Oregon Players Speak Highly of Dante Moore Amid Return to Practice

While it is now confirmed that Oregon quarterback Dante Moore won’t play against UCLA on Saturday, per the latest reports, it's a very promising sign that he was able to get back on the field already. 

Not even from a football standpoint, but from a human standpoint, Moore being healthy after taking a terrible hit against USC is a very promising sign. 

It's good that the young man is starting to feel better and is at least well enough to practice. After what was one of the worst hits that we've seen to a quarterback in college football in quite some time, anything is better than nothing right now.

As for Oregon, I don't want to say that it's going to struggle against UCLA because Moore isn't on the field, as Dylan Raiola still has proven a lot throughout his young college career and looked very good against USC when he was called upon, but having Moore makes the offense run a bit differently than it would when he isn't available. That's just the reality of the situation right now, and Oregon has to hope for the best. 

However, while it's still uncertain when he'll return, his return to practice hyped up a lot of his teammates. 

Players recently said it was great to see him healthy and back, and it sounds like it impacted the entire program.

"Yeah, it was amazing," wide receiver Evan Stewart said, per Ducks Wire. "Just seeing him, you know, be healthy, good, smiling, same Dante. So yeah, it's exciting to see him back. You know, just having a familiar face around."

"Oh, it was great having Dante back out there today and being able to see him move around and you know, he's out there having fun again, with a smile on his face," guard Dave Iuli added. "So, the biggest thing we could do is just learn from those kind of lessons and just keep going on. So you know, big shout out to Dante. Super happy."

Nobody ever wants to see anybody hurt, especially their teammates. Oregon also understands that, for it to be the team it's looking to be, Moore has to be the quarterback everybody expected him to be entering the season.