Pittsburg RB tough to stop
Much like his running style, Pittsburg senior Montaz Thompson was unrelenting after practice Tuesday. He wouldn’t budge, give in or be steered down this line of questioning.
The 5-foot-8, 190-pound running back was asked about individual accomplishments or comparisons to his older brother Olito Thompson and nearby contemporaries Najee Harris at Antioch, the nation’s top-ranked recruit, or Freedom-Oakley senior Ronnie Rivers, the son of former NFL running back Ron Rivers.
“I’m not thinking about individual stuff,” Thompson said. “I’m just trying to help us win a state championship. … When we’re going, we’re going and no one can stop us.”
No one has stopped the Pirates (3-0) or Thompson early. He has rushed for a Bay Area-best 839 yards — second in California — on 61 carries (13.8 average) with 11 touchdowns. Harris is at 681 yards in 64 carries with eight scores.
In a 48-25 home win over Serra on Friday, Thompson rushed 20 times for 376 yards and four touchdowns, the second-most yards in the 92-year history of the program. This after a 307-yard season-opening game against another WCAL squad, Mitty.
Serra coach Patrick Walsh, a former record-breaking back at De La Salle-Concord who played at San Jose State, gushed over Thompson.
“As a staff, our first reaction after the game was that we’ve got a lot of work, but then immediately we just all marveled at No. 21,” Walsh said of Thompson. “What I loved most was his competitive desire not to be tackled. The sign of any great back is to make the first tackler miss. But with him, it was two, three and four other guys.”
Pittsburg coach Vic Galli thinks college coaches are missing on a major talent and he has coached some of the best in region. The school’s all-time leader in wins keeps a regular-season record book, and Thompson is climbing the charts. He rushed for 1,412 yards and 14 scores last year in 10 games to rank third behind Harris Ross (1,831, 22, 2013) and Derrick Blanche (1,692, 21, 2004).
Thompson’s on pace to shatter those marks and he already ranks fifth in career regular-season yards (2,251) behind Ross (2,659) and former NFL and Oregon State back Ken Simonton (2,470) at the top.
“He reminds me of a prep version between LaDainian Tomlinson, Maurice JonesDrew and Frank Gore,” Galli said. “He’s compact, has great feet and moves and great hands. And he runs with a chip on his shoulder.”
Perhaps that’s because he has no college offers. Galli said Thompson’s grades are good, but perhaps his height or running in the shadow of Harris have kept scouts away.
Thompson said the lack of college attention “gets to me a little, but I don’t worry about it too much. I just figure I need to keep doing things until they make me an offer.”
Walsh is confident that offers are coming. “They need to come out and see him in person,” he said. “Game film doesn’t do him justice. We saw him on film and he was impressive, but in person, the force he runs with downhill is really impressive. It’s like, ‘Wow.’ He was impossible for us to slow him down.”