Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore caught some people by surprise, turning down the NFL to return to college. For Moore, however, it’s a move that comes with plenty of opportunities.

One expert analyst, Todd McShay, knows that there’s a lot of work for Dante Moore to do now that he’s going back to Oregon. On The McShay Show, he emphasized that the goal should be to move on from this season and decision and build on who he is as a player.

“Rinse, refine, repeat,” McShay said. “That’s what I talk about all the time with quarterbacks. There’s so much value in rinse, refine, repeat. Rinse is, and he just said on SportsCenter, ‘I’m going to go on a vacation.’ It’s been a long year. Go. Go take some of Uncle Phil’s money and go on a nice vacation and rinse. Then, come back ready to refine.”

While Moore likely would have been a high NFL Draft pick had he come out, that doesn’t mean he’s without flaws. The most important thing he does next is look at those flaws and improve. That means getting more consistent, particularly under pressure, and making those decisions quicker than he did this past season.

“Refinement happens first with self-scouting. He needs to go and find out why it is that he’s so inconsistent. Honestly, if I’m advising him, is the first thing. Why are we so inconsistent with pressure? Because there’s moments where you’re great, but a lot of these problems have come from the inside pressure. I pointed that back out when we were watching him against Northwestern earlier in the year. Secondly is, you’re making so many great reads and so many plays,” McShay said. “But you make a mistake like the pick six, or you hold onto the ball too long. How can we speed up this process? Then it’s figuring out if it’s the existing offensive coordinator.”

Ultimately, it’s never an easy decision to return to school. However, McShay thinks Moore ended up making the right choice. It’s a choice that could even help him succeed long term.

“Or everyone on social media was going, ‘Get over yourself, Dante. Why are you taking so long?’ Because there’s a lot more that goes into just making the decision. Then, once you’ve made the decision, you’ve got to be prepared to go talk about it and maybe a letter. So, for him, I think part of it, and only time will tell, there were some clauses put in, in terms of what supporting cast am I going to have, coaching and teammates,” McShay said.

“But, at the end of the day, I feel so much better about Dante Moore and his NFL future and his ability to get to that second contract as a really good starting quarterback than I would if I was sitting here right now and he just said, ‘Thank you so much, Oregon. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but it’s time for me to go to the NFL.’”

Moore finished the 2025 season completing 71.8% of his passes for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns, compared to 10 interceptions. He also had 156 rushing yards and another two rushing touchdowns. He hopes to improve on that next season.