Casey Thompson's football journey will come full-circle at Oklahoma in 2024
In many ways, Casey Thompson is the Sooner that never was.
The Oklahoma native, who's the son of former OU quarterback Charles Thompson, nearly committed to the Sooners out of high school. But a conversation with then-offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley made him skeptical of the stability on staff, and he instead chose Texas as a four-star prospect in the 2018 cycle out of Newcastle (Okla.) High.
After his freshman year on the Forty Acres, Thompson quietly entered the portal and enrolled at Oklahoma before the spring semester in 2019. But the world never found out, as he eventually made the decision to return to Texas after a conversation about perseverance with his father. After riding pine for two more years, he emerged as the Longhorns' starter in 2021, and turned in a career day against the Sooners in the Red River Showdown that year. He flung five touchdown passes and racked up 388 aerial yards, but it was all for naught when the clock hit zeroes, as his heroics were overshadowed by the coronation of a wunderkind freshman named Caleb Williams.
After starting 10 games for Texas in 2021, Thompson decided to transfer when the Longhorns brought in Quinn Ewers, and he once again heavily considered returning home to Oklahoma. But the Sooners elected to snag Dillon Gabriel out of the portal, and Thompson enrolled at Nebraska instead. He battled injuries throughout the 2022 campaign, but made 10 starts for the Huskers in a turmoil-laden campaign for the program. Nebraska brought in Georgia Tech transfer Jeff Sims in the offseason, whereupon Thompson once again hit the portal to seek new horizons. Again, he thought about Oklahoma, but decided he wanted to be the unquestioned starter in what would be his final year of college football.
He reunited with new Florida Atlantic head coach Tom Herman, to whom he'd committed at Texas, and entered the 2023 season as the Owls' starting quarterback. But his season ended after just three games, as he tore his ACL in a loss to Clemson. At year's end, there was a silver lining amidst it all, though: Thompson had a medical waiver to play a seventh season.
And this time, he knew where he wanted to be, even if it meant giving up his aspirations of being a starter.
After turning down the Sooners on four previous occasions, the fifth time's the charm, as Thompson has committed to Oklahoma for his final year of college eligibility. OUInsider had reported immediately upon Thompson's entry into the transfer portal that Oklahoma was the likely destination this time around.
He'll join the program as an NIL-incentivized walk-on, and adds depth and experience to a room full of youth. The presumed starter heading into 2024 is rising sophomore Jackson Arnold, who made his first career start in the Sooners' Alamo Bowl loss to Arizona on Dec. 28. The only other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster are incoming freshmen Michael Hawkins and Brendan Zurbrugg. Thus, Thompson's wealth of knowledge and wisdom should go a long way in helping the Sooners' crop of young signal-callers get acclimated.
Over the course of his collegiate career, Thompson has thrown for 5,338 yards and connected on 64 percent of his passes, with 52 touchdowns to 24 interceptions. He's accumulated 23 total starts across his time with Texas, Nebraska and FAU. His accolades include a National Player of the Week honor for his performance against Texas Tech in 2021, in which he threw for 303 yards and accounted for six total TD's. He is the only player in the history of the Texas football program with three games of five total touchdowns or more, and all three of those games came in the same season (2021).
Thompson will be one of the oldest players in college football, as he'll turn 26 years old in October. He's listed at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, and is expected to battle Hawkins and Zurbrugg for the right to serve as the primary backup to Arnold.
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