At first glance, Ty Thompson’s final numbers from Saturday’s performance weren’t half bad.
But if you paid attention to his ability to find the correct receiver, his multiple off-target throws, his inability to consistently move his offense, and his body language after numerous three-and-outs, then there might be some reason for concern.
Yes, it’s practice disguised as a spring football game but still many in Autzen Stadium were likely scratching their heads after watching an extremely ugly first half with what seemed to be little to no energy and momentum in his play.
The redshirt junior has been in the Oregon program for three years, but in the first half of the annual Spring Game, Thompson looked like a true freshman.
He didn’t have a completion until his ninth attempt, a five-yard pass to Patrick Herbert. At halftime of the Spring contest, Thompson was just 6-of-17 for 71 yards. He also failed to find the end zone on two consecutive attempts from the Green 5-yard line.
To his credit though, Thompson rebounded to have a nice second half and wound up going 16-of-34 for 274 yards and two touchdowns.
Coaches will look at the film, however, and do a deeper dive.
What they’ll likely see is a quarterback that doesn’t check his progressions and throws to his first target no matter what. In fact, Thompson would have had at least two interceptions ( one a pick-six ) if not for dropped balls by defenders.
Two throws accounted for the majority of his yards, a long one to Kris Hutson and a short pass-and-run to Tez Johnson.
Again, Saturday’s performance was simply another practice session for Thompson so there may be no cause for concern.
However, should starter Bo Nix go down with an injury this fall, (and he’s had a history of being banged up), the Ducks absolutely need Thompson to figure it out if the worse should happen.
We should also remember this is another new offense for Thompson led by new coordinator Will Stein. That said, Thompson is a veteran signal-caller at this point in his college career and should be further along in his development.
As we always do, we’ll wait and see.