The unlikely Dragon record setter
Tyler Thackerson, the tall, lanky kid with laser focus and an ability to play some ball.
Or, “Tyler.”
A tall, lanky kid who didn’t look any thicker than a tree branch, Tyler Thackerson was a baller of the most-serious degree.
The kid could play.
The Clinton quarterback was the dream of offensive-minded Clinton High School fans.
But he was more than a gunslinger.
Thackerson led a high-octane offense for the Dragons in the mid 2010s, and by the time he graduated in 2016 he had the Clinton High School record books in his hands.
When he took the duties as signal caller for the Orange and Black his sophomore year, Thackerson threw for 2,724 yards, 26 touchdowns and only eight interceptions in 352 passing attempts.
That was only the beginning.
As a junior signal caller, Thackerson connected for another 2,024 yards, 22 touchdowns and only six interceptions in 298 passing attempts.
“He was a machine,” Matt Hagan, a news cameraman with numerous Knoxville television stations, said of the hot-handed Clinton quarterback.
“Every week was a highlight week with Tyler under center.
By the time Thackerson was a senior — 2015 — the Clinton offense was his domain.
In one of the most-remembered games between Clinton and Anderson County High School, the Dragons and the Mavericks combined for almost 100 points in a 51-47 shootout.
It’s a game that still lives in the memory banks of the Clinton faithful.
Thackerson passed for 236 yards in that game.
But Anderson County rushed for 520.
“That’s what Clinton did,” Hagan said. “They threw the ball. J’Quan Thomas was one of the receivers and he could catch anything.”
During his senior year, with a plethora of talented receivers, Thackerson obliterated Clinton High School passing records.
He threw for 3,360 yards.
He threw for 32 touchdowns.
In his 426 passing attempts his senior year, Thackerson threw only 13 interceptions.
He was brilliant.
His career numbers at Clinton High School were stunning:
• He completed 700 of 1,076 passes for 8,108 yards in just three seasons.
• He threw for 80 touchdowns.
That’s an 8, followed by an 0 — 80.
Of those 1,076 attempts, only 27 were picked off.
Do the math. It’s unheard of.
And he wasn’t just an arm. Thackerson also ran the ball 383 times in those three years for 1,383 yards and 24 touchdowns.
He also caught three passes — and while they were probably gimmick plays, they all total up in the score book — for 19 yards.
When Tyler Thackerson left Clinton High School he:
• Had the fourth-most completions in a single season.
• Had the fifth-most passing attempts in a career.
• Had the fifth-most passing attempts in a season.
• Had seventh-most passing attempts in a career.
• Had the ninth-most passing attempts in a season
• Had the seventh-most passing touchdowns in a career.
• Tied for fourth-most passing touchdowns in a game.
• Tied for fifth- most touchdown rushes and passes combined in a career.
• He had sixth-most total offensive yards in a career.
• And sixth-most total offensive yards, rushing and passing, in a season.