In his sophomore season, Oregon running back Thomas Tyner has made a habit of declining interviews. Over the course of the year, he’s made it known to the media that he’s not interested in talking.
For this story, Tyner was unavailable for comment.
Tyner, a former five-star recruit out of Aloha High School in the Beaverton School District, has been accustomed to nontraditional hype and buzz surrounding him since he was in eighth grade.
When Chris Casey was the head football coach at Aloha, he made it a custom to keep strong ties with the local little-league football teams. Reports of the talent that would eventually pass through his program were not uncommon. The reports of Tyner’s early ability were exactly that — uncommon.
The youth coaches in the Aloha area would test players in the beginning of the season, including timing the players in the 40-yard dash. The coaches reported to Casey that Tyner ran a 4.3 40-yard dash in his first attempt. The second go around, with two coaches using handheld timers, Tyner accomplished the same feat.
“He’s the fastest kid I’ve ever coached,” Casey, now the head coach at George Fox University, said. “This is my 34th year coaching and more than 20 of those have been spent at the college level.”
By the time he got to Aloha High School, Casey believed that Tyner could play varsity immediately. However, he eased him through his freshman year by placing him originally on the junior varsity squad. Casey wanted Tyner to adjust to the rigors of high school from a social standpoint first.
“We are concerned about our players as students and as people,” Casey said. “We didn’t want him, from a social citizenship standpoint, to be put with the varsity immediately going into his freshman year. It’s tough enough to acclimate to high school coming out of junior high school. To do that, we think it would’ve been tough for him.”
In the last third of the season, Casey decided to promote Tyner to varsity. He rushed for over 100-yards in two different games over that span.
Over his time at Aloha, Casey took notice to Tyner’s shyness. Publicly, he was considered a quiet individual.
“I think a big part of it is that he’s just really humble,” Casey said. “He’s got a great family situation, and he’s a really home-bodied type of guy.”
Eventually, Tyner verbally committed to Oregon. The fanfare from Oregon fans went through the roof. People were enamored with the possibility of the next great Oregon running back staying home — Aloha is about an two hour drive from campus.
The over-fueled admiration turned to mass hatred and questioning when Tyner tweeted out that he was going to open up his commitment and visit other schools. He got phone calls, letters and messages on social media from fans looking to find out why he would consider visiting other schools.
Stunned at the reaction, Tyner changed his phone number and relied on Casey and his family to filter messages directed toward him. His innate shyness had been exploited.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Casey said. “He’s quiet. He’s humble, he had so much media attention early on and the incident on social media…all those things. I think it just added up.”
Fellow running back Kenny Bassett noticed Tyner’s quiet nature immediately upon meeting him.
“Everybody is quiet when they first get here because it’s so fast, and no one really knows what to expect,” Bassett said over the summer. “Thomas is probably the quietest person I know. He’s changed, but when he first got here, he was really quiet.”
During his freshman year at Oregon, Tyner rushed for 711 yards — then a school record for a freshman — and nine touchdowns. This year hasn’t been the same. Tyner battled a shoulder injury he suffered on the opening kickoff against Washington for a small part of the season, and his carries have diminished. Freshman Royce Freeman has taken over as the starter in the Ducks backfield and has 945 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns this year.
Casey keeps in regular contact with many of his former players, including Tyner. He noted that the adjustment to anything new is filled with difficulties. He told Tyner the same thing he has told every player that has talked to him about the troubles of adjusting. “Finish what you’ve started. You fight through and you don’t give in, you dig in. When something’s a new challenge, and there are doubts and questions, you face it and you fight through it.”
“It’s kind of the Michael Jordan thing: I succeed because I fail, ya know? Failure is the road to success.”
After recovering from his shoulder injury, Tyner made an emphatic return in a 45-16 victory over rival Stanford. He scored two touchdowns, one of which concluded with a highlight reel spin move. Against Utah last week, teammate Byron Marshall noticed the difference in Tyner’s running mentality. He saw Tyner’s feet continue to churn despite the contact from a hard-hitting Utes defense.
“He knew he wasn’t playing to his capabilities,” Marshall said. “Plain and simple: he fixed it. He’s coming out, working a lot more in practice and it’s paying off. Hats off to him.”
Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota added, “I think he’s always had it, he’s a hard-runner to bring down like any one of those guys in the backfield. Thomas played well, and we’re going to expect that out of him for the rest of the year.”
Despite his quiet nature, Casey believes that Tyner is showcasing his competitive nature through the way he has been running the ball the past two weeks.
“Because he is quiet, I don’t think many people realize that he’s got a fire burning. He’s got a bounce in his step and a spark in his eye. He’s that kind of a competitor,” Casey said. “He ran angry and he ran harder.”
Over the course of his two years with the Ducks, Casey says Tyner has made a consistent effort to bridge the 111 miles between college and his home in Aloha. He has attended three of Aloha’s football games this year.
Casey terms Tyner as a magnet — an icon that attracts all kinds of attention from people. At every event back home, Casey has seen kids approaching Tyner to sign autographs, write notes or even visit people who are sick in the hospital. Evidently, Tyner prefers to work behind-the-scenes. When he’s offered the opportunity to talk to people from the media, he commonly declines.
Casey says that’s the only request he knows Tyner has turned down.
“It’s amazing the amount of stuff he’s done for people, especially people in need,” Casey said. “I don’t know one request that guy has ever turned down to help somebody. He’s just a great person and he’s so well-received.”
Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoyt