6 Years, 5 Coaches and 3 Teams Later, Thomson Finds a Home with Huskies
New University of Washington quarterback Kevin Thomson turns 25 on September 2.
Once he pulls on a Husky uniform, he will enter his sixth season of college football, spaced over seven years
Jimmy Lake will be his fifth college coach, the Huskies his third team.
Collegiately, he's an old man. Older than some of his teachers.
Well, the UW needed an experienced guy behind center, didn't it?
The Huskies might have flirted with transfers K.J. Costello, JT Daniels and Jamie Newman, but none of those quarterbacks were quite the graybeard that this Auburn, Wash., product presents.
Thomson is so seasoned, so weathered, so stitched together, his Sacramento State teammates referred to him last season as "Dr. Thomson."
On Wednesday, the UW announced the graduate transfer quarterback would join the Huskies for the 2020 season, his extended eligibility guaranteed by the NCAA.
"It doesn't surprise me he ended up at a Pac-12 school," said Luke Huard, younger brother of Damon and Brock, former Sacramento State quarterbacks coach and now at Texas A&M. "He makes a lot of big throws down the field. I really liked him."
If the Huskies can keep him out there, Thomson should give returnees Jacob Sirmon and Dylan Morris a good run for the starting job. It hasn't been easy.
Even last year, as he took Sacramento to the FCS playoffs and a milestone 9-4 season, his health was threatened once more.
In the second quarter of his ninth game against Weber State, Thomson took a blind-side hit so vicious it made his head whiplash as if he'd been in a serious auto accident. He sat on the field for several minutes, surrounded by trainers, coaches and teammates. He gingerly walked off and was taken from the field.
Thomson wouldn't return as a 16-10 deficit turned into a 36-17 defeat. He wouldn't play the following week either.
In 2018, he appeared in just seven games for Sacramento State, sidelined with a back injury.
Neither was his worst injury.
At his first college stop after redshirting for a season, UNLV, Thomson tore a ligament in his elbow that required surgery on his birthday in 2015. He sat out that season and attended class.
In 2016, still not fully recovered, Thomson went home to Auburn and worked out in local gym.
He transferred and played the past three seasons for Sacramento State, albeit that half season in 2017.
Now here he is, 30 some miles from his high school (Riverside), trying to unseat two guys with no discernible game experience and lead the Huskies in their Sept. 5 opener against Michigan at Husky Stadium.
"They reached out to me when I was in the portal," said Thomson, who put his name in the transfer process on June 11, to 247Sports. "It's every kid's dream in the area to go to the University of Washington."
Oregon and Washington State have gone this route with an FCS quarterback with varying degrees of success.
Thomson certainly peaks everyone's interest with his dual-threat capability.
In a 2017 game, he passed for 253 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed for 149 yards and 4 touchdowns against Southern Utah.
Last season, he accounted for 39 touchdowns. Twice he ran for more than 100 yards.
Here's a rehash of his highly productive 2019 season, one that ended with him being named an FCS All-American and Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year while guiding the Hornets to the FCS playoffs.
Sacramento State 77, Southern Oregon 19 — Thomson threw for 4 touchdowns, completing 14 of 20 passes for 303 yards, and scored on a 24-yard run.
At Arizona State 19, Sacramento State 7 — Against a Pac-12 opponent, Thomson launched the ball 50 times, completing 32 for 263 yards but just one TD.
Sacramento State 50, Northern Colorado 0 — Thomson threw for a career-high 361 yards and 5 touchdowns, rifling an 88-yard gainer that didn't find the end zone.
At Fresno State 34, Sacramento State 20 — Thomson tossed three touchdown passes to bring his team into a 20-20 tie before the Bulldogs scored twice late.
Sacramento State 48, No. 22 Eastern Washington 27 — The quarterback was highly efficient, hitting 30 of 44 passes for 3 scores and running for 2 more as the Hornets pulled an upset.
Sacramento State 34, at No. 6 Montana State 21 — For the second consecutive week, Thomson was an unstoppable dual threat, completing 23 of 30 passes for 260 yards and 3 scores and running for 2 more. It was the Hornets' first victory in Bozeman since 1991 and the highest-ranked team Sac State had beaten in school history.
No. 15 Sacramento State 49, No. 5 Montana 22 — Now leading a ranked team, Thomson threw four TD passes and ran for two more. He completed 24 of 34 passes for a new career-high 369 yards.
No. 7 Sacramento State 38, Cal Poly 14 — Changing things up, Thomson didn't have a touchdown pass as the Hornets ran the ball. Sac State running back Elijah Dotson rushed for 175 on 18 carries and Thomson piled up 104 yards on 11 tries.
No. 3 Weber State 36, No. 6 Sacramento State 17 —Thomson lasted a quarter and half, throwing 18 passes and a TD, before he got knocked out of the game on that debilitating hit. He left with his team trailing 16-10 at half.
Sacramento State 38, at Northern Arizona 34 — Thomson sat out with an injury.
No. 6 Sacramento State 31, at Idaho 7 — After a week off, Thomson ran for two scores as he improved the Hornets to 8-3.
No. 4 Sacramento State 27, UC-Davis 7 — Against Chris Petersen's alma mater, Thomson was his dual-threat best. He launched a season-high 55 passes, completing 28 for 300 yards and a score. He also ran for 116 yards and 2 TDs on 24 carries. The largest home crowd in a decade, 19,882, saw the Hornets clinch their first Big Sky championship and FCS playoff berth.
No. 18 Austin Peay 42, No. 4 Sacramento State 28 — In the FCS playoffs, the Hornets fell behind 28-0 before battling back. Thomson completed 21 of 53 passes for 306 yards and 2 scores, and ran for 87 yards and 2 scores on 13 carries.
Thomson finished with 3,216 yards passing and 27 TDs through the air and 618 yards and 12 scores on the ground.
He'll next see if can beat out the others in Seattle and become the starting Husky quarterback. Sacramento State is second up on the schedule.
He's old enough to know how to do it.
