Texas Quarterback Casey Thompson's Journey Was, Like Most, Entirely Unique

The son of former Sooners QB Charles Thompson almost went to Oklahoma more than once, but chose to stick things out with the Longhorns, and now he'll start against OU.

Charles Thompson doesn’t know what he’ll be most nervous about on Saturday.

“I think it's just getting that first snap over with, getting into the flow of the game,” Thompson said. “I mean obviously for me, I'm not playing the game, but there's certainly a sense of anxiety.”

The anxiety this time is like nothing else Thompson himself ever felt as a player. Now, the anxiety stems from being a parent of the Texas quarterback in Saturday’s showdown with No. 6-ranked Oklahoma.

Born of crimson roots, Charles Thompson will be wearing burnt orange in the Cotton Bowl as his son Casey Thompson tries to carve his own legacy in the Red River Rivalry against OU.

The same OU that Charles played for briefly under Barry Switzer in the 1980s before he got in trouble. The same OU that big brother Kendal Thompson played for briefly before he finished his career at Utah.

Casey Thompson is a Longhorn, and dad couldn’t be more proud.

“I thank God for it,” Charles Thompson told SI Sooners on Friday, “for the opportunity for them to experience this with, as you mentioned, one son going through the rivalry, running down the ramp, like I did in the crimson and cream, and now having my second son, be a part of the rivalry, but in the other uniform.”

Casey Thompson / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

During Monday’s media session in Austin, Thompson executed the same kind of cool-headed maturity that ultimately helped him win the starting job under first-year coach Steve Sarkisian.

“I really don’t think that I’ll be nervous or anxious or uptight,” Thompson said. “I’m excited to play; I wish we could go play today if we could.”

Casey began his high school career at Southmoore, OK, and finished at Newcastle, OK. In between, he received tons of recruiting attention from both Oklahoma and Texas.

A handful of times, he was agonizingly close to following the family legacy and playing for the Sooners.

First, it almost happened in recruiting.

“The thing that I would say that maybe a lot of people don't know, you know,” said Charles, “Casey was given the opportunity to commit to Oklahoma.”

Casey wanted to be a Sooner. But he also took a pragmatic approach, rather than an emotional one. So he did his due diligence on all the schools offering him a scholarship.

While he was doing that, California prospect Cameron Rising committed to Oklahoma.

Thompson eventually got around to pledging to Texas and former coach Tom Herman. But then Rising decided to flip his commitment from OU to Texas, giving the Longhorns two QBs in the 2018 class.

Ultimately, Rising never competed for the starting job behind incumbent starter Sam Ehlinger, so he hit the transfer portal and is now at Utah, ironically where Kendal finished.

Thompson also got impatient and chose not to sit for three years behind Ehlinger, and he hit the transfer portal, too. Charles Thompson even said his son went so far as to enroll at OU.

But unlike he did when Kendal left Oklahoma for Utah, Charles encouraged Casey to stick it out in Austin, and return to the Longhorns.

“I made a deal with Kendal,” Thompson said, “ … The goal was to graduate and that's something that I didn't get a chance to do at Oklahoma. So when he hit that achievement and graduated from the University of Oklahoma, it was kind of like him saying I should be able to give him (my) blessing to being able to transfer. … I said, ‘OK, you got your degree, you’ve done it in 3 1/2 years, so now I guess you have the right.'

“With Casey, you know, I just never really felt like that it was right to go. You know, we made the decision to go to Texas, and the whole time, you know, to be in position to be behind Sam Ehlinger as the heir apparent.”

Thompson lost this year’s preseason quarterback competition to freshman Hudson Card, but after Card played uneven in the Longhorns’ first two games, Sarkisian put Thompson in late against Arkansas, and — just like he did in relief of Ehlinger in the Alamo Bowl — Thompson led two late touchdown drives.

“To not be named the starter,” Charles Thompsons said, “the first initial thing would be to run and go find somewhere else that maybe believed in you. And it's not to say there wasn't a thought of that. But I still sort of felt like there was something pulling Casey to choose the University of Texas in the beginning, I still think there was something, some unfinished business there.

“And so we decided to take the philosophy of, ‘Let's just take it week-by-week, you know, one game at a time,’ and we looked up and, you know, two games into the season they were calling upon him in the Arkansas game and, of course, things changed.”

Casey Thompson / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Thompson has been the Texas starter ever since.

“I think in Casey’s example, he chose to come to the University of Texas; he wanted to be a Longhorn,” Sarkisian said on Sunday. “Through the adversity, through being a backup, through not being named the starter, through that perseverance, I think he was able to get through that because this was his choice to want to come here.”

