THOMPSON TO BRING MUSCLE AND BIG PLAYS TO CORVALLIS

Shurod Thompson flexes his biceps in an Oregon State uniform during his September visit to the PAC-12 university. Thompson, who once committed early to Cal, decided that the Beavers will be his collegiate team after verbally committing to Oregon State on Monday, Oct. 5 (photo credit: Shurod Thompson). 

Shurod Thompson – a versatile, athletic and hard-nosed safety once committed to Cal – has now landed in Corvallis after announcing that he’s made a verbal pledge to Oregon State on Monday, Oct. 5.

The move to land the 4-star Thompson is a golden one for the Beavers, especially after pilfering one other 4-star safety on Sept. 24 from Midland, TX: Sealy High stud Christian Wallace.

Thompson is listed as the state of California’s third best safety according to Fox Sports recruiting website scout.com. If you’re a Beaver fan and you love defense, there’s four things to like about the Liberty (Brentwood) senior:

1) Size wise, Thompson is a big, lurking safety patrolling the middle of the field. At 6-foot-1, 185-pounds, he’s already built to play college ball.

2) Thompson is a cerebral defender. In the first five seconds of his scout.com junior highlight film, Thompson is shown lining up over the top of the inside slot receiver on his left hand side. However, after the ball is snapped, he abandons his side of the field and immediately treks to the middle, where he reads the drag route and steps in front of the intended receiver for the easy pick six.

3) Thompson is an instinctive player. He follows the football and will either bury the ball carrier onto the sprint turf or stretch out his hands to take the interception.

4) Finally, Thompson is the kind of safety you don’t want to take out during goal line situations, even when defenses load up on defensive tackles and linebackers in that scenario. Thompson plays up to the line and disrupts the easy 1-yard scoring run.

The key now for the Beavers and head coach Gary Andersen is keeping Thompson in Corvallis between now and National Signing Day come Feb. 2016. But in the meantime, Oregon State’s newest pledge for the Class of 2016 is a big-time hire, especially for a team that landed one other tall, athletic safety.