Breaking down QB Luke Moga’s commitment, and what it means for QB Michael Van Buren

Earlier this week, a bit of a twist was thrown into the Oregon Ducks quarterback recruiting world when four-star Michael Van Buren announced he would return to Eugene for the annual spring game on Saturday.

That announcement set a series of actions into motion, including a number of predictions for the Ducks to land Van Buren’s commitment, as well as a delayed commitment announcement from three-star Luke Moga, a player who was favored to choose Oregon.

Another surprise came for Duck fans on Friday morning when Moga went back to his original plan and committed to the Ducks.

With Moga committed to Oregon in the 2024 class, what does that mean for Van Buren? Is he still interested? Is he still visiting this weekend? There are questions to answer.

Luke Moga Announcement

Does this affect Michael Van Buren?

The No. 1 question I had when I saw Moga commited was “How does this affect Michael Van Buren?”

I’m not sure that Moga’s announcement changes anything for Van Buren. He is the higher-rated prospect. If he believes he can beat out Moga for playing time down the road, and he believes in what his future could hold at Oregon, there is no reason to change course — assuming his plan is to commit to the Ducks.

If a five-star like Dylan Raiola had announced he was committing to Oregon, then you could see Van Buren changing his mind and opting for another school. I’m not sure he will be deterred by competition from Moga.

Would Oregon take 2 QBs in 2024?

It’s relatively rare that you see a pair of quarterbacks in a recruiting class together, since obviously only one can play down the road. In the era of the transfer portal, it may become more common, as the two agree to battle it out, with the victor staying and the runner-up transferring to a different school.

Is that what’s happening here? It could be.

Should the Ducks take a pair of passers in this recruiting class, it feels like they are almost throwing a bunch of options at the wall and seeing what sticks. Going into next year, you have Ty Thompson, Austin Novosad, Luke Moga, and potentially Michael Van Buren competing for the starting spot. It would also not surprise me in the slightest to see the Ducks bring in a transfer portal QB to compete for the starting job.

That’s a number of options. Hopefully one of them proves he’s good enough to lead the Ducks to success.

How does this affect the timeline for Van Buren?

Again, I’m not sure if we see anything different for Van Buren going forward. Both he and Moga are expected in Eugene this weekend for the spring game, and if Van Buren sees what he needs to see and hears what he wants to hear, there is a good chance he leaves as a Duck. Earlier in the year, he set a commitment date of July 8, but there is buzz he could end up announcing before then. I don’t think any of that changes because of this Moga news.

Why did Moga commit after delaying announcement?

This I think is the most interesting question. Luke Moga said a couple of weeks back that he was going to announce his commitment on April 28, the day before Oregon’s spring game. Last weekend, after Van Buren said that he would be in Eugene for the spring game and buzz surrounding his commitment picked up, Moga announced he would delay his commitment.

Then he went and committed on April 28 anyway.

Why the pump fake? I’m not sure. We may never know. In my opinion, I think Moga took a couple of days to reassess his options, and decided that he was OK with committing now, knowing he could be in a competition with Van Buren in the years ahead. If that is what happened, I love the tenacity and confidence that it shows.

“Bring on the competition. I want to be the starting QB for the Oregon Ducks. That’s where I’m going.”

Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire