LCP Alumni This page will be for LCP Alumni. We would like to encourage our alumni to join the LCPYFL Website. LCP has been blessed with some fine coaches, players, volunteers and sponsors in the past. We do not want to lose the great traditions of the past. If you have pictures, articles, rosters, records or just good stories of the past and would like to help us build our history database please email them to elee@varco.com or mail them to my address listed on the Board Member section of this website. If you have other ideas how we can keep LCP alumni involved with LCPYFL please email this also or give me a call. Thanks for your continued support. Earl Lee LCPYFL  1994 LCP LIONS Can you name the missing LIONS? If so, email them to me at elee@varco.com Reprinted from the Daily Oklahoman at www.newsok.com OU's Thompson got a late start in the world of quarterbacking By George Schroeder The Oklahoman NORMAN — Sometime that winter, he noticed, and understood. For as long as he could remember, Jason Brosie had been the quarterback. His best friend, Paul Thompson, had been the running back, sometimes the  “We tore it up,” Brosie remembered. “I threw it to him every time. I just threw it up and he'd go get it.”  But after their ninth-grade season at Leander (Texas) High School, their roles changed. No one came right out and said it. But during offseason drills, Brosie watched Thompson throwing passes, not catching them. And he knew.  “He threw it as well as I could,” Brosie said. “And he could play any position the coaches wanted him at.”  All these years later, Brosie understands why the move was made. Thompson is among three Oklahoma quarterbacks competing for the right to replace Jason White. When preseason practice begins Thursday, he’ll get the first shot.  Thompson’s best friend figures he’ll win the job.  “I wanted Paul to play quarterback (at Leander),” Brosie said. “I’m rooting for him like no other now.”  Funny thing, though. Thompson wouldn’t have been in position to assume OU’s most glamorous position if not for that long-ago role reversal. And he wasn’t initially fired up about the switch.  Mark Thompson, Paul’s father, had long noted his son’s throwing ability. He believed Paul’s athletic ability and quick mind would form a potent combination at quarterback.  “I told him, “You need to try quarterback,’” Mark Thompson said.  Said Paul: “We had a little talk. I was never against playing quarterback.”  Maybe not. But Mark Thompson said he gave a fatherly nudge, suggesting the idea to Leander’s football coaches. Without that?  “I don’t think he would have been a quarterback,” Mark Thompson said.  And perhaps not without Brosie’s blessing. He moved to free safety and watched Paul blossom. Their friendship didn’t miss a beat.  “He took it well,” Paul Thompson said. “There wasn’t even that much talk about it.”  Said Brosie: “I felt he was a good man for the position, so it wasn’t that bad.”  Thompson quickly proved to be a good fit. After learning on the job as a sophomore, Thompson compiled more than 2,000 yards as a junior. He threw for 1,600 yards and ran for 1,000 more as a senior.  “He stepped in there like he’d been playing quarterback his whole life,” Brosie said.  Soon enough, big-time colleges came calling. Only one — the nearest — didn’t offer Thompson a chance to  Leander, a town of 5,000, is located about 25 miles northwest of the Texas campus. After Thompson excelled at Texas’ football camp, the Longhorns grew very interested in him.  Just not as a quarterback. Mark Thompson, Paul’s father, said Longhorns offensive coordinator Greg Davis called a few days later and offered a scholarship, with one hitch.  “He said, ‘We want him to play wide receiver,’ ” Mark Thompson  Just two years earlier, Paul had needed persuasion to move from receiver to quarterback. He had no intention of moving back.  “I got real comfortable at quarterback,” Paul Thompson said. “I wanted to continue on.”  Jim Skinner, then Leander’s head coach (he’s now at Birdville High School in suburban Fort Worth, Texas), agreed with the decision.  “He was an excellent specimen of a quarterback,” Skinner said. “He could throw the football, he could run, he could read coverages. I thought he was a natural at quarterback, plus he had the leadership ability.  “If you’re looking for a quarterback, to me, you’re looking for a young man with a lot of character. And Paul Thompson has a tremendous amount of character. The thing that irritated me was (Texas) didn’t give him a chance.”  OU did. Like other college recruiters, OU’s coaches were impressed by Thompson’s athletic ability — he was a standout high-jumper and sprinter in high school. But Mark Thompson said offensive coordinator Chuck Long’s recruiting pitch went something like this: “If he comes here, fine. But wherever he goes, he needs to play  You know the rest of the story. Thompson signed with OU. As a true freshman in 2002, he was thrust into the backup’s role when White suffered his second knee injury. A year ago, he redshirted — while getting plenty of practice work — in hopes of starting for  And while Thompson has exhibited patience, that hasn’t been as easy back home, according to Brosie.  “Everyone in Leander was really mad at Jason White for coming back (for a sixth season in 2004),” Brosie said.  And now, said Brosie, everyone is rooting hard for Thompson. Including, of course, Brosie.  That position switch never looked better.  “I don’t know if it was because we were good friends,” Brosie said, “or because I thought he would be a good quarterback. But it was OK. I think in the back of Paul’s mind, he always wanted to play quarterback.  “It ended up pretty good for him.”