Oregon's Dante Moore is not expected back this season after his concussion

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore is not expected to play again this season, coach Dan Lanning said Monday night. Moore has missed the Ducks' last three games with a concussion.

"I'm not anticipating him being back this season," Lanning said, according to The Oregonian.

Moore was hurt on Sept. 26 at USC. He slid at the end of a scramble in the second quarter and was hit late by linebacker Desman Stephens II, then was taken by ambulance to Los Angeles General Medical Center. Oregon said his MRI and CT scans were clean. He went back to practice and threw in recent weeks, Lanning said, but he has not been medically cleared to play in a game.

Lanning said the decision was out of the team's hands, because Oregon can control what Moore faces against a scout team in practice but not what happens in a game.

"This isn't a selfish decision on Dante's part, saying, 'I don't want to come back, the season doesn't look the way I want it to look,'" Lanning said, according to ESPN. "That's not at all what this is." He added that Moore is expected to make a full recovery.

Moore came back for his senior season after ESPN's draft analysts projected him as a possible top-three pick in the 2026 draft. Oregon started No. 2 in the AP preseason poll. In four games before the injury, he completed 69.7 percent of his passes for 926 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions. Mel Kiper Jr. now ranks him 25th among prospects for the next draft.

Without him, Oregon has scored fewer than 20 points in all three games and lost two of them, with Dylan Raiola and Brock Thomas taking turns at quarterback. Lanning fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer on Sunday after a 21-10 loss to Illinois. He said Monday that quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson, a former offensive coordinator at Wyoming and Michigan State, will take over play-calling.

Oregon hosts Northwestern on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on Peacock.