SAN JOSE — Tommy Thompson doesn’t have to stay.

The Earthquakes’ most promising teenager since Landon Donovan does enough in practice to leave a lasting impression. Still, the 5-foot-7 rookie continues shooting at the goal after teammates depart. Even leading scorer Chris Wondolowski, legendary for his practice ethos, is gone as Thompson launches one swerving ball after another toward an empty net.

The first product of the Quakes’ Homegrown Player program has appeared only 12 times this season because it took half a year to recover from right knee surgery. He has yet to score or earn an assist. But Thompson, 19, has brought a palpable sense of excitement to a Major League Soccer team needing a boost.

The forward from Loomis has been one of the few highlights in a dreary season for the Quakes (6-14-11), who play Saturday at Real Salt Lake. He has entertained fans with bewitching spin moves that could become part of the framework as the team rebuilds next season.

“You’ve gotten a taste for what I can do,” Thompson said during lunch recently. “I think my ceiling is high.”

That’s not arrogance as much as honesty. Thompson understands he’s one of many on the American soccer horizon. Talent alone isn’t enough to reach the World Cup in four years — or eight years for that matter.

So, yeah, he keeps punching balls into that fluttering net like a darting shadow on an empty field.

“He is the poster boy of what we’re trying to develop,” said Chris Leitch, the former fullback who runs the Earthquakes’ youth academy.

Soccer family

A decade ago, Thompson had no interest in practice when 1984 Olympian Gregg Thompson trained his three boys in the art of soccer. His older sons, Ty and Tanner Thompson, were diligent in completing footwork drills before practices and games. Tommy would drift off to tie his shoes or go to the bathroom.

“He wanted nothing to do with the boring type stuff,” recalled Ty, a Stanford holding midfielder.

That was OK with Dad, a San Jose native who spent two seasons in the now-defunct North American Soccer League after a successful college career at Indiana.

The man who rejected football scholarship offers from Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin to play soccer knew what it took. He wasn’t going to force any of his four kids into something they didn’t want to do. But if they entertained bigger ambitions, he would show them the way.

“The last thing I wanted was to be one of those parents you read about that push their kids into oblivion,” said Gregg, a long-time Sacramento-area soccer coach.

His guidance led to all three boys earning Division I scholarships. Ty is a junior for the No. 15 Cardinal. Tanner is the attacking midfielder for No. 10 Indiana, where Tommy was Big Ten freshman of the year last season. The youngest, Tatum, is a senior at Granite Bay High School near Folsom.

The revelation for Tommy came when he was 10 after a soccer tournament in southern California. On the drive home, he talked about playing for famed clubs Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Later, Gregg told his son that he would need to work like his brothers to become a pro.

“I want to do this,” Tommy relied.

The work was about to begin.

Multi-talented

Thompson’s interests varied before soccer grabbed his full attention.

There was longboard skateboarding that morphed into Jerkin’ dance competitions in junior high. (Get a load of Thompson’s moves at www.youtube.com/user/JTAjerkin.)

The straight-A student also taught himself to play the piano and guitar.

“Then the big one was soccer,” Ty Thompson said.

Tommy began doing the necessary work to improve his game and keep up with his brothers after the talk with his dad. Then, like everything with this kid, he took it a step further.

Thompson spent hours watching Brazilian stars Ronaldinho, Robinho and Ronaldo on YouTube videos. He would disappear into the garage to imitate their moves, teaching himself to be a top-notch juggler.

“It wasn’t like I was forcing myself to practice,” Thompson said. “I was doing what I wanted to do.”

Once soccer became his main passion, Thompson did everything to feed it. He graduated from Granite Bay a year early to attend Indiana. Then Thompson left college to join the Quakes, who were so sure of his potential they gave him a six-figure contract.

Thompson feels as if he has been preparing for this phase most of his life. His dad put him on teams with older kids. He traveled around the state on Olympic Development Program clubs. Tommy and Tanner went to England alone as grade schoolers to audition with the EPL’s Newcastle and West Ham United. The brothers went to Italy by themselves the next year.

“Most kids have been sheltered all their lives,” Thompson said. “I’ve been on my own a lot with soccer and this just feels like another one of those experiences.”

Thompson lives a few minutes from the Earthquakes’ new stadium with Jamaican veterans Shaun Francis and Khari Stephenson. It might seem like an odd mix but it’s an example of how Thompson’s maturity carries him through unusual situations.

“He wasn’t 100 percent ready for it when it happened,” Ty Thompson said of joining the Earthquakes. “But he just adapted and responded well. He is growing as a young man. “

His reputation as a player also is gaining traction. Defenders welcomed the kid into MLS by pounding him in his first start. The fouling has continued as part of his christening.

“He is fearless, he doesn’t shy away from stuff,” Quakes coach Mark Watson said. “If he gets kicked he gets back up and gets on with it.”

Thompson also is on the U.S. soccer team radar. He was called to duty with the under-20 squad in the past two camps, though he had to miss the latest one to stay with the injury-depleted Earthquakes.

Thompson wants to gain a foothold with the national team after being ignored as a youth, although he had 29 goals and 12 assists as a Granite Bay freshman while playing with his brothers on the country’s fifth-ranked team.

World Cup veteran Wondolowski expects it to happen.

“He has a great soccer mind and I think that is what is going to get him there,” he said this week.

Attention to detail

Perhaps no story better illustrates why the teenager has a chance to succeed than one a few years ago in David Laughrea’s honors precalculus class at Granite Bay.

Thompson could have accepted the A-minus his teacher gave him, but right is right. Thompson’s calculations showed he deserved a B-plus. He demanded a meeting with the math teacher, who in 30 years had a policy of rounding off scores to the higher grade when students such as Thompson put in the effort. Thompson completed all of his homework assignments and asked for extra help when he struggled.

“Tommy is the only one who ever came back and told me that I had made an error,” Laughrea said.

Thompson takes a similar approach with soccer. He knows stardom won’t happen without checking every box, attending to each detail.

Tommy Thompson has done the math.

Contact Elliott Almond at 408-920-5865. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/elliottalmond.