Three days after former football head coach Dan Mullen left Mississippi State University and six days after the final regular season game, Joe Moorhead took over a football program with two dual-threat quarterbacks.

One of those quarterbacks was Keytaon Thompson, a sophomore from New Orleans, who saw extended action in games against the University of Mississippi and Louisville University. Moorhead said he is impressed by what Thompson shows in the pocket and huddle from what he has observed so far.

“​The thing I have been most impressed with K.T. (Thompson) is his approach and maturity,” Moorhead said. “For being a young guy, he’s got a calmness and a poise and a presence about him. He doesn’t get rattled and that is what you want out of the quarterback position. Never too high when it’s going well, and never too low when it is going bad. So he has a nice steady approach and that’s not even mentioning his talent and skills set. His approach has been one that has been very impressive.”

Thompson has gotten more work in with his approach as Nick Fitzgerald is recovering from ankle surgery. Thompson has taken practice reps with first and second team offenses, which he said has helped him get more comfortable.

“It helps a lot with all of those extra reps, you know,” Thompson said. “With each rep, I feel like I’m getting better and better. I am learning the system even more, and just getting more comfortable with this system. I think all of these reps with first and second team have helped a lot.”

The reps have helped Thompson with reading the defenses and the many different looks they throw at him, as he said he has worked hard to improve all areas of his game going into this season.

“As far as recognizing defenses and certain looks, to even down to accuracy and mechanical things,” Thompson said, “I have just been working all the way around them just trying to get better.”

Any new offense will bring challenges as a new system is implemented, but this is something Thompson said he had gone through in the previous season as a freshman coming into the college game, so the changes are not too much to handle.

“Not any changes that would not come with any new systems,” Thompson said. “It is just learning it, and trying to get the fine details down, that comes with any new system. Same problems I faced last year, coming in and learning a new offense coming into college as a freshman, but other than that no issue.”

Thompson hopes to show his improvement, as well as the new system Moorhead has brought in Saturday’s Maroon and White spring game. He said he knows a lot of fans are anxious to see this team and what they can do.

“I’m very excited for this spring game,” Thompson said. “We are going to have a lot of fans show up to see this team with the new system for the first time. I am just looking forward to putting on a show.”

Thompson said he is also excited about the talent coming in with the three four-star wide receivers who will join the team for this upcoming season. He also said the offense should be explosive.

“I’m very excited, we have great receivers out there, and great tight ends, and we have a very talented backfield,” Thompson said. “I have a lot of great players around me, and that gives me even more confident, and I think we are going to have a nice, explosive offense this year.”