Making the decision to transfer to new surroundings has to carry a realistic expectation of comfort associated with it. While battling a Pac-12 South foe for the last four seasons, suffice to say that Utah graduate Bryan Thompson had a true perception of Arizona State and one that ultimately convinced the wide receiver to make the move from Salt Lake City to Tempe in February.
As there should be, there is also a pragmatic football side to his decision. Yet, his exposure to the program playing in the same conference, along with the geographical and cultural proximity to his Moreno Valley, Calif. home, hardly has Tempe register as foreign territory, which naturally supported this career move for one of ASU’s most impressive transfer portal additions this year.
“The reason why I committed to Arizona State is that I know this team from my connections,” Thompson said. “I feel that (head) coach Herm Edwards and (wide receivers) coach Prentice (Gill) will get me on the right track to achieve my goals. I just felt like it would be best for me and my family just to move to another program.
“Arizona State being close to home plays a role in it, but I'm the type of guy where I don’t really care where it is. I just like ball. But it always helps just being closer to home, and to have my family just four hours away, that’s always a plus.”
Thompson prepped at Rancho Verde High School in Moreno Valley, Calif., where he was first-team 2015 All-CIF Southern Section Inland Division as a junior, hauling in 58 receptions for 1,259 yards and 13 touchdowns. In his senior campaign, he posted 77 catches for 1,377 yards and 14 touchdowns and helped Rancho Verde advance to the 2016 CIF Football semifinals and a 6-0 Inland Valley League record.
The wide receiver who Arizona State offered at the time was a four-star prospect and a Rivals250 prospect who was ranked Top-25 in his position.
He appeared in 33 career games as a Ute, starting in 12 contests averaging 22.9 yards per catch. Much like ASU last season, Utah played an abbreviated schedule where Thompson saw action in all five games for Utah, starting two of them and collected nine receptions for 187 yards (20.8 ypc) with one touchdown, adding one rush for nine yards and a touchdown.
2019 marked Thompson’s most productive season in Salt Lake City, where he played in 12 games, starting nine contests, and was one of the most prolific aerial threats on the team, finishing second in receiving yards (461) on 18 catches with three touchdowns, averaging 25.6 yards per catch. His 82-yard receiving touchdown against Idaho State that year marks the 10th longest reception in school history.
The wide receiver redshirted in 2018, as injuries limited him to just four games. As a freshman in 2017, he played in 12 games, starting in one.
Thompson’s addition isn’t only significant as it affects the depth of a division rival but also adds much-needed experience to ASU’s wide receivers’ group. His 33 games played are nearly double that of ASU’s most experienced player at that position, sophomore Ricky Pearsall, who played 17 games for Arizona State.
With that caliber of a football resume, it’s no surprise that multiple power five programs were in pursuit of the wideout when he entered the transfer portal. Ironically though, even with all these attractive options available for him, COVID-19 prevented Thompson from exploring them in person. Thus, this was yet another factor that steered him in the Sun Devils’ direction.
“Man, it was incredible,” Thompson recalled. “I had Tennessee, Michigan State, West Virginia, Penn State…some other schools like that calling me. I'm older now, and I knew what I was looking for in a school. So, it was easier this time around (going through) recruiting. (The state of) Arizona reminds me a lot of California. So that's always a plus; that's always something that's great for me. I'm comfortable around my surroundings. I don’t have to really get used to a lot of things and already going in comfortable.”
His new position coach, Prentice Gill, never got to coach against Utah as a member of the Arizona State staff. Nonetheless, Gill, who spent several years last decade as part of both the Oregon and USC’s program operations, was clearly familiar with Thompson and the level of impact he can bring to any given aerial attack. Compliments are always a welcomed sight and narrative, yet when those accolades carry a good measure of credibility as well, they resonate in a genuine matter.
“Well, I just looked at the (ASU) situation and saw that he knew a lot of people I know,” Thompson said of Gill. “When we were talking, we really connected not just from a player and coach standpoint but as men, and I felt like that was a plus. He was telling me that he felt like my skill set is rare to be in the portal, and there are not a lot of players like me that really go into the portal. Hearing him say that, I could tell the high level of interest, and that comes with a lot of territory. So, I felt like that Arizona State could have been a good situation for me where it's in my hands. I just got to show him what I can do now.
“He told me that I could play everywhere. I can play inside and outside wide receiver and be a good leader in the room. As a lot of people know, the wide receiver room (at ASU) is not really older. Coach Prentice said I could be a great leader in that room and that my speed and explosiveness can take this offense a long way. I also talked to (quarterback) Jayden (Daniels) here and there. He was telling me we can do big things, and I also took into consideration what he said, and now we were ready to run.”
And as if Thompson needed any more motivation to join the ranks here, the ever gregarious personality of its head coach, per usual, came through.
“There’s not just one thing that sticks out about coach Herm,” Thompson remarked. “It's just his energy. It makes you want to be upbeat and makes you want to get up and start laughing and just be active. I love having that around the head coach. His energy makes me want to get up and have fun. I think that's what's missing a lot from the game nowadays, and I feel like that he brings a lot of that to this place.”
There is seems to be a debate among the ASU fan base if a true rivalry does exist between Arizona State and Utah and is it at the same level of competitiveness as the USC one, for example? What there is no denying is that there's unquestionably a good measure of respect for the ASU program from the Utah players (and one can assume this is a two-way street), and Thompson’s point of view clearly conveys that sentiment.
“You know me playing at Utah; we had the stigma of being a tough, hard-nosed team,” Thompson described. “But really at Arizona State, they play hard too, and right before we played, Arizona State, we get the rundown of it that they're gonna all the way to the whistle. So that's really what I liked about them (ASU). I liked the hard-nosed defensive coach (Antonio) Pierce and everybody, putting their heads together for the defense, and I just felt like I could be another piece of the puzzle for the offense.”
Thompson, who has two years of eligibility remaining, is expected to arrive in Tempe in early June as one of the most high profile additions to an ASU team that some pundits are already pegging as the front runner to capture the Pac-12 South division. The wily veteran knows that lofty expectations have to be handled wisely to effectively yield the desired results, and that is his mindset ahead of his arrival.
“Really, the sky's the limit for me,” Thompson declared. “I feel that it's all up to me. It's not too much pressure on myself, and I just have to go out there and do what I've been doing and do it all to my game. I've really already listened to a lot of outside talking, and now It’s just all myself and stick to what I've been doing and keep on working hard and push through.”
And that aforementioned “outside talking” is set only to amplify as the calendar inches closer to October 16th, where as luck would have it, Thompson’s first game against his former team will take place at his old stomping grounds of Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. It’s a contest that certainly has been circled by many due to his decision, although Thompson chooses to employ a more rational approach in this case.
“It's just another game to me,” Thompson stated. “At the end of the day, we are all trying to reach a goal to get to the NFL. I feel like pressure bursts pipes, so if you put too much pressure on yourself, you're going to try too hard, and you’re not going to do as well. I need to keep on doing what I've been doing. Keep on preparing like I've been preparing.
“If I do that, I feel like all the pieces of the puzzle are going to keep falling into place.”
(Gabe Swartz contributed to this article)
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