Anterio Thompson visits Kansas, plan to return again

Anterio Thompson had a busy weekend taking two unofficial visits. The defensive lineman from Iowa Western visited Kansas on Friday and Nebraska on Saturday.

Iowa Western had a bye week, so he took advantage of the open weekend.

Thompson arrived in Lawrence to take in the game atmosphere, and he saw the coaches out on the field.

“The visit was great,” Thompson said. “As soon as I stepped on campus, they made me feel like it was home. I got to see some of the campus. I got to see some of the facilities, and everything. I was very impressed with it.”

Thompson said he did not have a lot of time to speak with the coaches since they were preparing to play Tennessee Tech.

“I got to talk with Coach P (Jim Panagos) and I got to talk with the offensive line coach (Scott Fuchs),” he said. “I got to talk with the head coach. I got to talk with mostly all of them. I just wasn't with them for that long. They had to get ready for the game and I talked to them around 6:00 and the game started at 7:00.”

Thompson has been staying in touch with the Kansas coaching staff and learning more about the program. After watching the team up close he sees the type of players they are bringing in.

“I’ve learned that they're improving each year,” he said. “They’ve got a new coaching staff, and they are all doing an amazing job down there. They are recruiting some dogs out there. Number 47's (Lonnie Phelps) a dog. Number 98 (Caleb Sampson) is a dog. The whole D line has dogs. And I feel like they're improving the program. In two, three years, they might end up surprising a lot of people.”

Thompson is ready to get back on the playing field for Iowa Western who will not have another bye week for a while. It was important for him to take visits since the schedule was open. This is his last season at Iowa Western and he will graduate in December.

He wants to prove people wrong by having a good season and eventually playing division one football.

“I feel like getting to Iowa Western was a blessing,” Thompson said. “I never thought I would make it to where I'm at right now. A lot of people have a dream to play D1, but that wasn't even my dream. That wasn't even my plan growing up. I wasn't really into football. And then that one time I played football, I fell in love with it. And then I had a lot of family problems coming up and some of my family didn’t even want me to play football anymore.”

Thompson said he used his grandmother as inspiration because she encouraged him to keep playing football. She is one of the reasons he will continue his career at the division one level when he graduates from Iowa Western.

“My grandma came and watched me play in eighth grade,” he said. “And ever since then she told me I could do great things. From that day on, she always told me that I can make it, I can do whatever I set my mind to.

“She passed away when I was 16 and that put me really down. But I knew she wanted me to keep going, so I kept going.”

Thompson said he plans to set up an official visit to Kansas later in the season. He likely will not make a final decision until December but said it could be earlier if he feels the time is right.