Dante Moore, Kent State transfer Collin Schlee and Ethan Garbers will all compete in fall camp for the right to be the UCLA's starting quarterback as the Bruins enter their final season in the Pac-12. While some may think the pressure is on coach Chip Kelly to pick the five-star true freshman Moore, the veteran head coach recently made it clear he won't take recruiting accolades into account when naming a starter.
"Our job has never been to keep people happy," Kelly said at Pac-12 Media Day on Friday. "I think the way you keep your entire team happy is that you're fair with everybody and then things are won on the field, not just because someone came in and they've got better accolades than somebody else. If you pick Player B over Player A and everybody in the locker room thinks it's Player A, that's never a good situation. So it has to be won on the field."
Moore flipped his commitment late in the recruiting cycle from Oregon to UCLA. He ranked as the No. 4 overall player and the No. 3 quarterback in the 2023 recruiting cycle according to 247Sports. If Moore wins the starting job, he would be the first true freshman quarterback to start a season opener at UCLA since Josh Rosen in 2015.
"He's just got a unique nature about him," Kelly said about Moore. "He inherently understands that. He doesn't judge his life based on what other people's opinions are. ... Dante lives that every day. It's pretty cool."
While Moore brings the most upside, Garbers has the most Pac-12 experience. He served as the backup quarterback to Thompson-Robinson last season and appeared in six games. Garbers started his college career at Washington before transferring to UCLA. His older brother, Chase, was the starting quarterback at another Pac-12 school in Cal.
Schlee comes in from the Group of Five ranks, but he easily boasts the best resume of opponents. Serving as the starter through Kent State's brutal schedule last year, Schlee made starts against Oklahoma, Georgia and Washington -- all on the road. The year before he made appearances against No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 5 Iowa.
"I'm comfortable with all of them," Bruins center Duke Clemens said. "They are all good guys. I can bond with any one of them, which is an asset to our team and how close we are."
While the job appears wide open heading into the first practice, Kelly won't hesitate to name a starter if someone separates themself from the competition.
"What I'm hopeful is over time with the training reps they get is that someone rises up a little bit over somebody else and it's to the point that everyone can see that," Kelly said.
