Tag: Nate Costa

Former Oregon QB assesses Ty Thompson’s talent, Bo Nix’s experience and Ducks’ QB competition

Nate Costa played at Oregon and helped coach Ty Thompson last year. He has some thoughts on the decision to bring in transfer QB Bo Nix.

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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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Former Oregon coach: Ducks were close to benching Anthony Brown for Ty Thompson numerous times

A lot of Oregon fans wanted Ty Thompson to replace Anthony Brown at QB last season. Nate Costa said they had several conversations about making the move.

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Looking back on the 2021 Oregon football season, it’s easy to identify many highs and lows.

The biggest high, obviously, was the Week 2 road victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes, putting the Ducks on the map nationally and propelling them to a No. 3 ranking in the nation.

However, the down moments included the road loss to Stanford and the pair of losses at the hands of Utah at the end of the season. Of course, the cherry on top of it all was the loss of coach Mario Cristobal, who left after the season to take the head coaching job with the Miami Hurricanes.

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Now that the old coaching staff has largely moved on to new positions, we are starting to hear a bit about the inner workings in Eugene over the past couple of years. Most recently, former offensive analyst and Oregon quarterback Nate Costa talked with John Canzano about a number of things, including the situation at quarterback.

If you’ll remember, the Ducks started QB Anthony Brown, but after some up-and-down play, much of the fan base called for true freshman Ty Thompson to start instead. Costa said the coaching staff discussed making a move several times throughout the year.

“We had those conversations. We had them early on. We had them midseason. We had an extensive one at halftime of the bowl game against Oklahoma,” Costa said. “We almost made a move (at halftime).”

With the Ducks down 30-3 at the half of the Alamo Bowl — a glorified exhibition game that was played between two teams with interim coaching staff — Oregon fans wanted Thompson to get some game reps in the second half and find out what he could do after not seeing him much throughout the season. The Ducks kept Brown in the game, though, and went on to lose 47-32.

“I think Anthony did just enough — just enough — to hold onto that position,” Costa said. “He won us a lot of football games. The quarterback standard at Oregon is very high. It’s a high bar for a guy to try and reach. I don’t think Anthony reached it on a daily basis, and the fan base let him hear it from time to time.”

Brown moved on from the program and is working to play at the next level, while Thompson is in yet another quarterback battle, this time with transfer Bo Nix. Early this spring, he looks like he has improved over the offseason and all indications are that the competition will be tight down the stretch.

In hindsight, though, it sure would have been nice to see what the true freshman could do in some live-action situations a year ago when the stakes were relatively low. Now, should he win the QB competition against Nix, his first start would come against the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs in Week 1.

There is still a long way to go in the process of deciding who will be Oregon’s starter for the fall, and Thompson seems to have a great shot. Had the coaching staff decided to put him in the game a few times last year, we’d have a better idea of where he is, though, and there might not have been a need for a QB competition in Eugene this offseason.

Contact/Follow us @Ducks_Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Oregon’s Nate Costa set to become new QB coach with Nevada Wolfpack

Former Oregon QB Nate Costa is finding a new home with Ken Wilson in Nevada, where he is expected to be the new quarterbacks’ coach.

Another former Oregon Ducks coach is on the move, with former offensive analyst Nate Costa set to become the new quarterbacks’ coach with the Nevada Wolfpack, according to a report from Bruce Feldman.

Costa was a familiar name in Oregon and served as a quarterback himself for the Ducks back in the day, playing from 2006-2010. Earlier this year, when offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead was sidelined due to some health issues, Costa took on a bigger role in the QB room and was often seen on the field pre-game with that group in warmups.

At Nevada, Costa will now be reuniting with former Oregon Ducks linebackers coach Ken Wilson, who was recently named the head coach of the Wolfpack.

For the Ducks, new offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham will serve as the quarterbacks’ coach.

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