Damien Thigpen currently shares the rock out of the backfield with Ryan Williams at Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas, Va., and in four games this season he has amassed 526 yards and seven touchdowns on 58 carries. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound athlete also has 25 tackles and two pass breakups from his cornerback position, although not many passes come his way given his athletic ability and already budding reputation. Right now many schools are showing interest in him and he covered some of those programs with us.
“I have been hearing from schools like LSU, Florida, Michigan, Oregon, Boston College, Auburn, South Florida, Rutgers, Penn State, Tennessee, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest and Pittsburgh that I can think of off the top of my head,” Thigpen said. “I know that my father and coach have spoken to Boston College, Mississippi State and Pittsburgh who all said they could be close to offering.”
“I went to North Carolina to watch them play James Madison this year and got there a bit late, but I received a quick tour and thought the facilities they had for the football team and the campus were both great,” Thigpen explained. “The atmosphere at the game was pretty good and they’re in the South which I like.”
“I will be going to Virginia this weekend to see them play Wake Forest and both of those schools are recruiting me,” Thigpen stated. “I don’t really follow Virginia and have not seen them play, but I am completely open to all schools right now, so I am anxious to learn more about them. Wake Forest is a program I like because they are a good program and have had great success over the past two seasons, especially winning the ACC last year.”
With all of these schools showing interest, we asked Thigpen if any specific schools stuck out to him and who his initial top seven were.
“If I had to pick seven right now it would be LSU, Florida, Auburn, Texas, Rutgers, Miami and Florida State,” Thigpen added. “My uncle Gene Lang played running back for LSU before going to the NFL and I always liked them because I grew up in Mississippi. They have also been very successful for a long time now. Florida has a very good track program, so I could do that too if I went there. I like the tradition of running backs at Auburn with guys like Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown and even they guy they have in there now who is really nice.”
As a sophomore, he carried 60 times for 600 yards and seven touchdowns and also added a kickoff return for touchdown. He made 40 tackles on defense.
As a freshman, he carried 19 times for 210 yards and two touchdowns, also adding 30 tackles on defense.
He runs a 4.34 40-yard dash, 4.08 short shuttle and boasts a 10-foot broad jump. Thigpen is also a track standout ranked nationally in the 55-meter with a time of 6.41 seconds As a sophomore he won the Virginia AAA State Outdoor Championship in the 300-meter hurdles and his time of 37.42 was the fastest time recorded that year in Virginia.
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