Thompson Could be Dangerous

Paul Thompson's Speed


Just incase we have forgotten Paul Thompson is and will be a playmaker. Don’t forget that he did beat out Rhett Bomar last season for the starting quarterback position. OU headman Bob Stoops even said that Thompson wasn’t given a fair shake because the offense wasn’t designed to take advantage of his strengths.

Thompson is a huge running threat at quarterback, as seen in the above play, making him a true run/pass threat. Opposing defenses are going to, “stack the box” and dare Thompson to beat them with his arm and he will have the first two games to do that before the first road trip/true test against the Oregon Ducks.

So far there has been nothing in practice that indicates that Thompson won’t be able to beat teams with his arm. In fact, not only is he connecting but he is connecting deep to his favorite receiver.

During the team’s first practice on Thursday, Thompson lofted a high-arcing spiral down the left sideline toward Malcolm Kelly. The pass was close to perfect, but Kelly's athleticism made it look like Thompson threaded a pass through the eye of a needle. Kelly -- surrounded by three defensive backs -- circled into the center of the DBs and leapt high to snare the 50-yard pass.

The duo connected again on Friday when Thompson threw long down the sideline for the sophomore wideout, who was covered step-for-step by defensive back D.J. Wolfe. The ball was a bit underthrown, so Kelly hit the brakes, leaped high and -- as Wolfe sped on by -- plucked the ball out of the air at its highest point. When Kelly caught the ball, his body was over the sideline boundary, but he stretched backward and landed with both feet inbounds for a 30-yard gain. I don’t know which excites me more, the fact that they are completing passes or that they are throwing deep.

This is Thompson’s team and his teammates like him. As reports are coming in regarding the Bomar situation it is turning out that many players, and even coaches, didn’t care too much for their former overly arrogant signal caller. That isn’t a problem with Thompson. His teammates don’t just like him, they love him and they’ll play for him. They’ll hold that block a few seconds longer. They’ll stretch out for that pass and they’ll push for that extra yard. They’ll will themselves to do things for Thompson that they wouldn’t have done for Bomar and that makes this team very dangerous.