news-record.com

WINSTON-SALEM -- Jeremy Thompson sometimes feels like an exception at Wake Forest.

After all, coach Jim Grobe built the Demon Deacons' program on patience, redshirting nearly every incoming freshman and putting players on a five-year plan.

But not Thompson. Although the classmates who came with him to Winston-Salem in 2004 still can look forward to another 11/2 seasons at Wake Forest, Thompson must face the backstretch of his last season and contemplate the end of his college career.

"You hear all the seniors say, 'Man, I've been here forever,' but for me, I just got here," Thompson said Tuesday.

It has been a relatively quick four years for Thompson, the team's only starter who wasn't redshirted. Finally healthy after a knee injury that ended his season early in 2005 and limited him last year, he leads the team and is tied for second in the ACC with an average of one sack per game.

And he has emerged as one of the leaders of a better-than-expected defense that during a four-game winning streak has held three opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing.

"It's fun to see Jeremy playing and having a smile on his face and enjoying playing again," Grobe said.

Thompson, a 6-foot-5, 264-pound defensive end from Charlotte Christian, became a rarity at Wake in 2004 when he was one of two first-year freshmen to play. Since Grobe's arrival in 2000, only nine of 123 freshmen signed were not redshirted, an exclusive club that includes 2005 ACC offensive player of the year Chris Barclay and Seattle Seahawks punter Ryan Plackemeier.

"You have to be very mature, in many different aspects, physically ... and mentally," said fifth-year senior Steve Justice. "It's very impressive for somebody to come in and do such a great job as (Thompson) did as a freshman."

Thompson started three games and played in all 11 that season, blocking two field-goal attempts, intercepting a pass and making 15 tackles.

"No one really wants to sit out a year," he said. "The first game, I was really excited to play, but once the season went on, I realized, 'This is a big-boy game,' and maybe I wasn't physically mature enough."

That early playing time also came at a price -- Thompson felt separated from the other freshmen and wound up being adopted by the Justice-led group that was one year older.

"I remember watching him because I was jealous," said Justice, a center. "I was like, 'You've got to be pretty good if you're starting your freshman year in college football.' "

A year later, Thompson started eight games before torn knee ligaments against N.C. State ended his season. Back in the lineup in 2006, he wore a knee brace for two-thirds of the ACC championship season and again in the Orange Bowl.

Grobe now wonders if Thompson would have been better off sitting out to heal.

"I don't think we could have won a championship without him last year, but last year would have been a really nice year to redshirt him," Grobe said. "It's been, for him and for our football team, worthwhile because we didn't waste him as a freshman. We used him enough to make it worthwhile, and nobody can predict injuries. That's just something that happens."

These days, Thompson has no need for a knee brace after symbolically tossing it to trainer Don Steelman on the first day of spring drills and never looking back -- not to the injury and not to his quick initiation to college football.

"I really don't know what would have happened if I had redshirted," Thompson said, "but I do know that I didn't, and things have turned out pretty well for me."