Former college QB Casey Thompson brings words of encouragement to football team

Casey Thompson’s football career has had its ups and downs, but his faith has kept him going through it all, he told Comanche football players on Aug. 27.

Thompson gave an encouraging talk about endurance and keeping the faith at the Decals with Dad event held in the middle school cafeteria.

Thompson, the son of former University of Oklahoma quarterback Charles Thompson and younger brother of All-American Kendall Thompson, knew he wanted to play football from an early age growing up in the Oklahoma City area.

“At the age of three or four, I told my mom I wanted to play football,” Thompson said. “She told me I was too young. I told her to put me in football. I just wanted to be on the team. I wanted to have a jersey. I wanted to have a helmet. I wanted to get a little snack bag after practice and a juice box.”

His mother relented and allowed him to play on a team of 6 and 7-year-olds.

“I remember thinking that I wanted to be as good as the quarterback and running back on the team,” Thompson said. 

Thompson admitted, however, that he wasn’t that good and mostly ended up playing in the dirt, but he was on the team, which was the most important thing.

He got his first exposure to faith around the age of nine from his great-grandmother, who was living with his family at the time.

“She was always reading her Bible and she was always listening to worship music,” Thompson said. “She was always telling us about dreams and visions of heaven and that she couldn’t wait to go home to heaven. She didn’t want to be on earth anymore; she just wanted peace.”

That experience would be the gateway to Thompson’s own conversion, but he found himself compromising his faith as a teenager.

“I’m like ‘Okay, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t cuss, but when it comes to (relationships with) women I’m going to compromise my faith and my beliefs a little bit,” Thompson said. 

He was a highly sought-after recruit coming out of high school with 31 Division I offers. He chose Texas over all the other schools.

“I prayed to God and this is when I started really exercising my faith,” Thompson said.

He felt like he had no other choice. His parents were going through a divorce, his older brother was playing football in Europe, his younger brother was on drugs and his aunt, whom he was close to, was a drug addict who spent time in the hospital.”

It forced him to rely on God for guidance and it led him back to a deeper faith. A faith he continues to uphold until now. 

Due to injuries, Thompson found himself moving from school to school to catch on with another team. An injury forced him out at Texas and then Nebraska. He then found his way to Florida Atlantic to play for his former Texas coach, Tom Herman. With his last year of eligibility in 2024, Thompson played his final year back home, fulfilling a dream of playing at the University of Oklahoma.

Thompson, 26, still has a dream of playing in the NFL. He continues to work out and has an agent. He has received some interest from NFL teams, but says he is looking for the right fit. 

He keeps himself busy as a business owner and part-time trainer, part-time coach and as a consultant with different teams and coaches and has ventured into real estate investments.

“I can still play,” Thompson said. “I’m healthy enough to play. I’m throwing the ball well and I’m working out. I’m actually throwing the ball better than I was in college. I’m stronger. I’m wiser. But, I’m just seeking God’s will in everything. I’d love to be a professional athlete and a professional coach if it is His will and then do real estate and retire. All my goals are still in front of me.”