Oct 11, 2008 - 04:06:30 CDT
University of Mary sophomore Caleb Thompson didn't want to benefit from somebody else's misfortune.Like it or not, season-ending injuries to teammates Willie Wenschlag and Xavier McGowen worked in Thompson's favor.
Thompson, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound outside linebacker cracked into U-Mary's football starting lineup last week.
He will be in the starting lineup again today when the Marauders battle MSU-Moorhead in the "Battle for the Paddle."
"It's terrible watching a teammate go down," said Thompson, a biology major from Miles City, Mont. "But I'm excited to get the chance to start. I've been preparing. I've watched a lot of film, and I've been getting ready. I still feel like we have a lot of good players who are very capable of competing with everybody on the depth charts right now."
U-Mary coach Myron Schulz was pleased that Thompson ended up on the Marauders squad - even though he took the long road to U-Mary.
Thompson, who was recruited by U-Mary when he was in high school, chose to play football at Butte College in Oroville, Calif.
As a freshman, in the fall of 2006, he broke his left hand in a scrimmage and opted for a gray shirt season. A gray shirt is an incoming student-athlete who takes fewer than 12 academic credits in a semester in order to circumvent the NCAA's 4-in-5 athletic eligibility restrictions.
"When an athlete says no the first time, you thank them and wish them luck,"Schulz said. "There's a chance you could end up catching him. Caleb is a great player. He epitomizes what we are about."
Thompson has collected 17 tackles and has forced a fumble this season.
"He's a tough, hard-nosed player,"Schulz said. "He bites his mouth guard and plays. You don't get all the other things that come with it."
Even though Thompson didn't initially pick U-Mary, he always kept the school in the back of his mind. After playing for Butte College in 2007, he decided to come to U-Mary.
"I wanted to get situated in a program," Thompson said. "U-Mary has a good program. It's a good school."
The Marauders have something extra riding on today's game with Moorhead - keeping the paddle. The team that wins the paddle each year is responsible for its safekeeping.
"Kids dig that type of stuff," Schulz said. "It's an added thing to make it fun."
MSU-Moorhead lost to Valley City State and hapless Minnesota-Crookston. The Dragons played highly-regarded Wayne State and Concordia-St. Paul tough in two defeats. Their lone win came against Bemidji State.
"They are a very capable team," Schulz said. "They're doing some things that can be meddlesome."
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