‘Just proving everybody wrong’: How a 5-foot-9 violinist is leading CCU’s offensive line
Not all college walk-ons are the same.
There are preferred walk-ons in collegiate athletics – players who aren’t offered scholarships coming out of high school but are still coveted by a program and have a place on a team reserved for them.
Then there are walk-ons like Sam Thompson.
At 5-foot-9 and about 230 pounds coming out of Dorman High in Spartanburg, Thompson was an undersized, violin-playing offensive lineman who contemplated giving up on football and pursuing music more ardently because of the minimal interest he received from college programs.
He had an offer from Division II North Greenville, where Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell coached from 2009-11, and late interest from Division III Methodist.
Thompson also received an invitation to try out at Coastal from then offensive line coach Patrick Covington. But not for his freshman season of 2016. He wasn’t that much of a prospect. The offer was to join the team for spring practices in his second semester at the school.
With interest in Coastal’s Exercise and Sport Science program – an avenue allowing Thompson to remain involved in sports – he was a regular student for his initial semester before trying out and making the team in the spring.
“From there it was just like a grinding process, trying to work and climb myself to the top, at least to where I could contribute to the team,” Thompson said. “A lot of people told me to just put my head down and just work, and that’s pretty much what I did and I’m very, very happy and surprised it’s working out now.
“It was a long journey, a tough process, a lot of grinding and toughing things out, but I’m blessed to be where I am now.”
Thompson is now the Chanticleers’ two-year starting senior center and is among the leaders of a team that is undefeated at 11-0, ranked No. 9 in the AP Top 25 Poll, and playing No. 23 Liberty at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Coastal’s first ever bowl game, the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
“Just keep grinding and never give up,” Thompson said. “If you want something go get it. Like I wanted to play ball at the highest level, D-I, and although I didn’t have any offers and people telling me I was small, people telling me I wasn’t strong enough, maybe not that fast, I proved everybody wrong.
“It’s crazy how literally nobody wanted to talk to me out of high school, and after every game I have a coach shaking my hand telling me how he respects me, players telling me they respect me, people hitting me up on Twitter and Instagram. It’s just amazing to see the hard work pays off and see where I am today.”
Earning recognition
The 5-foot-9, 290-pound center was one of 10 semifinalists this year for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is presented annually to the nation’s top player who began his career as a walk-on. Former Socastee High and Clemson standout Hunter Renfrow and former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield are past winners.
“It’s a blessing. It’s amazing. Honestly being a regular student and possibly not even playing football in college I didn’t even think of getting an award,” said Thompson, who was awarded a scholarship during the spring semester of his sophomore year. “It just shows how hard I worked, just proving everybody wrong, just doing what I do.”
He was also on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy that honors the nation’s top center, and this week was named to the All-Sun Belt Third Team – a designation he somewhat contests.
Thompson has started 21 games over the past two seasons, including all 11 this season.
“He’s been a tremendous asset,” Chadwell said. “He comes in at whatever [size] he was, just trying to make the team. He was on the scout team basically the whole time, and then every time he got his opportunity he just kept getting better. He learned what he needed to do. He put work into the weight room, he obviously got bigger and stronger and all those things.
“You appreciate and you respect people who go through those trials and disappointments and the downs that stick to it and stick through it, and he did that and now he’s reaping the benefits of that.”
CCU’s offensive line was selected as one of 11 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, presented annually by the Foundation for Teamwork to the nation’s top offensive line unit. It’s the only national award given to an entire position group.
Chadwell has referred to the offensive line as the ‘Mighty Mites,’ in reference to their relatively small size for an FBS program.
Junior left tackle Antwine Loper, a Carolina Forest High product, is the tallest lineman at 6-foot-3 and 275 pounds. Senior guard Trey Carter is the heaviest at 6-1 and 300, freshman left guard Willie Lampkin is 6-1, 295, and senior right tackle Steven Bedosky is 6-2 and 280. Collectively they average less than 6-1 and 288 pounds.
