Ty Thompson is the highest-rated quarterback to ever sign with Oregon. But now the former five-star recruit has to wonder what it will take, beyond an injury, to get on the field.
He didn’t get any playing time on Saturday against Georgia even though the game was completely out of hand from the third quarter onward, and the Ducks eventually fell 49-3. Instead, head coach Dan Lanning and offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham stuck with the starter Bo Nix for the entire game.
[lawrence-related id=28642]
“Bo is a leader. I think if you go back and look at our offense, they really moved the ball well,” Lanning said. “We didn’t cap off our drives. Obviously, the turnovers are something we don’t want to have, but we moved the ball down the field at times. We just didn’t finish drives.”
It’s completely understandable why the Ducks went with Nix as a starter. He is a senior. He has played against Georgia three times, and he wouldn’t be fazed by the environment. But Oregon didn’t finish two of those early drives due to a couple of interceptions. One was on a bad throw and the other was caused by a good play from the UGA corner.
Even with that lackluster performance, Lanning says going to the backup quarterback wasn’t a consideration for the Ducks.
[lawrence-related id=28617]
“We have other quarterbacks on our team that obviously can compete as well, but Bo is our quarterback,” Lanning said. “Bo did a good job today of handling some adverse situations, but he is also going to figure out how can he improve, just like we can as a staff.”
A lot should be answered next week if all goes according to plan. Oregon hosts Eastern Washington and one would think that game will not be in doubt in the second half. If there is no sign of Thompson in a situation like that, and with the top-ranked quarterback of the Class of 2023, Dante Moore, coming in, it has to be assumed Thompson’s days as a Duck might be numbered.
[mm-video type=video id=01gbwy1gvyt3q7kaj3w5 playlist_id=01f27mq9z7hjgk6vc6 player_id=01f1jz1vgtfhzk6ner image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gbwy1gvyt3q7kaj3w5/01gbwy1gvyt3q7kaj3w5-7ea00efe4998d3a10db7d15ba8ba9203.jpg]
[listicle id=28680]