Former Central Connecticut State defensive tackle Clifton Thompson has joined the Kansas football team after earning a fifth year of eligibility in the courts, the Journal-World has confirmed.
Thompson received his eligibility last Wednesday in Monroe County, Indiana, via an injunction, as another of the 97 plaintiffs in the lawsuit that also featured KU men’s basketball player Tre White. The terms of that injunction required the NCAA to open the transfer portal for a week for all players involved.
Thompson’s agency Nilson Sports told the Journal-World that Thompson signed on Friday and was present at team meetings on Sunday night. Previous legal documents suggested that Thompson might also have had interest from Cal. 247Sports first reported that he had signed with KU.
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 340 pounds, Thompson should provide another option at nose tackle behind Eamon Smalls, who impressed in the Union Jack Classic. Smalls has had to shoulder a great deal of responsibility when KU deploys odd fronts this season because of an offseason ACL injury that knocked marquee Tulane transfer Tre’Von McAlpine out for the year. The Jayhawks’ defensive tackles have generally had a strong start to the season regardless.
Originally from Hackensack, New Jersey, Thompson played one year at Division II American International College before making the move to CCSU at the FCS level for three seasons. In his senior year with the Blue Devils, he recorded 27 total tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss. He was a second-team all-conference selection.
Thompson had been briefly working on the coaching staff at Penn. His ongoing eligibility is not assured as the NCAA is both attempting to stay the Indiana injunction in Monroe County court as well as appeal it in the Court of Appeals of Indiana.
KU coach Lance Leipold had spoken generally about the prospect of adding players midseason while the team was in London preparing for the Union Jack Classic, shortly after KU’s interest in Thompson became public: “Right now, I guess in this new era of what we’re doing, depending on the circumstance, you’ll never say never anymore. There’s a lot of hoops to go through, there’s a lot of reasons, and we have to feel confident that there’s something that isn’t going to be reversed back in a countersuit and all those things.”
Time will tell whether the Jayhawks feel comfortable making any other additions as they prepare for a final stretch of the season that features nine consecutive games.
