QuickTake:

This football moment might be new for the Ducks’ backup quarterback, but the roots of his ascent trace back to summers of baseball, friendships and a youth team stacked with future college athletes — including the Oregon athletic director’s kid.

The stars have been bright in this 10-1 Oregon Ducks season, but it’s fair to say Brock Thomas has been one of the year’s biggest surprises.

He’s played only 77 snaps, but it was his name that drew headlines last month with his rise through the quarterback depth chart. A walk-on redshirt sophomore from Sheldon suddenly out there ahead of a cast of four-star out-of-staters with the game on the line against Wisconsin? That’s the origin of a Bryce Boettcher-level tale.

And while Thomas’ story is still in its prelude, his guidance of Oregon to that win over the Badgers — and his efficient follow-up against Minnesota — has it off to a ripping start.

But really, Cooper Mullens says, you should see the guy play center field.

“It felt like any ball hit out there was going to get caught,” Mullens said. “He was always making diving plays or tracking down balls in the gap. He just made them look routine.”

Mullens is the son of University of Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens. The younger Mullens is now in his third year as an infielder with the University of Michigan baseball program and enjoying life at a college where he isn’t known as the AD’s kid.

“There’s always a certain — I don’t want to say stigma — but it’s just something I didn’t want to have to deal with every day,” he said. “I always wanted to go somewhere else.”

Mullens and Thomas played together for years on a Willamette Valley Babe Ruth All-Star team that ran from U-9 through U-13. Those seasons left a mark — and not just on the players.

The roster was stacked with athletes. In addition to Mullens and Thomas, the group included current Oregon junior shortstop Maddox Molony, Linfield junior receiver Cade Welch, University of Portland redshirt sophomore pitcher Kaden Starr and Oregon State wrestler Vaun Halstead.

“We were just competitive all the time,” Thomas said. “We always wanted to win. When we weren’t actually playing baseball, we were playing Wiffle ball or something. We were always active. Always competing.”

They won constantly, too: tournament titles all over the West on trips to Montana, Idaho, Arizona — where coach Ryan Molony recalls a tournament final in which the boys were dousing each other with clay and Gatorade moments before first pitch.

The kids were talented. They were loose. They were having the time of their lives.

“I remember looking at one of my coaches and saying, ‘They’re going to win,’” Molony said.

And they did.

Now, when Molony watches Oregon football hoping to see his one-time pitcher/shortstop/center fielder get snaps after Dante Moore, he often finds himself thinking back to those summers — the friendships, the long days, the bond among players and parents.

That included Rob Mullens.

Mullens is in his 16th year as Oregon’s athletic director, a man who has served on the College Football Playoff selection committee, oversees a department budget of more than $160 million and helped bring Dan Lanning to Eugene. He’s a major figure in the college sports world, which is why those years as just a baseball dad meant so much to him.

“There are a lot of memories, going to Big Al’s in Portland to bowl or go to the arcade, team meals, hanging out at the hotel pools,” Mullens said. “It was a very talented group. It was a very fun group. They loved to practice. That’s why they had the success they had.”

Despite his schedule as athletic director, Mullens didn’t miss much.

“Rob is busy,” Ryan Molony said. “He’s flying all over the nation. He’s on all these committees. But he would never miss a game. He would make sure he was back — even if it was just for a few hours — to make it to a game and then fly out again. I thought that was really cool.”

Years later at Oregon, Thomas and Maddox Molony view the commonly referred to “Mr. Mullens” simply as Rob.

“He was just Cooper’s dad,” Maddox said. “The relationship has evolved and is definitely more professional now. He has a job to do, and I’m older. But it’s a good relationship. And with our background, he’s still just Rob.”

Brock Thomas (12) of the Oregon Ducks throws a pass against the Wisconsin Badgers at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oct. 25, 2025. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA

Thomas, meanwhile, is no longer just a speedster on the youth base paths — “If he ever got on first, he’d be on third in two pitches,” Ryan Molony recalled.

He’s 12-of-16 on the year for 130 yards and a touchdown. And if you ask the AD, Thomas really could have had a chance of living out that Boettcher-like two-sport story.

“He would have been a hell of a college baseball player,” Rob Mullens said. “He was such a great athlete. His love of football was obvious, and it’s fun to be around the football team and hear all the coaches and personnel talk about him as a leader and his development as a person. We’re just fortunate that he’s an Oregon Duck.”

The boys feel fortunate they had each other. While Thomas says he doesn’t keep in touch with Cooper Mullens as often as he should, and that he’ll occasionally just see Maddox Molony around the athletic facility, he looks back on those freewheeling baseball days as a catalyst for the athlete he’s become.

It’s important to take things seriously, Thomas said. But it was then that he learned it’s OK to have a little fun in the process.

“When I got in (against Wisconsin) it was all business,” Thomas said. “But I took a look around and calmed myself down and said, ‘Wow, this is cool.’”

It wasn’t a moment just for Thomas, either.

“It’s just cool to see your buddies succeed,” Cooper Mullens said. “It’s something he always wanted to do. It’s cool to see him achieve that dream.”