Former Highlander DE Thompson garners CUSA honors for Herd

Oct. 12, 2015

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall redshirt junior defensive end Gary Thompson had a monster effort in the Thundering Herd’s 31-10 win over Southern Miss Friday and claimed national and Conference USA honors on Monday as a result.

College Sports Madness named the La Mesa native its National Defensive Player of the Week following a seven-tackle performance with two sacks that yielded forced fumbles, three quarterback hurries and two pass breakups.

One sack fumble of the Golden Eagles quarterback allowed fellow defensive lineman Jarquez Samuel to pluck it out of the air and dive into the end zone for the game’s final score.

Thompson’s unit forced five Southern Miss turnovers and allowed just a 1-for-6 clip on fourth down.

The outlet also named Thompson its league defensive player of the week, as did the league office.

Thompson has five sacks and three forces fumbles this season for Marshall. He has doubled his career sack total this season in just five games.

Marshall (5-1, 2-0 C-USA) will be back in action Saturday at 12 p.m. when it travels to Florida Atlantic (1-4, 1-1).