول الوقت الذي جلس فيه لانينج لحضور مؤتمره الإخباري الأسبوعي يوم الاثنين ، تمت إزالة يومين من قشرة البط في ولاية أوكلاهوما ، كان لديه بعض الأرقام الخاصة به للمشاركة. وقال لانينج إن واحد وثمانون لاعبًا قد وصلوا إلى الملعب ضد رعاة البقر ، وقد لمست لانينج ، 19 عامًا. سجل ثمانية لاعبين هجوميين مختلفين هبوطًا ، مما أثار فرحة مور.

من الصعب تخيل قورتربك آخر مع طاقم دعم أعمق.

أخبرني شتاين: “لدينا الكثير من اللاعبين الجيدين ، وأعتقد أنه عندما يلعب لاعب الوسط بشكل جيد ويجد أشخاصًا مختلفين في الميدان ، وهذا يساعد أيضًا ، كما تعلمون؟ لذلك أعتقد أننا قمنا بعمل رائع كموظفين هذا الموسم – ربما أكثر من أي وقت مضى – للتأكد من أن لدينا اللاعبين المناسبين في الملعب المعينين الذي نديره ونحاول أن ننظر إلى قدرتهم.”

مايكل كوهين يغطي كرة القدم الجامعية وكرة السلة الجامعية لصالح فوكس سبورتس. اتبعه @michael_cohen13.

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