Dante Moore in portal.

Bear Bryant would have loved this era. First he'd take his'n and beat yours'n. Then the next year, with the portal, he'd take yours'n and beat his'n.

Going to MSU

Seems like we lost him in part because of Weiss's recruiting ineptitude. Would be interesting to at least have a conversation. I'm sure our guys have a better sense of where JJ's at right now.

I was hoping he would hit the portal.  Bring the kid home if the coaches think he is a fit.  He is extremely talented.  He was a true freshman this year and looked like it at times.  He still has a ton of upside.  

For all the hand wringing over sign stealing, if anyone cares about the integrity of NCAA football they need to figure out how to make this NIL/Portal era actually work for players, coaches, finances, and the development of all parties.  

First off, I think about 6 different recognizeable QB names have already announced they're in the portal.....before championship weekend - let alone the bowl season or official end of the semester!  If you're Michigan, you know JJ may leave and you might need to shop for a portal QB, but you shouldn't be spending any time on that this week.  I think they need to establish a window for portal contact (and enforce it) that starts after next week and for a fixed amount of time until after bowl season.  

Secondly, let's look at all the problems with Dante Moore's situation:

• Kid decides to chase the promises of NIL pay-for-play as a recruit
• School feels pressure to throw him on the field right away since they had to entice him to come there and paid him a bunch of money
• Kid isn't ready and hurts his own development/brand by struggling
• Kid leaves to find a better situation - which hopefully truly is for development and not just chasing the next NIL deal
• Original school just wasted all the time/effort to recruit, bribe, and develop him with a negative ROI for his time there.  Same for whatever boosters signed him up for NIL and now have to break those contracts.
• Kid has to be very careful what sort of NIL deals he signed to make sure he's not breaking contracts that would require him to pay back money or still shill for a car dealer in LA.  
• New school has to do this all over again and start up the process one more time.  

Even if everything is wholesome and honest throughout this process - that is still a broken process for all parties.  The sport is in desperate need of more structure instead of the chaos of the wild west.  

Oh, and if you are clutching pearls about sign stealing - no worry, the portal will ensure that every team has players on it from all of their future opponents.  lol

The number of QBs who started for a Power 5 team and are now in the transfer portal is pretty wild.

Riley Leonard (Duke), DJ Uiagalelei (Oregon State), Will Rogers (Mississippi State), KJ Jefferson (Arkansas), Tyler Van Dyke (Miami), Dante Moore (UCLA), Will Howard (Kansas State), Nate Johnson (Utah), Athan Kaliakmanis (Minnesota), the 3 MSU guys, and I'm sure I'm missing a few others.

Don't get me wrong, not all of those guys are actually good, but that's still a lot of QB talent in the portal.

Would love to see him in maize and blue but got to think one of these guys is going to state. 
 

Edit:  upon second though Sam mentioned some “guys I know” are looking at the portal and looking at Michigan,  Dante Moore and his statement adds up. 

Dante Moore is the poster child for why major college football needs a CBA.

1) Separate football from the rest of the college sports landscape.

2) Form a "league" with the schools that have the facilities, the brand, and the ability to fire money cannons.

3) Certify a group representing the players and negotiate a CBA that restricts movement and pays players according to a scale that reflects their contributions and provides premium medical care (not just for a year or two, possibly for life in the event of disability).

4) Let the conferences return to something close to what they were not that long ago, or something that reflects traditional rivalries with a geography that's better for every sport except football for the money-making programs.

5) See what the networks will pay for access to these brands.

LMFAO, called it.

Oh my.

JJ, and if he leaves, Orji and Denegal.  Orji might be really good.

So he's gonna take the money and run? He can take his bag with him? What a racket!

Also, what an indictment on UCLA. He wants to go somewhere that will actually develop him.

That's another addition to the UCLA turnover stat

The only situation I'd want Moore is if JJ comes back. If JJ leaves and Moore is starting for us, that's not gonna end well based on what we saw of him this year. Moore needs a year to sit, learn the offense, and gain his confidence back. The issue is that I think Moore would ever do that and will go somewhere he can start

Do.

Not.

Want.

I mean, obviously go after him but he didn't look great this year and his whole vibe going to Oregon and then UCLA was "I gotta start" and that's not a given at UM 

Jump in that portal and do whatever you gonna get!

I'll take JJ coming back with Jadyn watching/learning for a year over Dante Moore tbh. The 11-9 TD to INT ratio is a bit scary tbh. 

Kelly put a lot of pressure on him, UCLA had a great defense just needed a good QB.  Shame it didn't work, it would have been a great story.  Kelly kind of threw under the bus, I think it was Arizona he pulled him, maybe sooner, never showed much confidence in him again.

He'll be good eventually in the right program.

Answer: The same people who hired the PI and waged the PR campaign have friends in Buckeye media. Word leaks fast in an incestuous place. 

I wouldn't turn that kind of talent away if he wants to come here and he can be a culture fit. 

That of course is pending JJ's decision, which would be ideal and gives Jadyn the year to get his feet wet, but if he doesn't come back, you jam as much talent into that position as you can. 

Dude is looking for money. He went to UCLA because who cares there but they paid and he knew he could leave for an even better payday. Dude is a merc. More like he goes to a school which prefers mercs. Seems I remember a school down south who might be in the market...

I think I’d prefer Cam Ward over Dante Moore. 

i'd...like...he's a talented kid.  i hope he lands somewhere where he gets the exposure he wants AND develops into the player he clearly could be.  maybe it's here, but if not, i wish him the best.

People asking if Dante Moore is a culture fit is silly. We have the culture already in place all he has to do is show up.

We've won 30 straight regular season games which is a B1G record. 

Considering we didn't have our coach and primary play caller for half the season and didn't miss a beat I'd say our culture is elite.

Well that escalated quickly.

Got the bag and out.

I would be shocked if MSU doesn't land Moore or the Clemson/Oregon St. QB (DJ U.)

I don’t think I’ve ever cared less about recruiting rankings and high school recruiting classes.  They’re basically irrelevant now.  Harbaugh has proven that over the last 3 seasons.

With the advent of the Transfer Portal and NIL our model works better.  Thanks for being an innovator Coach!

I would take Moore just to make sure that MSU or Ohio doesn’t get him. That said, if JJ doesn’t stay I would like to see what Warren Davis, Orji, Tuttle, and Denegal can do. We recruited all of those guys for a reason. Davis seems to have some moxie, Orji is a heck of an athlete and might have the highest ceiling if he can actually read defenses and make accurate and catchable throws, and Tuttle also looks the part in the limited action we saw him in this year. Denegal still seems raw but he did manage to complete a few balls, one of them a TD pass.