Coaches' Corner: Ty Thompson

Oregon football landed one of their top 2021 targets with the March commitment of Gilbert (Ariz.) Mesquite standout quarterback Ty Thompson. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Rivals250 honoree chose the Ducks over dozens of other offers including top programs from coast-to-coast.

As a junior in 2019 he helped lead the Wildcats to the Arizona 4A State Championship which featured an impressive November playoff run of four high quality wins. Making the Championship run more impressive was that the entire varsity coaching staff was in its first year, led by Head Coach Scott Hare.

Coach Hare spoke with Duck Sports Authority about his season and standout quarterback in this edition of Coaches’ Corner.

“We had a brand-new coaching staff,” Hare conceded. “Every one of the varsity coaches was new. So being able to improve and transform the way we did was incredible. We went from almost an exclusive man defense to almost exclusively a zone defense. So, the team as a whole kind of needed to understand what we were trying to do.

“Ty really brought us together, because the defense knew that if they made the stop and gave him the ball back, we had the opportunity to score. As we moved down the stretch our defense continued to get better because they felt confident that even if the other team scored, it was not the end of the world. We have an offense that can score too.

“As you get into those playoff games, that is where the intensity really built up. Anybody can play in the first quarter of the second game of the year. What Ty brought to us is the ability to say ‘yeah, let’s just keep playing.’ The guys knew as the season wore on that if there was time left on the clock, we had the ability with him to move the ball down the field and score.”

DSA scouted Thompson at the Rivals Camp in Los Angeles at the beginning of March and confirmed what we saw on film; an athletic player was nice college QB frame, big arm. Coach Hare and his staff made great use of those attributes.

“Obviously, it is a lot of fun to be able to call plays with a guy with his ability and arm strength to make those work,” said Hare. “Receivers know if they get open, they are going to have a chance to get the football. Linemen know that if they block, Ty is going to do something pretty special.”

Of course, on field ability is one thing. Another huge component for Mario Cristobal and his staff is how well will the player fit in with the team and locker room. What kind of person are they off the field. Thompson emphatically checks those boxes too.

“Ty is an all-around great kid,” said Hare. “He is well beyond his years in terms of understanding what is expected of him, how hard he needs to work. He is a leader by the way he does things, the way he presents himself. It is a nice thing when you have a kid like that at any position, but at quarterback, when your best kid is also your quarterback, it makes it even better. Because it makes other guys elevate their level to be anywhere near his.

“He does a great job of not only working himself hard and putting himself into a position to not have to say a lot, just work hard and everybody knows that to keep up they need to work that hard themselves. I think he elevates others by the way he does things.

“He is not just really talented, this god given ability that I am just going to use and say ‘hey, look at me.’ Ty really wants to be the best that he can be. He is going to come in every day and be the hardest worker; the first one in the room, the last one to leave. He is big into the film study and he is very coachable. So, you add all those things together and you are going to have people around you that want to be part of all that.”

When DSA met with Thompson in Los Angeles, we noted that he is polite and cerebral, very much in the mold of Oregon quarterbacks Marcus Mariota and Justin Herbert.

“He has no problem getting in front of the room and talking,” said Hare. “But it is not something he is going to do on a regular basis. He is a lead by example guy, but when something needs to be said, he will say it. But he is not going to run around and head butt people.

“That is what I saw grow in him the most since we got him. and I hope we continue that even more. He was a starter when he was a sophomore as well, but I’m not sure back then he was capable of saying what needed to be said. But as a junior he had no problem standing in front of the team and taking that role. But at the same time, he is going to do his job. He is going to be ready.”

In person at the Rivals LA camp Thompson looked like a pro-style quarterback with plenty of athleticism to run as necessary. On film it is clear that Mesquite liked to move his pocket around rather than just straight pro-style action. Coach Hare explained.

“I was actually the Athletic Director at Mesquite when Ty was a freshman and sophomore, so I did get to see him play. Pocket passing was kind of what he did. Ty stood in the pocket and had a very solid sophomore year. But he also took a massive beating because he is a real tough kid and was willing to stand in there and do his job. But he took a beating.

“When I got him in the spring I said look, I’m going to move you all over the place. Because number one, I don’t want you to get hit as much. I don’t want you to get hit until you need to get hit. That time is going to come, and I know you can take that hit.

“At the high school level, you only need one guy to get through and your quarterback gets hit. So one, it was to keep the hits down. But two, we were thinking, ‘how much more deadly is he going to be with a little more time to get the receivers down the field?’

“I think he was questioning it a bit at first because he knew he could make all the throws from the pocket. But I think once he got going with it and understood the reasoning during the season, he really took off with it.”

Took off with it all the way to the Arizona State 4A Championship.