Thigpen Gets Offer/Takes Visits

Most schools are recruiting Manassas, Va., native Damien Thigpen to play on the offensive side of the ball, but his latest offer comes from the Auburn Tigers to play defensive back for the SEC power. He has also taken to visits recently and took some time out from his track schedule to catch us up on his currently recruiting picture.

Stonewall Jackson High School athlete Damien Thigpen now holds seven written scholarship offers from Auburn, Boston College, Connecticut, Minnesota, Stanford, Tennessee and Vanderbilt after the Tigers came calling for the 5-foot-9, 170-pound speedster recently. He also took unofficial visits to Stanford and Tennessee last week and talked to us about all three schools.

“My visit to Tennessee went great and after watching practice they had one of their former linebackers Kevin Simon take us around campus,” Thigpen said. “I was just looking at their class from last year and who they already have this year and am very impressed. One of my friends Je’Ron Stokes just committed to Tennessee actually.”

“The stadium was absolutely huge and I really liked the campus,” Thigpen added. “They practice really hard and have great athletes all over the field like Eric Berry who was a freshman All-American. I also liked Head Coach Phil Fulmer a lot.”

“I watched Stanford practice and was also impressed with some of the athletes they had out there,” Thigpen explained. “We toured the campus and then I got to talk to a few professors about what it was like as a student-athlete at Stanford. The weather was also outstanding which was a plus.”

“Auburn offered me recently and I love them,” Thigpen stated. “I have been a fan of them for a long time and Coach James Willis said they like me a bit more at cornerback than they do at running back. They had great running backs like Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown which is great even though I know they like me on defense. They also have a great tradition of winning at Auburn. I’m definitely visiting there this summer.”

As a junior, Thigpen missed three and a half games with a severe high ankle sprain, but still managed 79 carries for 632 yards and seven touchdowns while sharing the rock with Ryan Williams. He also made 32 tackles, broke up eight passes, blocked three field goals and one punt.