Quarterback competitions are fun. Coaches track every throw a guy makes in practice and then pour over the film, painstakingly trying to separate one guy from another while projecting who is going to operate the best in a live situation from an environment where you really can’t simulate live reps. Guys go back and forth with one another. Then you let media in to observe a brief period of an isolated practice and things get tricky.

One guy has to take the first reps. Another guy is going to be the second one up. It might be representative of where they stand in a coach’s mental pecking order—because depth charts aren’t a thing in March unless you’re Justin friggin’ Herbert or LaMichael James—or it might be completely random for that day.

Thursday, at Oregon’s fourth spring practice under new head coach Dan Lanning, we got our first glimpse into where the Ducks’ quarterback situation stands. Or might stand. Or might not at all stand. We’ll see.

Ty Thompson took the first reps. Auburn transfer Bo Nix was next. Then Jay Butterfield.

That’s according to 247Sports’ Matt Prehm, who did his best to give all the appropriate context on the battle that’s the biggest talking point of Oregon’s offseason. Here’s what he saw:

Thursday was Oregon’s fourth practice under Lanning, an important note to make. It was also just their second day in pads. There’s still a long way to go before the Ducks take the field for their first game. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to see Thompson right in the thick of things as Oregon holds a true and honest quarterback competition.

He’ll get opportunities to run the first-team offense. Reps don’t usually start to get pared down until fall camp.

The prevailing thought when Nix committed to transfer from Auburn—where he’d started the previous three years—to Oregon was that he’d step in as the No. 1 quarterback to lead Lanning’s first team. Lanning has said there were no assurances given to Nix that a job would be handed to him. He’d have to earn it.

Thompson, a redshirt freshman and former 5-star recruit, makes things interesting. He’s young and unproven but a blue-chip talent with serious potential.

“Certainly one positive today is the offense had some explosive plays out there, which was exciting,” Lanning said on Tuesday when asked about the quarterback performance so far on the whole. “On the same note, we also had some turnovers that I don’t want to see. I thought we could have been a little bit better in our two-minute scenario there at the end of practice. So, good job on the explosive plays. We want to take care of the ball going forward.”

Lanning brings an interesting perspective with regards to Nix’s evaluation. Georgia faced Nix all three years he was with the Auburn Tigers, each time with Lanning coordinating the Bulldogs’ defense. He’s been on the other side of trying to find ways to slow down the quarterback. Asked how Nix compares to expectations, Lanning said he’s been pleased so far with what he’s seen.

“Bo’s really what I thought he was,” Lanning said Tuesday. “He’s an extreme competitor, super smart, and he works really hard at it. I think he’s really intentional. I think he would tell you he has a lot of things he can get better at and I certainly agree. There are a lot of things that he can improve on. But he’s attacking those every day. So I’m pleased to see that.”

There are still plenty of data points to come in this quarterback competition. But we’ve got one, and that’s worth at least something. Or not. Quarterback competitions are fun, aren’t they?