By Mallory Mattingly
As Oregon quarterback Dante Moore leads his team to a potential National Championship, he keeps Christ first.
“Coach [Dan] Lanning asked me ‘What’s my why’ recently, and it’s to glorify God,” Moore said on the “Ducks of a Feather” podcast, which is hosted by former Oregon players Jonathan Stewart and Kenjon Barner. “God has blessed me with the body I have just to compete and play the game of football that I love, be around people that I’m building connections with for the rest of my life. I’m just doing everything to glorify Him.”
“That can be being an athlete, it can be being a student. That’s why recently my Instagram for the past year-and-a-half now has been a lot of verses, a lot of me reading the Bible,” he added.
Related: Oregon Football Star’s Faith Makes Him a Better Athlete
Moore’s Instagram bio reads, “Follower of Christ.”
A recent video captured him praying with his teammates before the Capitol One Orange Bowl.
Moore’s collegiate football journey didn’t start at Oregon. In fact, he originally played at UCLA and endured different trials during that time that taught him how to persevere.
“My freshman year, my first three games were amazing. Then everything goes downhill from there, and I feel like, I’ve been at the lowest of lows and the highest of highs,” the athlete told 247Sports’ Duck Territory. “Coach [Chip] Kelly did a great job of making sure that I stayed positive as a mindset, but it’s just hard when you’re a freshman and you’re a young guy and you’re 17 years old in L.A. and far away from home, to stay positive and smile through it all.”
Eventually, Moore decided to move from UCLA to Oregon.
“Being here with Coach Lanning, a great coach who I love to death and who I’m blessed to have him — the way he talks, communicates and calls me, just having a head coach who I trust,” Moore explained. “He’s just always telling me like code words on the field to remember my childhood self playing football in little league smiling. At the end of the day, I play the game to glorify God and if it’s a loss or a win, it doesn’t matter as long as I play my 100% hardest — that’s where my smile comes from.”
As Moore plays on the biggest stage in college football, he knows how to handle the pressure and praise God every step of the way.
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