But the line is united.
“It’s a crazy bond. Quite honestly the bond me and Trey have created this year has been amazing,” Thompson said. “Steven came along, Antwine stepped up big for us. All of us pretty much throughout the quarantine, throughout the previous years of us being together, we pretty much all just grind and realized we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do in order for this team to win.
“It starts up front. You win games up front. So we basically just put the whole team on our shoulders as a position group and did that. We got Willie the freshman that came in we took him under our wing.”
Chadwell credits Thompson in part for Lampkin’s impressive play as a true freshman.
“He’s obviously a great leader for us at center,” Chadwell said. “Our freshman offensive lineman Willie Lampkin is playing at a high level and a big reason for that is he has Sammie right beside him helping him do what he needs to do. . . . As the center you’re calling that whole show, and for him to be able to do that and play at a high level and play against people they say are going to dominate him and all that, he’s played consistent all year, and he means a lot to his teammates.”
The continuity of the offensive line has helped it be successful. With the exception of Loper missing one game, the offensive line has had the same starting lineup all season. Loper will miss the bowl game after having surgery, Chadwell said, for an apparent leg injury.
“As you know last year we had a lot of injuries, and we kind of struggled team-wise,” Thompson said. “So offensive line-wise we do everything we can to stay healthy and be healthy, and even fight through those battles of health issues. So it’s a tough one losing Antwine.”
Thompson believes he and his line mates particularly proved their worth on Dec. 5 when the Chants defeated BYU, which was portrayed as the more physical team in the leadup to the game, particularly on a defensive line led by NFL prospect Khyiris Tonga (6-4, 320) across from Thompson at nose tackle.
“Before the BYU game everybody, the media and everything, was talking about how big their nose guard was and how little we were, and how dominant their D-Line was in general,” Thompson said. “. . . That game we knew it was going to be a grind and be tough. It just felt amazing to notice how much media attention we got after the fact, and people telling us, even my parents, people back home saying we really blocked our tails off out there, we really dominated on the field against a team we really didn’t have any odds against.”
This season, the Coastal offense is 18th in the country in scoring at 37.5 points per game, 15th in rushing yards at 223 per game, 26th in total yards at 447 per game, and fifth in time of possession with a 34:15 average per game.
Music still an influence
Football still has competition from music in Thompson’s life.
He’s a member of the CCU gospel choir and has traveled with the group for performances while also playing drums at local churches.
He has been a member of the Greater Bibleway Tabernacle choir in Inman along with his musically-inclined parents and two younger brothers – who aren’t averse to breaking out in song during a family dinner in a restaurant – and has played drums since he was 6 years old and violin since fifth grade.
He was part of the talented Dorman Symphony in high school, but put music largely aside before his senior year to focus on football.
“I think about [music] every single day,” Thompson said. “There’s a drum set where we practice with the choir and I think about pulling that out every day and playing. . . . I’m pretty good but not as good as I want to be due to other stuff.”
Academics are also a priority. Thompson has made the Dean’s List in three of the past four years and has received other academic honors. He graduated last spring with a bachelor’s degree in management, and is in CCU’s graduate school pursuing an MBA.
He has another year of eligibility and intends to speak to Chadwell about possibly returning to the team and school to complete his master’s degree. He wants to try to replicate the team’s 2020 success next year while improving on a couple things as well.
“We’ll try to do what we did this year all over again. I do feel I have a lot more to accomplish,” said Thompson, who became engaged in October to Raven Carter, whom he met at Coastal. “. . . I do want to play in a real conference championship. The conference awards came out [Monday] and I wasn’t satisfied with that result, so I definitely feel like I have a lot left to come back and finish.”
Saturday’s Game
Who: AP No. 9 Coastal Carolina (11-0) vs. No. 23 Liberty (9-1)
What: Sixth annual FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl
Where: Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida
When: 7:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: ESPN Radio and WRNN FM 99.5
This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 3:06 PM.
