Michigan’s in contact with UCLA transfer for $95 million QB Dante Moore, per report
Quarterback Dante Moore is transferring from UCLA and the Michigan Wolverines could be a serious contender.
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Per Pete Nakos from On3 Sports, Moore and Michigan have been in touch since Monday night.
247Sports ranks Moore as the No. 3 overall player in the transfer portal. Moore was a five-star prospect in the class of 2023 and ranked as the No. 5 overall prospect and No. 3 QB in the class by the 247Sports Composite. Michigan was a contender for the Detroit native but Moore would go on to commit to Oregon, then decommit in favor of joining UCLA.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound QB appeared in nine games as a true freshman, along with five starts. Moore completed 53.5 percent of his passes this season for 1,610 yards, with 11 touchdown passes and nine interceptions.
Oregon, Florida State, Miami and Michigan are all considered contenders for Moore at this point. Oregon will be looking to replace Bo Nix, Florida State has to do the same with Jordan Travis. As far as Michigan, quarterback J.J. McCarthy could come back to the Wolverines for his senior season, which would lead to Moore being McCarthy’s understudy in 2024. Which is something that Moore reportedly wouldn’t mind.
The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb outlined why Moore is considering Michigan in the portal. Moore’s father told Webb that his son “loves” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and “just wants to go somewhere he can get developed” that also has a “trench front line”.
“You see how far J.J. came? That goes with development,” Moore’s dad said.
Beyond McCarthy, Michigan will have a true freshman QB on the team next season in four-star prospect Jadyn Davis and there are other quarterbacks such as Alex Orji and Jayden Denegal on the roster. Moore would make the quarterback room stronger and heighten the competition between peers.
The most elite teams have multiple starting-caliber quarterbacks on their roster at one time and this is the approach Michigan, who’s as elite as it gets at No. 1 in the nation, should take from here on out in the ever-changing landscape of college football. The transfer portal allows opportunities like this to happen when a top prospect a program had high interest in but lost out on becomes available a year later, after their freshman campaign. Be it Moore or another high-ranked portal quarterback, it would be wise for Michigan to improve their QB room in this manner, whether J.J. McCarthy returns or heads to the NFL.
