March 29, 2024

Utah QB Kendal Thompson(Kiowa) Talks Football and The Importance of Native American Athletes as Role Models

By Rich Winter

It didn’t take long for Utah Utes, backup QB Kendal Thompson to make an impression in the second half of last night’s 56-14 win over Idaho State.

Thompson lost the starting QB battle to junior Travis Wilson, but got in the game in the third quarter and never looked back, playing well, and guiding Utah on a third-quarter scoring drives.

Although the Utes were in cruise control by the start of the second half, Thompson looked sharp.

The junior, lefty, from the Kiowa Tribe in Oklahoma finished the night going 6-10 in passing and showed some nifty, creativity with his legs picking up 27 yards on six carries.

I was able to catch up to Thompson after the game and he was kind of enough to sit down and visit with me.

Couple things I learned from visiting with him.

1. He’s already graduated college. Degree in Communications from the University of Oklahoma.

2. He’s in a graduate program at the University of Utah.

3. He loves his momma (Basically I asked him about this Schimmel sisters and what kind of an impact they’ve had on Native American youth. He said his mom told him about the Schimmel sisters years ago, before they blew up and got famous.

He said, “Anytime you can get a young Native American athlete exposure, that’s a good thing.”

Game Recap: http://www.utahutes.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/082814aaa.html

Personal:
Son of Charles and Kori Thompson … father played quarterback at OU in 1987 and 1988 … cousin of former OU defensive back Antonio Perkins and current West Virginia wide receiver Jordan Thompson … majoring in communication.