St. Paul’s Standout Corner Commits To South Alabama
St. Paul’s defensive back Jalen Thompson stretches for a pass during the 2013 season. Photo credit: AL.com | Mike Kittrell
The University of South Alabama, head coach Joey Jones and his staff and players as well as head baseball coach Mark Calvi, his staff and players all made a huge ripple in college football recruiting coverage today. In a surprise to the SEC schools recruiting St. Paul’s senior cornerback Jalen Thompson, none of them received his verbal commitment. Instead Thompson gave his verbal to the Jaguars.
Thompson, a 6′ 170-pound cornerback was heavily recruited by several SEC schools including Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Auburn and Alabama. His interest was not limited to SEC schools though. He also had offers from California, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Minnesota, NC State, Northern Illinois and Southern Miss, however he ultimately chose to stay close to home in Mobile to play both of the sports he loves at his hometown school.
Depending on which recruiting service you look at, he is either a 3 or 4 star recruit which is arguably the highest rated player to commit to the Jaguars to date. Though he cannot sign with the Jaguars until February 4, 2015 he claims to be “100%” committed to South Alabama.
As a junior in 2013, Thompson recorded seven interceptions and returned two for touchdowns while also forcing a fumble, recovering a fumble and recording 39 tackles. On the baseball diamond he was a Mobile Press-Register All-Region selection at shortstop while hitting .350 with 35 stolen bases as the St. Paul Saints finished the season with a 29-4 record and a berth in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Thompson expects to move from shortstop to center field for baseball and play cornerback and return kicks for the football team.
Could Jalen be the domino that Coach Jones, Coach Turner and the rest of the staff have been looking for? Could he be the one that opens the floodgates of 3*, 4* and opens the door to potentially getting one of the elite 5* recruits to the Jaguars? Only time will tell.
The recruiting process is not over, Thompson will continue to get interest from the other schools who offered scholarships to him, but the hometown school has the upper hand with the Mobile standout.
“It’s close to home,” Thompson told AL.com. “I think South is a school on the rise, and I really wanted to play football and baseball. I’m excited.”
Congrats Jalen and welcome to #JagNation!