Kristian Thompson plays quarterback, has the speed of a tailback and the mentality of a linebacker.
A 6-0, 235-pound senior enjoys contact, and the offensively-loaded Dardanelle Sand Lizards should reap the benefits of a healthy Thompson this season.
"If I can score a touchdown by running around you, I'll run around you," Thompson said. "I'm trying to score touchdowns. That's what I'm supposed to do. But if someone has a good angle and I know I'm not going to beat them, he's going to get punished."
A broken left arm cost Thompson seven games last season, but he still compiled some impressive numbers, throwing for 659 yards and 4 touchdowns and running for 643 yards and 7 touchdowns. Thompson is back at 100 percent and has impressed those who have witnessed his abilities.
"He is a mountain of a man," said Ozark Coach Jeremie Burns, who saw the Dardanelle quarterback play this summer in 7-on-7 competition. "He will be a big challenge for anyone to stop."
Dardanelle Coach Josh Price, a former quarterback at Beebe High School and Arkansas Tech, loves coaching quarterbacks and said Thompson is a much different player than he was.
"He's a whole lot more athletic than I was," Price said. "I was a drop-back guy who would sit back and read the defense. I wasn't a dual-threat guy at all. He's much more of an athlete, zone-option type of quarterback.
"At this point in his career, going into his senior year, he knows way more about the game of football than I did. That's good, and it makes me feel good as a coach knowing that I progressed a guy much faster than what I did."
Thompson moved to Dardanelle from Little Rock in the summer of 2013, transferring from Pulaski Robinson.
Thompson admits it took him a few months to adjust to Price's system, but now that he has bought into what his coach is asking of him he is prepared to lead the Sand Lizards to what they hope will be a deep playoff run this fall.
"The thing we noticed when he first moved here was that he's a whole lot faster with the ball in his hands than he is doing anything else," Price said. "When he has the ball, it looks like he's really moving just because he's so big. He's worked his tail off this year trying to get into condition to play both ways for us."
Thompson's injury of a year ago came at the end of a 50-yard run in the second game of the season at Mayflower.
"It was near the end of the third quarter and I was running for what I thought was going to be my fourth touchdown," Thompson said. "One guy caught me, but I shook him off. Then another guy dives and hits me on the ankle. I fell and I tried to brace myself with my left arm. I hit the ground and my arm shattered."
Thompson finished with 236 yards that night, but he wasn't able to start again until the final regular-season game of the season.
"The next day I'm searching the internet looking at all the things I could do like padding and stuff to try and come back," Thompson said. "I saw one player who broke the same bones I did and he came back in three weeks. I'm thinking if he could do, I know I can do it. ... But my doctor -- and he's a great doctor -- just wasn't feeling it."
Price said Thompson returned as a very motivated leader. Thompson attended 42 workouts this summer.
"He was here almost every day," Price said.
Thompson is expected to play football at a higher level in 2015, but probably not as a quarterback. He said he is not bothered that he is playing out of position.
"I can throw the ball far and all that good stuff, but I know I'm a running back and I'm a linebacker," Thompson said. "It's awesome playing quarterback, because I already have the ball in my hands, so if I have to run I can run. But also, I can throw. I can take more of a beating than a lot of little 165-pound quarterbacks.
"I just go where I'm needed most."
With 10 starters back on offense, Price said his quarterback cannot be the opponent's main target on every play this season.
"One thing he's really got going for him is that we return four offensive linemen, a tight end and an all-state tailback," Price said. "So he's got some weapons to go to. No one can key on Kristian Thompson."
Sports on 08/24/2014