Brenen Thompson’s work with Texas track could have positive effects for Steve Sarkisian's football team
While most of the players that will comprise the Texas football team this fall are hard at work for the next month in spring drills at the Frank Denius Fields and Campbell-Williams Field inside Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium, Brenen Thompson is down the road and across the street at Mike A. Myers Stadium honing his craft with the Longhorns track and field team.
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Thompson, a 5-foot-10, 163-pound speedster from Spearman, is expected to compete for serious playing at wide receiver this year for the Longhorns. He played in nine games as a freshman last year, catching a pass for 32 yards against Oklahoma State.
Thompson is with coach Edrick Floréal’s track squad because he can flat fly and has the chops to become a star as a thinclad. Thompson came to the 40 Acres as a two-sport star, following in the recent footsteps of Longhorns John Burt and Marquise Goodwin as football players who run track and do it well.
“Our thing for Brenen is you know he’s fast, and I feel like him working with (coach Floréal) and running track this spring is only going to benefit him in the fall from a speed standpoint,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said on Tuesday.
Thompson was a star on the UIL track stage. He was the UIL 3A 200m state champion and 100m runner-up a junior in 2021. During his senior year in 2022, captured both the 100m and 200m championships at the 3A meet.
He has posted personal bests of 10.22 seconds in the 100m and 21.00 seconds in the 200m. His 20.73 in the 2022 UIL 3A 200m state finals was with a 2.1 m/s tailwind, just above the wind legal range.
Thompson came out of high school ranked in the top-20 in the country of both the 100m and 200m and the top-10 in the state of Texas. He was the No. 101 overall prospect, the No. 17 wide receiver, and No. 18 football player in Texas according to the 2022 On3 Industry Ranking.
Thompson didn’t participate in indoor season, as Floréal wanted to sort out some of Thompson’s running mechanics before putting him on the incline track. But Floréal was able to see the talent the Spearman speedster possesses in practice.
“He’s an unbelievable athlete,” Floréal said in February. “In football, you mess up and Sark probably makes you run for punishment. We just run for the hell of it in track. He was a little bit shocked by the amount of running just for kicks that we do.”
Thompson had to make some changes from his football workouts to get back into “track” shape.
“It was funny when Brenen first went (back) out because football shape and track shape are two different things,” Sarkisian explained. “Getting it back on the track was a challenge for him early on. I trust Flo. Schematically Brenen has been in the system for a year. He’s just got to get back into the fold in the summer when we get going.”
Sarkisian said that he was confident Thompson would be ready for football when that sport comes calling in the summer.
“It’s always challenging when you when you’re a player that plays two sports,” Sarkisian said. “Not only physically, because you’re asked to do more to do both, but it can be mentally taxing. You know, Brenen’s speed is a real factor. We saw a couple glimpses of it last year, and we’re hopeful we see more of that in the fall.”
Sarkisian chuckled when he was asked if he consults with Floréal about how Thompson is working while away from the football team.
“Flo is one of the best in the world at what he does, so I trust Flo is going to make sure that he’s running right and running well and in great shape,” Sarkisian said. “Obviously we have to work together from a scheduling standpoint of what that looks like for Brennan, but at the end, you know, we’ll get a good player back.”