As soon as a young Jett Thomalla started training to be a better quarterback as a seventh grader, John Teigland saw the kid had tools.

“I could tell right away at the beginning he had really good potential and a great arm,” said Teigland, a private quarterback coach based in Omaha who has helped several local quarterbacks who have gone on to play college football, including Nebraska's Danny Kaelin (Bellevue West), Oklahoma State's Zane Flores (Gretna) and North Dakota State's Cole Payton (Omaha Westside), just to name a few.

A few years of steady development later and Thomalla was the starting quarterback at Millard South as a sophomore. Standing 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds, the still-growing pocket passer completed 60% of his attempts last fall for a state-leading 2,800 yards and 26 touchdowns against nine interceptions. He helped lead the Patriots to a 10-2 finish with an appearance in the Class A semifinals.

Helping Thomalla along the way was a solid group of skill players he got to throw to, and the group will be more explosive this fall for his junior campaign.

The Patriots’ roster has talented players sprinkled all over it. Some of them will be playing football at Power Four programs, like four-star hybrid tight end/receiver Chase Loftin, three-star receiver Amarion Jackson and three-star tight end Isaac Jensen. Aamir Hill, a speedy receiver who spent his first three seasons at Omaha Central, will also add to the mix.

After catching a combined 73 passes for 1,017 yards and 11 touchdowns as a sophomore and junior at Class B’s Elkhorn North, Loftin will play Class A ball his senior season at Millard South. Nebraska, Texas A&M and Florida State are among the many power conference programs hunting for a commitment from the 6-6, 215-pound athlete who has exploded on the recruiting trail.

There hasn’t been a high school season where Jackson hasn’t produced. As a freshman, he caught 31 passes for 491 yards and five touchdowns. Last fall as a sophomore, those numbers elevated to 57 catches for a Class A-leading 1,086 yards and 12 scores — all of those marks being single-season records at Millard South. In January, Illinois was the first to offer the 6-2, 185-pounder. Minnesota, Iowa State and Iowa followed.

Jensen, at 6-6 and 205 pounds, caught 26 passes for 360 yards and four touchdowns as a sophomore last fall. Iowa State pulled the trigger and offered Jensen in April. Nebraska followed with an offer the next day.

Distributing the ball to others has always been Thomalla's nature in athletics. That's true for not only on a football field, but a basketball court, too. Thomalla doesn’t look like your average point guard at 6-4, but that role fits his skill set on the Patriots' basketball team, where he started as well.

Thomalla averaged 4.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while dishing out 3.0 assists this past season.

“I’m a distributor. I don’t really shoot on a basketball court. That’s one thing I need to work on,” Thomalla said. “I’ve just always been used to passing the ball around. I’m more of a slasher, passer player. I’d say being a quarterback helps me play point. I feel like I pass the ball with one hand a lot in basketball.”

Iowa State and Missouri are two programs that have swung by Millard South lately and watched Thomalla throw. As Thomalla is learning, high school quarterback recruiting is a different kind of beast compared to other positions.

“I’ve gotten a lot of exposure because of guys like Chase and AJ (Jackson) and Isaac, and they already have their offers,” Thomalla said. “Schools are telling me that quarterback is a unique position and that they need to know that you’re the guy because they only offer one or two a year, so they need to know.”

Thomalla is already among the top quarterbacks in the state right now. But with just one season of starting experience under his belt, he knows he needs to show consistency on the field and continue working on his game in order to earn his first scholarship offer.

A notable performance at the Elite 11 regional in Las Vegas earlier this month certainly could help spring Thomalla into a critical junior campaign for himself.

Thomalla wound up tying three-star 2026 quarterback Michael Mitchell Jr. for first place in the accuracy challenge among underclassmen with 19 points. The drills the quarterbacks were put through that day included throwing to route-running receivers from a stationary position on the field, performing a five-step drop from under center before hitting a target and throwing out routes, bubbles, deep posts, comebacks and slants.

“It was fun. The coaches were really cool and they work you out really hard,” Thomalla said of the experience in Las Vegas. “They (the older quarterbacks) looked developed, and that’s where I want to be pretty soon here.”

Turning heads at an Elite 11 regional before Thomalla's junior season didn't surprise Teigland, who knows what the young quarterback is capable of.

"Jett has elite arm talent. He has a Division I arm,” Teigland said. “So, in terms of going to a quarterback workout, a quarterback camp, and slinging it around with some of the best in the country, he was going to do extremely well.”

The environment and feel of an Elite 11 regional is intense and pressure-packed. One bad throw could feel like the world is ending for a young guy. But one trait Teigland learned Thomalla has is that he doesn't easily change who he is or how he operates on the field. That's part of the reason why he led the state in passing yards last fall.

Thomalla had — and will continue to have — talented playmakers surrounding him at Millard South, but the Friday Night Lights were not too big for him as a sophomore starter.

“One thing I do appreciate about Jett is he’s a very cool, calm and collected type of person,” Teigland said. “His demeanor, he’s not going to get too low or too high. Whether he throws an interception or he wins the accuracy challenge at an Elite 11 regional, he’s just like, ‘OK, what’s next?’”

That's simple, Thomalla thinks.

Keep fine tuning his footwork and throwing mechanics. Keep developing. Understand he's not a finished product and that it's normal to have ups and downs.

And a lot more throwing sessions at Warren Academy in Omaha, where he works out with Teigland and other local quarterbacks trying to better themselves.

Thomalla is the one in the red shirt and black pants:

"I would say one thing that he does so well, that can be a positive and negative at times, is he has such elite arm talent that he can rely on his arm too much," Teigland said. "Sometimes that can kind of be a negative, where he’s not necessarily getting his feet set to the target because he knows his arm alone can make the throw.

"So continuing to try to polish to be a little more vertical through his throw, making sure he’s not over-striding and just making sure he’s getting his feet, his hips, his shoulders, his everything to the target and not getting complacent or lazy with his footwork.”

Thomalla recognizes film study is important, too. He wants to see defensive coverages quicker and understanding what defenses are trying to do to him.

“That’ll lower my picks percentage, is knowing what coverage the defense is going to be in and watching them on film, knowing where you want to put the ball,” Thomalla said.

Thomalla also wants to improve his mobility. He rushed for 122 yards and two scores last year. He’s a pocket passer with a big arm, so being able to use his legs some in the read-run game will only add to his value as a quarterback at the next level.

“I feel like I’ve been getting faster," Thomalla said. "I think I was probably at a 5.2 or 5.1 (second) 40 (yard dash), and I’m like at a 4.9 now.”

Stacking a strong junior season onto the sophomore campaign he just had will be important for Thomalla's recruitment. Many eyes will be watching Millard South this season, and especially in its season-opener Aug. 30, which happens to be against Basha High School in Chandler, Arizona.

“I think what’s important for Jett is that he makes all the throws being mechanically sound this year. Just continuing to improve his footwork, his feet, and not just rely on the shoulder and the arm to get the job done," Teigland said. "If he cleans some things up mechanically and continues to build on what he was already doing as a sophomore and move around the pocket naturally, I think that’s going to set him up big for the next level.”

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