Tyson Calvin Thompson (born May 21, 1981) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

running back/kick return specialist in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

. He played college football at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

Early years

Thompson attended

Irving High School Irving High School is a public high school in Irving, Texas Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Acc ...

. As a junior in 1998, he rushed for 525 yards in a single game against L. D. Bell High School (Hurst, Texas), third most in Texas high school history and the most ever by a runner in

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Class 5A, which at that time housed the state's largest schools. As a senior, he rushed for 2,418 yards on 358 carries and was a semi-finalist for the 1999 Texas Class 5A Player of the Year award.

College career

Thompson enrolled at

Garden City Community College Garden City Community College (Garden City CC or GCCC) is a public community college in Garden City, Kansas. It was established in 1919 to provide a means for post-secondary education for area residents. The school initially shared facilities i ...

Garden City, Kansas Garden City is a city in, and the county seat of, Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 28,151. The city is home to Garden City Community College and the Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest z ...

. In two seasons he saw limited playing time but still recorded 1,063 rushing yards on 159 carries and 12 touchdowns. In his final game, he rushed 25 times for 323 yards and 3 touchdowns against nationally ranked Glendale Community College. He transferred after his sophomore season to

. He closed his collegiate career at

, playing in all 11 games with eight starts at running back while also seeing action as a

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. He posted 811 rushing yards (led the team) and his 5 touchdowns (third on the team). He declared for the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

after his junior season.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Thompson was not selected in the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 2005. The league also hel ...

due to concerns about his lack of experience at the Division I level. He impressed the Cowboys with his speed during a tryout at their practice facilities in Valley Ranch and was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, to compete for the reserve running back and kick returner positions. After making the team, although he was third on the running back depth chart (behind Julius Jones and Marion Barber), a Jones injury allowed him to rush 20 times for 75 yards against the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

and was named NFL

Rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

of the Week (Week 5). He finished the season with team records for kickoff returns (57) and kickoff return yardage (1,399), while ranking ninth in the NFL with a 24.5-yard average. His 2006 season ended when he broke his left ankle in the seventh game against the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

, after being tackled out of bounds on a kickoff return. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, he was declared inactive in 9 games and was not re-signed at the end of the year, after losing his returner job to

Miles Austin Miles Jonathon Austin III (born June 30, 1984) is an American football coach and former wide receiver who is the wide receivers coach for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played in the NFL for 10 seasons ...

Las Vegas Locomotives (UFL)

In 2009, Thompson was selected in the

UFL Premiere Season Draft The UFL "Premiere" Season Draft was the inaugural draft of the United Football League (UFL). The results of the draft were announced via press release on June 19, 2009. Among the players selected were those that participated in earlier workouts i ...

by the

Las Vegas Locomotives The Las Vegas Locomotives (called the Locos for short) were a professional American football team based in Las Vegas, Nevada that played in the United Football League. The team played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium, home field for the Unive ...

of the United Football League. He was signed on August 5, but was released before the start of the season.

Tri-Cities Fever (IFL)

On January 29, 2010, he signed with the

Tri-Cities Fever The Tri-Cities Fever were a professional indoor American football, indoor football franchise based in Kennewick, Washington. The Fever joined National Indoor Football League (NIFL) in 2005 as an expansion team. The Fever were owned by Teri Carr. ...

of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

. He left during the season after signing with a team in the United Football League.

References

External links

Blessed 'BoyDallas Cowboys bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Tyson 1981 births Living people People from Irving, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football running backs American football return specialists Garden City Broncbusters football players San Jose State Spartans football players Dallas Cowboys players Las Vegas Locomotives players Allen Wranglers players Tri-Cities Fever players