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley is anything but surprised.

“Casey has done a great job. Obviously we know that family very well, their history here, their history in this area. Knew Casey pretty well growing up through high school. Had a great relationship, really enjoyed the kid. Really fun getting to know him. His dad, his brother, great people.

“It’s our rivals. You never wish too much good upon them,” Riley said. “But it’s been fun for me to see Casey do well. It really has. It’s no surprise. … I don’t wish him success on Saturday. We’re going to get out there and compete against each other. But I’m happy for him. I’m glad he’s having success. And I’m not surprised.”

Riley is hardly the only Sooner pulling for the Texas quarterback 11 Saturdays out of the year. Growing up in Oklahoma, Thompson formed strong relationships with several players on the Oklahoma team.

“Me and Casey are cool,” said safety and co-captain Pat Fields. “I definitely tried to get him to come (to OU). I wish he would have come here. I believe we met each other (during) our sophomore year. It’s crazy because that was my first interception in high school, from him. Not to talk trash or anything, but that’s my guy. He’s extremely positive. Like I said, I really wish he would’ve came here. He’s a heck of a player, and I’m glad to see him having the success that he’s having.”

“We’re friends,” said receiver Drake Stoops. “We've known each other. We're from basically the same town. And we've played against each other. We've trained together. We're friends, we just are.”

Said defensive lineman and co-captain Isaiah Thomas, “I know Casey personally. I’ve seen Casey a couple times when he’s come back home. He’s from this area. I’ve seen Casey a couple times and talked to him now and then. We have a good relationship. We’re not best friends obviously, but a good relationship.”

Thompson gives the Longhorns a good, strong, accurate arm and some fast feet. He’s probably not a candidate to throw for 400 yards against the OU defense, or to run for 100 yards, but he’s poised and knows how to manipulate a defense and is good enough at just about everything to frustrate the opposition for 3-4 hours.

“He is a little bit sneaky on his feet,” said linebacker DaShaun White. “He can move around in the pocket a little bit. It’s something that we have to be ready for.”

“He’s a different kind of mobile,” said Thomas. “He can also stay in that pocket and sling it. We’ve got to be aware of him triggering if he feels pressure. We’ve got to be disciplined, staying low, tackling, finishing. Not running by the quarterback but not getting too deep inside so he can roll out.”

Rush linebacker Nik Bonitto probably will mix up strategies between chasing Thompson on a straight pass rush and spying him so he doesn’t escape the pocket.

“We know he's a guy that if he gets out of the pocket, he can make things happen,” Bonitto said. “So as D-linemen, this week it's important that we maintain our rush lanes and we don't get past the quarterback and give them open lanes to run. We all know that he can make plays with his legs as well as with his arm. We don't want to make it easier for him.”

Not unlike Kansas State’s Skylar Thompson, Casey Thompson (no relation) likes to make trouble for defenses without getting hit — as in, escape the pass rush and throw the football downfield.

“Although he’s not featured as much in the run game,” said OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, “he has certainly the quality of athleticism to go with an arm to drive the ball downfield. Has made good decisions.

“You'd like to cross off that aspect of things with a quarterback, but no. Mobile, can throw, and I think their skill across the board is probably as good as we've seen this year.”

Charles Thompson’s abilities as Switzer’s last wishbone quarterback were jaw-dropping. A Lawton native, Thompson arrived in 1986 and redshirted behind Jamelle Holieway, who guided OU to the national championship as a true freshman in 1985. Thompson took over after Holieway went down with a knee injury late in 1987, and they shared snaps in 1988 before Thompson broke his leg against Nebraska in 1989.

The following year, Thompson went to prison for cocaine trafficking and Switzer was forced to resign. Thompson served his time and resurfaced at Central State (OH), where he won an NAIA national title as a running back. 

When football ended, he found religion, got married, became a motivational speaker, worked in sports radio and the business sector, and now is coaching 7-on-7 athletes (many of whom get Division I scholarships) — and has sent two sons (so far) into the Red River Rivalry.

“You know, you go back and you envision years ago of having kids and, you know, them someday following your footsteps,” he said. “I never imagined to the magnitude of what I've been able to experience as a father and as a person. But I'm just ecstatic that they — each individual person in life has goals they set for themselves, and I've had the fortune of being able to see to my kids, who had dreamed of playing on these types of stages, get an opportunity to do so.”

Said Casey, “It’s a dream come true for me to just be a part of that tradition of great quarterbacks that have been able to play and start in this game. There have been a lot of great players that have made their name in this game, and I’m looking to do the same this week.”

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