“Charles has always competed to be the best he can be,” second-year head coach David Elson says. “One of the strengths of our program is that we have a lot of guys who are competitors, they want to be the best at what they are doing. Charles is definitely a leader in that category. You can see that competitive fire in him not just during the season, but in the weight room and throughout the offseason.”
Assistant coach Craig Aukerman is only in his first year working with inside linebackers after spending his first season at Western with outside linebackers, but he claims he has not seen the likes of Thompson since joining the coaching ranks in 1999. “Charles is the most competitive person that I’ve coached. Whether it be out on the practice field or throughout the game, he is all about wanting to be the best he can be.
“It’s great for a coach, working with players like that who are willing to learn in order to raise the level of their game.”
Thompson laughs when asked about comparing his competitive nature with that of his teammates, although he acknowledges it would be hard to find someone who competes harder than the 6-foot-1, 240-pound senior from Louisville, Ky.
“If there’s someone on the team more competitive than I am, I don’t know about it,” he says. “People who I have a special bond with have rubbed off on me, and I’ve rubbed off on them — Antonio Thomas will stay with you all day, so will Brandon and Deont Smith as well as the whole defensive line. That’s what keeps the fire burning in me, knowing that I am stepping on the field with a group with that competitive mentality.”
It’s that competitive side of Thompson that has lifted the inside linebacker from a role player off the bench as a freshman to one of 16 candidates for the Buck Buchanan Award, which is given each year to the top defensive player in NCAA Division I-AA football.
Not only has Thompson collected 79 tackles — which ranks among the top 10 in the Gateway Football Conference — to go along with six stops behind the line of scrimmage, a fumble recovery and an interception, but he filled a new role as the leader of the WKU defense. One of the Toppers’ three captains, he has tried to avoid putting extra pressure on himself in order to live up to the expectations of that position.
“I’ve tried to continue doing what I’ve done over the past few years,” says Thompson. “We have so many good players on this team, it’s not like they need a lot of leadership. Sometimes they need a little motivation, and that’s what I’m there for.
“I just try to lead by doing my job.”
Aukerman says that leadership is the one area where Thompson has grown since the end of his junior campaign.
“The biggest thing that Charles has learned this summer and throughout the fall is how to step up and be a leader. Last year he wasn’t looked at as a leader because there were a lot of seniors on the team, but this season he has led by example and been a vocal leader as well.”
What Thompson hasn’t had to learn about coming into this season was how to make plays. Entering Saturday’s contest against Western Illinois, he needs only nine tackles to become the sixth player in school history with 400 in his career. He is coming off back-to-back 100-tackle campaigns, including posting 159 as a sophomore to lead the 2002 team that won the national championship. In fact, Thompson even held the distinction of recording the most stops by a freshman linebacker in former head coach Jack Harbaugh’s 14 years on the Hill after finishing with 43 his first year.
But, those first couple of years at WKU were difficult for Thompson, who was not just used to playing regularly, but participating on both sides of the ball. He sat out the 2000 season as a redshirt, then played a backup role the following fall with Erik Dandy and Hayes Thomas established as the starters.
“On the field, I learned how to play sitting out that year,” he says. “Every day in practice I was working against a talented offense. I was also learning off the field too, since it was my first time away from home, especially how to manage my time.
“From the time that I first came to campus, I had other players tell me that I had a chance to be very good. Serving as a backup the next year was motivational for me. As a man, you believe that you are as good as any other man out there with you. I wanted to be on the field, so I used it as motivation to start the following year.”
The coaching staff also knew that Thompson had the potential to be a tremendous player, but it was just a matter of where he would fit in. After gaining 1,115 yards and scoring 21 touchdowns as a senior in high school, it looked as if he would come to the Hill to play fullback.
“Charles was a very good football player. We actually noticed him more on the offensive side of the ball,” Elson says. “We recruited him as a player who could play on either side of the ball, and he just ended up at linebacker probably because we felt we had a need there at the time.
“When he was redshirting his first year, Charles was one of those guys who the offensive coaches would say in staff meetings couldn’t be blocked. That’s where you started to notice his competitive fire — sometimes the scout team can get a little bit mundane, but he was one who made the offensive guys better every day and in the process got himself noticed.”
The opportunity to play running back was what Thompson was actually looking for during the recruiting process. In fact, when he was on a visit with rival Eastern Kentucky the Colonels hurt their chances at signing the honorable mention all-state selection by failing to offer Thompson an opportunity on offense.
“I was all set to go to Eastern Kentucky even though I had a much better time when I visited WKU,” he recalls. “I told their coaching staff I wanted to play running back, but they wanted to hear linebacker. They told me that they were waiting on a running back from Florida, and if he didn’t sign they would call me.
“As soon as I got home, I called (former assistant) coach (Andy) Hendel and told him that I was ready to sign with Western.”
And what started as just a chance at running the ball has turned into the Hilltoppers finding one of their top stoppers instead. “There is no question that he fits in as one of the best linebackers that we’ve had,” Elson says. “Just look at his numbers and what he has been able to consistently accomplish. We’re a better defense when he’s on the field — you can see that in the numbers from when he has missed games.
“I think he will go down as one of the better linebackers that’s played here in a long time, especially over the last four-to-five years.”
Being a part of that tradition is important to Thompson too. But not to the point that he won’t help find someone else to help continue it once he has departed the Hill. “I’ve been trying to teach the younger guys who are watching me now, and I’m confident that they will be as good — if not better — than I have been.”
An important cog in a Topper defense that has ranked among the best in Division I-AA since 2000, he has rarely been honored for his individual accomplishments during his career. That hasn’t bothered Thompson, who is more concerned with the team’s performance, but it should change in the coming weeks as all-conference and All-America teams are announced.
What’s more important to Thompson is that he will earn his degree from Western next month before he moves on and begins his postgraduate career. Whether or not that involves professional football — which is something that he will pursue — one can rest assured that Thompson will continue to compete in whatever field he chooses.
“I’ve been playing football for so long that I am not just going to stop,” he says. “Even if it doesn’t work out, I know I can go home to Louisville and look to settle down.”
Thompson also says that coaching is a possibility, albeit a remote one. Especially with his eyes only on a job with his alma mater, Central High School.
But Aukerman believes that with his temperament and demeanor, it would be an ideal line for Thompson.
“Once Charles gets in the football stadium, he has a different personality — he’s all business,” he says. “He likes to have fun with the guys and joke around, but once he locks in on football he is a very serious guy. Charles coaches the players with me in my meetings, he has done a tremendous job helping our younger individuals.”
For Thompson, there’s no better way to get a jump on the competition than getting right down to business.
