Thompson Out to Make Most of JuCo Journey

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When Mark Thompson arrived on his official University of Florida visit, he came by way of Dodge City, Kan., a remote outpost about 170 miles west of Wichita.

Which is to say, the middle of nowhere.

Appropriately enough (and metaphorically speaking), that was once the uncertain state of Thompson's football career — the middle of nowhere, that is — but on that magnificent spring day in 2015 when he first set foot in Gainesville, the big running back from outside Philadelphia got a glimpse of something he'd not seen in a while.

"Civilization," he said.

With it, came some clarity to his football future.

Thompson loved the trees, loved the UF campus and loved the idea of playing for the Gators. That was before a second season at Dodge City Community College unleashed the nation's No. 1-rated junior-college tailback prospect. A few months later, Thompson rumbled for 1,298 yards and 18 touchdowns, but the wave of schools that came calling had too much ground to make up on the Gators.

Now Thompson is hoping to make up some ground as well, as the redshirt-junior transfer battles this preseason with incumbents Jordan Scarlett, Jordan Cronkrite and Mark Herndon for the chance to be UF's bell-cow back. Each player has his individual strengths, but only one has Thompson's 6-foot-2, 237-pound build that actually looks more like one of the Gators' tight ends.

"First time I saw him, I seriously thought the dude was a defensive end," Herndon said.

"Someone that big, you think he has to be a downhill runner, right? Well, he's not," Cronkrite said. "He's more than that."

Mark Thompson moves the pile in last week's scrimmage in the "Swamp."

A lot of things went wrong with a Florida offense that ranked 111th out of 127 FBS programs in total offense last season at just 334.0 yards per game. The inability to pass the ball certainly was pronounced, but despite having a 1,000-yard rusher in Kelvin Taylor, who jumped early to the NFL, the Gators finished 112th in running the ball last season at just 126.9 yards per game.

Coach Jim McElwain had one of the most explosive offenses in the country his final year at Colorado State, but before working magic in the Mountain West Conference he was offensive coordinator at Alabama. He knows what it means to have a big, physical back in the Southeastern Conference. As if to hammer home the point, his first UF team faced a trio of punishing backs in Tennessee's Jalen Hurd (28 carries, 102 yards, 2 TDs), LSU's Leonard Fournette (31 carries, 180 yards, 2 TDs) and Alabama's Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry (44 carries, 189 yards, 1 TD).

Thompson believes he can be a workhorse worthy of such company. In fact, Thompson had no problem predicting he could reach 1,000 yards "by the bye week" — which would be seven games in — if the coaches determine he's worthy of the carries.

After all, he reasoned, Fournette got there in five games last season.

"I hate to compare myself to anybody, whether we're talking about Leonard Fournette or Derrick Henry or whoever, so I'd rather just say I'm going to run like Mark Thompson," he said. "I'm going to be my own person and I think that will be good enough to help this football team. I know that's a lot to say for a guy who's never taken a snap in this league, but you have to think that way. You have to be confident, and I want to produce for this team in a big way."

Key word: big.

Thompson began playing football at the age of 7. When his father, Jeff, went to sign him up for a flag league, the overseers took a look at young Mark and issued him a set of pads, not flags. The way Jeff Thompson recalled it, his son was matched up against some kids larger than Mark's age group. He promptly got run over on one of his first tackling drills. The coach, though, was encouraging.

"That's OK. Next year, you'll hit someone like that when you're 11."

"But I'm only seven."

"What?"

From that point, Mark was known as "Buck," as in "Young Buck," and away his football life went. From nose tackle to linebacker to quarterback to running back.

At LaMott (Pa.) Cheltenham High, Thompson didn't run up gaudy stats. He didn't run up a gaudy GPA, either. By his own admission, Thompson invested very little time with his books during ninth and 10th grade and all his 992 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior did was get him a call from Nassau Community College in Garden City, N.Y.

"It was a little embarrassing, coming out of high school and having to go to a junior college. That bothered me," he said. "But I also did a pretty good job of staying positive and blocking out distractions."

Thompson realized early he wasn't in the coach's plans as a freshman and opted for a redshirt year. He lived in a house with five other guys, but also re-centered himself by taking a job at Chipotle and, with this new focus and direction, began weighing his options to head elsewhere.

"He paid a heavy price," Jeff Thompson said. "But he figured some stuff out."

Mark Thompson (1) had a productive senior year at at LaMott (Pa.) Cheltenham, but his academics forced him to take the junior-college path.

