Florida RB Mark Thompson makes bold prediction about when he’ll hit 1,000 rushing yards
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Mark Thompson hasn’t been a member of the Florida football team for very long, but that hasn’t held him back from vocalizing his confidence.
Coming straight from Dodge City Community College in Kansas, Thompson — who stands at an overwhelming 6-foot-2, 237 pounds — Thompson has been making noise during fall practice and has earned the respect from his teammates. But the new Gator has one thing on his mind: having an extremely productive season in his debut campaign.
He has his eyes on breaking the 1,000-yard threshold… by Week 8.
“It’s my goal to have 1,000 yards by the bye week,” he told the Orlando Sentinel. “There is no way in the world I would joke about something like that.”
Last season with DCCC, Thompson finished with 1,368 total yards. He compiled 870 all-purpose yards after seven games.
“My confidence level is high,” Thompson said. “I know there’s things I have to work on, but I feel as though if you have low confidence — and that goes for the whole team — your team isn’t going to prosper or do well.”
There have only been two Florida running backs to accomplish this feat since 2005 — Mike Gillislee in 2012 and then Kelvin Taylor last season). But if there’s going to be a third to do it by mid-October of 2016, it might as well be Thompson.
“He’s obviously the Incredible Hulk,” defensive end CeCe Jefferson said. “He’s so huge, man. He knows how to run and he knows that he’s good. And that’s the scary thing — he knows what he’s capable of. So it’ll be no surprise if he has that 1,000 yards by the bye week.”
Tyler Waddell is a member of the Saturday Down South news team. He brings over five years of professional journalism experience and is closing in on a Bachelor's in sports management. Follow him on Twitter (@Tyler_Waddell).
