Thompson's growth evident in his play

It was evidence that even though the man they call “Squirt” still is listed at 5-foot-7 and 176 pounds, he has grown considerably since he came out of Katy, Texas, trying to prove to many people who said he was too small for major college football that they were wrong.

His development was slow and incremental, but each year his figures grew if not his figure — catching 13 passes for 85 yards as a freshman, 23 for 178 as a sophomore and then last year, as a junior, 49 for 598 yards.

The next Tavon Austin?

No, but Austin had something of a similar progression, showing 15 catches for 58 yards as a freshman, 59 for 787 as a sophomore and then his two monster seasons of 101 for 1,186 yards and eight touchdowns and 114 for 1,289 yards and 12 touchdowns.

It is unfair to compare the two because Austin is a once-in-a-lifetime receiver, a first round NFL draft choice around whom the offense was built, but Thompson has reached the stage in his career where he expects to be nothing less than “the man” in this offense.

“From my freshman year to now my role has increased. This year I should be the go-to guy,” Thompson said. “I’m the senior on the field. I feel like I need to be that big playmaker on the field, so this spring, this summer I’m going to get together with Skyler and make sure our chemistry is down.”

He saw a year ago what emerged after Kevin White, coming off a junior season that did not measure up to Thompson’s junior season, 35 catches for 507 yards, spent the off-season working with quarterback Clint Trickett, building chemistry and timing as a pitcher and catcher of the football.

White jumped to 109 catches for 1,447 yards and a spot expected to be near the top of the NFL draft.

“We talked about it, about having these little get togethers, little bondings to work on our chemistry,” Thompson said. “Kevin and Clint did that and it was like night and day from the spring to the summer for them. There were definitely little quirks here and there in the spring but they went out in the summer and worked hard and it showed on the field come August.”

Thompson can see the chemistry with Skyler Howard building that way, an interesting combo for they may be the most undersized passer-receiver combination in college football, Howard being listed a 6-foot but that probably being a stretch by an inch or two.

Being on the short side doesn’t seem to bother Howard, who has his own way to deal with it.

“I try to know where I’m going with the ball before I throw it,” Howard said. “Mentally that helped me and athleticism helps a lot in finding throwing lanes. Russell Wilson, he does a great job of finding throwing lanes. That’s who I look at as a role model.”

Thompson enjoys working with Howard.

“I like Skyler. He’s confident,” Thompson said. “That’s one thing I can say about Skyler. When things go bad, he shakes it off. It doesn’t affect him at all. He doesn’t change his expression. He knows you have to play the next play. It carries over to the team.

“When you have a guy like that constantly reminding you to always play the next play it really helps. You may have messed up but you can make a good play on the next one.”

And while Thompson lauds Howard for being willing to throw the ball over the middle, which is bread and butter to a slot receiver, he especially believes that Howard will put together and deep passing game, which is bread and butter to every receiver.

“His deep ball is easy to catch. He just launches it,” Thompson said. “He knows we have speed on the field, so he knows if anything, he should throw long, not short. He improved throwing deep, especially since the A&M game when his balls were just sailing.”

The Texas A&M Liberty Bowl game was something of a disaster for Howard as he really was off the mark, completing just 20 of 45, although he did throw for 346 yards and 3 TDs.

As signs of the relationship that has developed between Howard and Thompson, you have to look into the ashes of that defeat.

“After the game, we were talking. I told him his arm slot was wrong, the way he was stepping was making it impossible for his arm to go up. I know that from playing baseball in high school. I was noticing that with Skyler,” Thompson said.

“He focused on that in the winter and now he’s got it. The ball he throws now is pretty.”

The coaches, of course, notice how Thompson had emerged as a force last year, even with White and Mario Alford stealing off the headlines.

“We started talking about Jordan during the season last year, if you remember right,” Holgorsen said. “We were happy with the way he performed on the inside last year. Jordan is a good football player and his understanding of what’s going on here in the spring will carry into the fall.”