Paul Thompson (born November 23, 1983) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He was signed by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2007. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. He has also played for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

Early years

Thompson attended

Leander High School Leander High School is a secondary school in Leander, Texas, United States, and is part of the Leander Independent School District. It was established in 1983 and was the only high school in district, until the establishment of Cedar Park High Sc ...

Leander, Texas Leander ( ) is a city in Williamson County and Travis County, Texas, United States. The population was 59,202 at the 2020 census and 67,124 at the 2021 census estimate. A suburb just north of Austin, and part of the metropolitan area, it was th ...

and was a

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in football,

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, and

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. In football, as a senior, he passed for 1,600 yards and rushed for 1,053 yards.

College career

Thompson was ranked as the #8 athlete in the country upon entering college. He had been courted by both the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and Oklahoma but chose to play for the Sooners because they would give him the opportunity to play quarterback. He turned down Texas due to the fact they wanted him to play as a wide receiver. Ironically, after former Oklahoma quarterback

Rhett Bomar Rhett Matthew Bomar (born July 2, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma and Sam Houston State. He ...

took over as the starter in 2005, Thompson asked to be moved to the wide receiver position.

2002 season

He arrived on campus in the fall of 2002 as a backup to both Jason White and

Nate Hybl Nate Hybl (born June 19, 1979) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma and was the starting quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2001 and 2002. He subsequently played professionall ...

. He was scheduled to be

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

that season. During the second game of the year against

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, starter Jason White hurt his knee, forcing Hybl to take his spot. More importantly for Thompson was the fact that he would not be redshirted in 2002. He would receive playing time in four games, but did not start, remaining the second-string quarterback.

2003 season

After the Sooner Rose Bowl win, Hybl graduated, leaving White and Thompson the quarterback job. Jason White earned the top spot, once again leaving Thompson on the bench. White led the team, and ultimately ended up winning the Heisman Trophy. Paul played in 10 games in 2003.

2004 season

Thompson expected to have the job all to himself in 2004, but special circumstances allowed Jason White to play another year. White led the team to an undefeated regular season. Thompson was redshirted for the season.

2005 season

With Jason White gone, Paul would battle with Rhett Bomar for the starting spot. Thompson earned the starting role against TCU in the first game of the season. Thompson was benched in the middle of the game in favor of Bomar. From then on, Bomar would take most of the snaps under center, leaving Thompson to a new position, wide receiver.

2006 season

In his last collegiate season, chances for Thompson to start at quarterback or wide receiver looked unlikely. On August 2, 2006

and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn were dismissed from the football team. Thompson regained the duties of the starting quarterback for the Sooners. His first game as starter for the 2006 season was a 24-17 victory on September 2, 2006 against UAB. Thompson threw for 227 yards with two interceptions and two touchdown passes, including a 69-yard pass to

Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set the ...

for a touchdown. It was soon after this performance that Thompson would be renamed Paul "Prime-Time" Thompson. After going 3-2 in their first five games, he helped lead the Sooners to 8 straight wins, including the

Big 12 Championship Game The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 20 ...

win over Nebraska in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

. This win propelled the Sooners to a BCS berth in the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

on New Years Day. The Sooners lost this game in overtime to Boise State University in a very close game, in which Paul Thompson threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. Paul then was later added into The Oklahoma Sooner Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

Thompson signed as an

on May 16, 2007.

Tennessee Titans

On January 9, 2008, Thompson signed with the

. He was waived on July 24.

References

External links

Oklahoma profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Paul 1983 births Living people American football quarterbacks American football wide receivers Oklahoma Sooners football players Green Bay Packers players Tennessee Titans players People from Leander, Texas Players of American football from Texas