Off he went to the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, one of the best JuCo leagues in the country. In Dodge City, a town of 28,000 where meat-packing is the big-ticket industry, there was very little to do other than focus on school and football.

"Culture shock," Thompson said. "There was no town within 50 miles in any direction. The mall was probably the size of one of the dorms here. … No distractions. Everyone was there to try and get out."

In other words, it was perfect.

"He was a very talented athlete, but not a real complete football player," Dodge City CC coach Gary Thomas recalled. "He was still learning to play the running back position and found out fairly soon that a lot of things he could get away with in high school he couldn't get away with here."

DCCC had a couple pretty good backs already. As it turned out, they did something Thompson struggled with.

They held on to the ball.

Thompson fumbled in each of his first two JuCo games, Thomas said, both times in the first quarter. That put him third on the depth chart. The staff worked diligently with Thompson to cure his fumbling woes, trying to get him to compact his big frame by running lower and protecting the ball from second, third and fourth defenders who would hit and try to strip as he fought for extra yardage.

Even in limited duty, Thompson finished his 2014 season with 84 carries for 460 yards (5.5 per) and eight touchdowns — plus eight fumbles.

"But you could easily put together a 10-play highlight reel of him and he'd look like the best running back in the country," Thomas said.

Which they did.

And that's the tape that made it to the recruiting offices at UF. Scouts there, however, swear they needed only to watch the first three plays before picking up the phone and calling Kansas. As it turned out, Thompson had been a Gator fan since the day his older sister, a track athlete at Virginia Union, bought some UF gear while competing in the Florida Relays and gave it to her little brother several years before.

"Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, Jeff Demps. Those were my guys," Thompson said. "When we were kids, me and my friends, when we had to get somewhere fast, we'd say, 'We gotta get Gatas!' "

So imagine Thompson's excitement when he came in from football practice one day, grabbed his phone and had notifications that McElwain and running backs coach Tim Skipper were following him. Thompson knew their names because they'd reached out to him from Colorado State. What he didn't know was that they'd moved to Florida.

Then came the direct messages.

It was time to "get Gatas."

Thompson visited in the spring and fell for UF just as he thought he would. He verbally committed in May and the following fall had his breakout JuCo season, while fumbling half as much as the year before with four times the carries, thanks to diligent detail from the coaching staff. More importantly, he squared his academics, built on his independence and completed a three-year rally that put him in position to realize his major college football dream.

"Honestly, junior college was the turning point for Mark," Jeff Thompson said. "It was the best solution for him. He went somewhere he could reflect on his life, with minimal distractions, and his respect for himself shot through the roof. He did a 360 there and we couldn't be prouder of him."

Thompson signed with the Gators in December, enrolled in January and participated in spring practice, rushing five times for 46 yards in the Orange & Blue spring game, including a 26-yard touchdown gallop.

And a fumble inside the 5-yard line.

In the months since, Thompson has kept a football close by at all times, cradling it high and tight in his forearm, snug against his breast plate, and daring friends and defenders to knock it out.

"Everywhere," he said when asked where the ball goes. "Even when I'm home playing Xbox. One hand on the controller, one hand on the ball."

Thompson's ball security could very well determine if he's the Gator that emerges as the featured back in the offense.

"Everyone is fighting to get on the field," backfield coach Tim Skipper said. "Every day, you have to bring it. It's game day, every day."

That Thompson is very much in the conversation is a testament to his perseverance. Even the players he's competing against understand that.

"After hearing what Mark went through, I appreciate him even more," said Herndon, the 5-9, fifth-year senior and former walk-on who bucked the odds and earned a scholarship three years ago. "I know the route I took and how tough it was. The way he got here? That's lonely and hard — and a lot of time, everybody is out for themselves."

Instead, Thompson found an out for himself.

A pretty good one, too.

"Either you make it or you don't. You succeed or adversity breaks you," Thompson said. "What is it they say about pressure making diamonds? Well, I've gotten this far, and I'm not done yet. I'm ready for the challenge."

Gators Calendar

Thompson Out to Make Most of JuCo Journey

Players Mentioned

Jordan Cronkrite

Mark Herndon

Jordan Scarlett

Kelvin Taylor

Footer

Upcoming Events

Thompson Out to Make Most of JuCo Journey

Related News

Players Mentioned

Jordan Cronkrite

Mark Herndon

Jordan Scarlett

Kelvin Taylor

Related Videos

Footer