STARKVILLE — Mississippi State junior linebacker Erroll Thompson bore down on his target.
Playing for his local recreational youth football team, the Broncos, in Florence, Alabama, the then 10-year-old Thompson delivered a crushing blow on his opponent. And while the hit was loud, it was also late.
Thompson’s father and coach, Erroll Sr., benched his son for the remainder of the game.
“He didn’t let me play for the rest of the game because I got a flag,” the younger Thompson conceded through a laugh.
Now 12 years on from his dustup on the sidelines, Thompson is flattening SEC offensive players as the captain of an MSU defense that ranks No. 61 in the country.
And while the junior linebacker is best known as a selfless teammate, he has a personal motivation for this Saturday’s game against No. 5 Alabama. Playing against his home-state school — one he spurned in the late stages of the recruiting process — bears particular meaning after growing up just two and a half hours from Tuscaloosa.
“He was very close to going to Alabama — very close,” J.B. Wallace, Thompson’s high school coach, told The Dispatch. “Because everybody had told him, ‘Hey, man, that’s what you ought to do; they’re the national champions. Very close.”
From tailback to tackler
Though defense has become Thompson’s calling card, it was offense that first offered a glimpse at his dynamic ability.
A running back through his younger years and into high school, his coaches — most vocally, Wallace — hoped to coax him to the defensive side of the ball.
After tearing his ACL as a sophomore, Thompson spoke with Wallace about his offer. Understanding the team’s need for defenders and hoping a switch could boost his stock as a recruit, Thompson flipped to defense.
“He was a good running back — he could run it,” Wallace said. “But I just knew what we were looking for defensively, and I knew what the next level was looking for defensively.
“We made it happen, and he hasn’t looked back.”
Playing a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker role his first season, Thompson flashed ball skills that quickly stood out to coaches and players alike.
The switch was also made easier as he lined up with current Texas A&M linebacker and childhood friend Braden White.
“When he got hurt I just remember anytime I’d walk into the weight room he’d be there,” White told The Dispatch. “He was out that season, and he was working constantly to get back, and so when he did move to defense, he was ready to go, and he made a huge impact on our team that year.”
With White and Thompson bolstering the Falcon defense, Florence marched to an 11-3 record and an appearance in the Alabama High School Athletic Association 6A semifinals — falling to eventual state champion Clay-Chalkville High School.
“He was turning heads with the plays he was making and the physicality of how he played,” White said.
The process
As Thompson continued logging prolific numbers — including 101 tackles, two sacks and two pass breakups as a senior in 2015 — his recruiting profile garnered heightened attention.
Rated a three-star prospect and the No. 13 inside linebacker in the country by 247Sports.com, his first offer — as he remembers it — came from Memphis, a validation of his position switch. Southern Mississippi and Charlotte soon followed.
Then came the Power Five conference offers.
Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi State, Michigan, Arkansas, Kentucky and Louisville all vied for his services. So did Alabama.
Having grown up in the state, Thompson gave the Crimson Tide’s offer special consideration.
“Being from Alabama, that was always what I saw: Alabama-Auburn,” he said. “It seemed like it was always the Iron Bowl around. But just being from Alabama and having coach (Nick) Saban and coach (Kirby) Smart recruiting me very hard was a blessing.”
As the process unfolded, Thompson whittled down his choices to MSU, Alabama, Louisville, Kentucky and Michigan.
“When we recruited Erroll he was a really natural, hard-nosed tough football player,” former MSU coach and current Florida coach Dan Mullen told The Dispatch.
“Really put himself in a position to make plays, and you saw a lot of natural instincts with a lot of great physical ability,” he continued. “And he’ll thump you when he hits you — he’s a big hitter.”
“I remember watching him play in high school, and he had a physical toughness about him and that he enjoyed and embraced the game of football,” added Smart, now the head coach at Georgia.
Heading into his decision day ahead of his senior season, Thompson’s parents and Wallace remained in the dark on where he’d go. Thompson had long told Wallace that MSU appealed because it offered a place in which he could carve his own path and develop.
Former Florence teammates Beniquez Brown and Kivon Coman were also already in Starkville at the time.
Around 10:30 a.m. on July 31, 2015, donning a black and red checkered flannel shirt, Thompson placed a black flat-brim MSU cap on his head. He, too, was headed to Starkville.
“Coach Mullen laid out a great plan for me at the time, and I liked everything that he told me, and he was genuine about it,” Thompson said. “And Beniquez and Kivon, those guys really pushed me to come here — so I didn’t really have any other choice.”
Past and present
Now entering his fourth year at MSU, Thompson has thrived under both Mullen and current coach Joe Moorhead.
After redshirting his first year in Starkville, he earned freshman All-SEC honors in 2017. Thompson was then selected to the All-SEC second team after finishing fifth in the conference with 87 tackles last year.
That said, this season has proved more of a struggle. With the departures of NFL first-round draft picks Montez Sweat, Jeffery Simmons and Johnathan Abram, Thompson has been tasked with directing the youthful pieces scattered around the MSU defense.
“I feel like because the players around him are young, I see him a lot of times in practice so focused on getting everybody else right that all of a sudden when the ball is snapped there’s that momentary hesitation,” defensive coordinator Bob Shoop said. “When he was playing with really, really experienced players who he didn’t have to do that with, he could just focus on being the best linebacker in the world. And now, this year, it’s taken away a little bit (of that) — and I think he’d admit that, too.”
And while Thompson’s numbers — 63 tackles and zero sacks — may not be up to his and Shoop’s standards, statistics are tossed aside when it comes to playing against his hometown team.
In two career games against Alabama, Thompson has notched 10 tackles — including his first collegiate sack in 2017. Saturday, the Bulldogs look for to him to slow down an Alabama offense that ranks third nationally in points per game (47.8) and a team that has beaten MSU in 11-straight meetings.
“He makes (MSU) tough to play,” Saban told The Dispatch. “They’re very aggressive on defense and they do a lot of stunting and blitzing, and I’m sure he’s directing all that traffic in there, but he’s also fitting where he’s supposed to and has been probably their most productive all-around player, and I have a ton of respect for him.”
And though his roots remain in the recreational football league in Florence and on high school fields throughout Alabama, on Saturday, Thompson and the Bulldogs will welcome the Crimson Tide to his adopted home — Davis Wade Stadium.
“I think he’s had moments of frustration,” Shoop said. “And he and I have talked offline or personally about that, but I wouldn’t trade him for anybody. He continues to play well; he’s an outstanding leader; he’s the glue that holds us together.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
