Oklahoma native Casey Thompson cherishing his lone season as a Sooner

NORMAN — Nobody has to tell Casey Thompson what it means to play for the university of Oklahoma.

Thompson grew up near the program, eventually playing quarterback at Southmoore High School. But his career path didn't star at Oklahoma. Instead, he initially spent three years at Texas before going to Nebraska in 2022. Last season Thompson was at Florida Atlantic, but an ACL injury limited him to just three games.

After his sixth season came to an end, Thompson wondered if he would even return for one final season of college football. But just a few days after the Sooners' appearance in the Alamo Bowl, he got a phone call from new OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell.

"Right after the bowl game is when I started to have heavy contact with the coaching staff," Thompson said Wednesday. "I was already in the portal for a few weeks, and so we went through the process the right way. I just remember I got a phone call when I was at home and right about before I went out to eat with my family. We were all excited about it. This was around the holidays, and once I knew I was most likely gonna be coming here we celebrated and I got to enjoy the holidays with my family for a little bit.

"Just talking to (Littrell) was good to hear. And then I connected with (OU coach Brent Venables) after that. It wasn’t a whole lot of back and forth or working through the process. It was more so, hey we’re interested."

Oklahoma had always been on his radar. His father, Charles, played for legendary OU coach Barry Switzer in the '80s, and his brother, Kendall, was also a Sooner. He'd always had an affinity for the program.

So once the opportunity became a reality, it didn't take too long for Thompson to make the jump.

"For me it was, 'I wanna be at OU. I wanna be at Oklahoma.' They’re like, 'OK, let us work through this process," Thompson said. "It didn’t really take too much to convince me to come back home.

"Obviously I know the importance of OU football living in Oklahoma."

Now, Thompson is back home for his final collegiate season, and he brings plenty of experience with him.

Thompson has started 23 games in his career and appeared in 32, compiling over 5,000 passing yards and 52 touchdowns while completing 63% of his passes. His best game came against the Sooners in 2021, when he threw for 388 yards and five touchdowns while nearly leading Texas to victory.

Injuries have played an unfortunate role throughout his career, and he won't be fully active through much of the spring with the Sooners. He also knows true sophomore Jackson Arnold is projected to be the Sooners' starting quarterback.

But that competitive drive is still there, and ultimately his goal is to help the team.

"My goal for this team, obviously I want us to compete and win at a high level," Thompson said. "I’m here to provide any help that I can. There’s no guarantees because there’s a lot of factors that have to come into play.

"As far as how the dominos will stack up in the quarterback room, I think Jackson Arnold is a great player. He’s a very talented kid. He’s physically gifted and he’s a smart guy, hard worker... We have a lot of capable guys in that room. Every day as I kinda watch them and I’m sizing myself up, it’s natural for you to wonder where I will fit in. But I’m a competitive guy. When I’m healthy enough and able to go out there and compete in practice, obviously I wanna play, I wanna contribute to the team, and I wanna be ready to play. If I’m not the starter, I’ll be one play away and ready to go as a backup. My goals for this season is for No. 1 to get healthy, No. 2 I wanna enjoy my last year of college football."

For Venables, Thompson's arrival in Norman is a full-circle moment. But it also gives the Sooners an experienced voice in the quarterback room.

"I’ve known the family for a long time, and like every decision I make I try to find great people," Venables said. "... Casey’s just phenomenal. He’s got a depth of experience as a quarterback. He epitomizes what you want from a work-ethic and a commitment standpoint to his craft, his teammates. He’s got wonderful leadership traits that he’s gonna immediately be able to bring some things that maybe that group of guys as a young group doesn’t already have. They were all able — Jackson was able to learn along with General, learn from Dillon. That was a wonderful opportunity for them.

"Now this is an opportunity for Casey to plant some more seeds. He’s been working on getting healthy and those types of things... But he’s immediately able to bring a veteran presence to that room and someone the younger guys can lean on. Been a starter several college games — 50-games plus — and has had a lot of success quarterbacking.”