Keytaon Thompson’s younger brother Kayden had a problem.
He had taken up chess, enjoyed the game and decided to compete against other young players in Louisiana, where the family lived.
Kayden needed someone to practice against, though, so his older brother Keytaon — a star wide receiver at Virginia — came to the rescue.
“He wanted some competition, so he could get sharper,” Keytaon Thompson said. “I told him I’d help, so I started reading a bunch of books.”
Within a month, Thompson said, he had gotten good enough to beat his brother occasionally.
“That’s the way I approach something new,” he says.
And that’s the way Thompson is approaching this season as a wide receiver with the Cavaliers.
Thompson is known as a multi-purpose player — a quarterback at Mississippi State, and then a running back-receiver last season with the Cavaliers. New Virginia head coach Tony Elliott has said Thompson might run the ball on occasion this fall, but his primary role in the Virginia offense will be at receiver.
“That’s what we’re focusing on,” said Elliott, who coached wide receivers during his years as a Clemson assistant.
That’s all great with Thompson, a graduate student in his final year with the Cavaliers.
“I’m focusing on wide receiver,” he said. “And I’ve been working on the kinds of things that are essential for a wide receiver to know.”
Elliott said Thompson is an extremely talented player, a lock to have a career in the NFL. All that’s lacking, according to Elliott, is the technical background — something Thompson never really got when he moved from quarterback to receiver.
“I’ve seen him grow as a technician,” Elliott said.
Can Thompson translate his growing acumen as a chess player to football?
“It’s a great game,” Thompson said. “There are a lot of moving pieces, a lot of strategy.”
Thompson enjoyed learning the intricacies of chess. He’s approaching his wide receiver education the same way.
“I’m working on a lot of things that feel kind of unnatural,” he said. “But they’re part of being a wide receiver.”
Some scouting analysts believe Thompson has an edge as a receiver because of his experience at quarterback. He understands the way routes work and how to beat defenses.
He could have turned pro after last season and would have been a likely NFL draft pick. But Thompson, like Cavaliers quarterback Brennan Armstrong, decided to come back for another season.
Thompson last season had 78 receptions for 990 yards and had five or more catches in each of the Cavaliers’ final five games. He was named to the All-ACC preseason team at the “all-purpose” position.
Now Elliott wants him to do even more.
“He now understands that Coach Elliott will be on him — every single day.” Elliott said with emphasis.
“I don’t want him to just reach the NFL,” Elliott added. “I want him to stay in the NFL.”
Thompson said of Elliott’s pushing, “He’s not lying about that. He’s on me every day.”
“Coach Elliott and I have a great relationship,” Thompson added. “I’m having a ball at practice.”
Elliott and the rest of the coaching staff are working to get him “out of my comfort zone,” Thompson said.
“I’ve watched guys recently who went to the NFL and were successful,” he said. “That’s what I want. And I want a career there.”
Virginia coaches want to ease the pressure on Armstrong and the receivers, and rely more this season on the ground game. That’s fine with Thompson.
“We will use the running game a bit more, and that should help all of us,” Thompson said, adding that defenses won’t be able to focus on the receivers like they did at times last year.
“I think people will like the offensive changes. Our offense should be harder to stop.”
This will be Thompson’s sixth season of college football, and he wants to make the most of this last campaign.
“I’ve been playing longer than just about anyone else,” said Thompson, who turns 24 on Oct. 23. “I guess I’m an old guy, huh? I’m trying to help the other guys, to share my experience with them.”
