When Thomas Tyner was a senior at Aloha High he asked if we could meet for a coffee. His mother, Donna, drove him to Starbucks and we sat at a small table against a window, talking about what he loved.

Art.

Music.

His friends.

There was some football mixed in, and he wanted to know what it was like to write a newspaper column, do a sports radio show and work in the media. But it struck me that day that Tyner wasn't like a lot of five-star high school football players. He had interests outside of playing in the NFL someday. Like a soft-spoken, 7-foot, wanna-be dentist named Greg Oden, I wondered if the lightning-fast Tyner had simply been born into a body he felt obligated to use.

Tyner, who missed the 2015 season with a shoulder injury, took a medical retirement on Friday. If he stays at Oregon, his education is paid for, but it won't count against the Ducks' 85-player scholarship limit.

Tyner's father, John, told me after the news broke that Thomas' right shoulder, injured against Jesuit High his sophomore season of football, still has a torn labrum. His left shoulder, the one blown apart by Shaq Thompson on a kickoff two seasons ago against Washington, is now healed. It had a floating bone fragment that had serrated the tissue.

"He's leaving Oregon's program without any recriminations, no blame, no second thoughts," John said. "The issue is, if you're a running back with two shoulders that have been injured, well, that's not a good thing."

Tyner might change his mind. He'd be free to transfer. Nebraska coach Mike Riley would take him in a heartbeat, I'll bet. So would Chris Casey, Tyner's high school coach, who is now coaching at Division III George Fox. But speculation like that sort of misses the point, because Tyner's retirement screams about something else altogether.

"He's not a jock," his father said. "He doesn't really follow sports. People think he's aloof. He likes to draw. He's into product design. He's really interested in that. I think he hopes to get a job in it this summer. He's been drawing things forever.

"He's a talented athlete who did sports until he wasn't interested."

Tyner is 21. He's a junior in college. After he left Aloha for Eugene his freshman year we stayed in distant contact. I'd see him from the press box during games, and texted some with his parents, but it was in the post-game setting that I often saw the real Tyner, the one I'd once had coffee with.

He looked uncomfortable with microphones around him. He was soft spoken, almost withdrawn. On one occasion after a win at Washington during his freshman season, Tyner tried to slip away without talking to any of the media waiting outside the locker room.

I walked with him that day from the scrum to the waiting bus. He collected his post-game meal. He offered me a quiet comment about the 57 rushing yards he'd collected on 12 carries. And I think about an interaction like that on a day such as this because it was evident in so many ways that Tyner looked like a guy trying to please the rest of us by following through on the football thing.

"He's an anti-celebrity," his dad said, "he doesn't want the attention."

In fact, in the days before the retirement announcement, Tyner and his parents were at a public function when his father boasted that Thomas was the fastest running back recruited during his senior year of high school. The son pulled dad aside afterward, and begged him to never bring it up again.

The UO athletic program has annual revenue of $196 million. The Ducks football machine churns at full throttle. Expectations are high, competition is fierce, and it feels a lot like Tyner -- the artist and designer -- has had a chance to look around while healing from his injuries and decide he just doesn't fit in anymore.

Maybe he never did.

I wish Tyner the best. He's a good kid with a lot to offer the world. He may end up in the NFL after all, someday, designing the cleats of running backs. Maybe another season off will make him miss the locker room. Maybe he'll call Riley at Nebraska and want back in someday, or maybe George Fox will have a five-star running back in its backfield.

Maybe he comes out of retirement. Maybe he doesn't.

"It's true," dad said, "he could change his mind."

They say college is where you go to find out who you are.

Tyner is doing just that.

--- @JohnCanzanoBFT