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When the 2021 season came to an end, it started to feel like a new era of Oregon football was coming. Dan Lanning had just been hired, a new coaching staff was on the way, and it was time for true freshman quarterback Ty Thompson to take the reins and start his career as the leader of the team.
Then the Ducks went out and landed transfer QB Bo Nix, an experienced veteran from the Auburn Tigers.
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Though the move makes sense for the complete success of the team in 2022, there are ways it can be viewed as a shot at Thompson and fellow QB Jay Butterfield, potentially indicating they aren’t ready yet. Former Oregon offensive analyst and QB Nate Costa recently talked about that with John Canzano on his radio show.
“They essentially shot a round across the bow of every quarterback in that quarterback room,” Costa said.
While Thompson is the highest-rated QB recruit to ever sign with the Ducks, Costa still has some concerns about the rocket-armed redshirt freshman and his ability to adjust to the speed of the game in the Pac-12.
“He played at a smaller level in high school in Arizona,” Costa said. “Adjusting to the speed of Pac-12 football is an adjustment for anyone and he’s still working on that.”
Is that enough to keep him from being under center for the Ducks in Week 1? Right now he’s battling with Butterfield and Nix, who coach Dan Lanning brought in shortly after taking over the program from Mario Cristobal in December.
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“Bo has seen those things,” Costa continued. “He’s seen it at the SEC level and has a better feel for the speed-of-the-game challenges. It doesn’t mean Bo is going to be the guy, but it’s a slight advantage for Bo Nix.”
While Costa believes Brown was the right choice to start for the Ducks last year, and thinks Nix may have a leg up in 2022, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a believer in Thompson’s potential to lead this team in Eugene.
In fact, Costa was extremely complimentary of Thompson’s arm strength, going as far as to say he has “one of the biggest arms I’ve ever seen in a quarterback.”
“I used to do a thing with the QBs at Oregon where I put them on a radar gun like an MLB prospect,” Costa said. “It gives you a general understanding of arm strength. He was putting the football above 60 mph. If you look at the NFL combine numbers that’s an elite number. For a kid that is 18-19 years old to be able to generate that kind of velocity is impressive.”
Nix and Thompson will be a very hotly contested battle leading up to Oregon’s season opener against Georgia on Sept. 3.
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