By Richard Smith
Twitter: @rsmithYWV

Suddenly a tank hopped on board Herm Edwards’ train.

In a week or so this summer, Frank Thompson rose from an offensive guard barely on the major school recruiting radar to a verbal commitment to Arizona State, his hometown dream team.

His great-grandfather, Dick Law, played football in college after finishing his Naval service, earning a letter in 1949.

Thompson said he spoke to ASU offensive line coach Dave Christensen just after his wrestling season finished in February. Then he stood out in the early ASU Big Men Competition June 3.

The Sun Devils offered a scholarship June 9 and Thompson gave his verbal commitment June 13.

“I was doing well in 1-on-1s and caught his eye. They said they wanted me to come to the big man camp, which was a week or a week-and-a-half later. And then I got the offer at the big man camp,” Thompson said. “I definitely want to play for a school that has a winning culture and wants to win championships. I saw that in ASU with the coaching, the players and the culture. So that definitely played a big part in my commitment. And it’s pretty great to go play where my great-grandpa played.”

Law first went to play for Arizona State while on leave from the Navy. That set a family tradition for football and Sun Devils fandom.

Thompson started playing at Christ’s Church of the Valley when he was 7.
He always had a big frame and was well over six feet tall when he arrived as a freshman in 2016. Liberty coach Mark Smith said Thompson was 230 pounds or so as a freshman and in four years has built his body up to 285 pounds.

His emergence may have seemed sudden, but Thompson spent his early years at Liberty laying the groundwork.

“The biggest things about Frank are, his work ethic in the weight room has been phenomenal and he’s got a lot of self confidence from wrestling and the success he’s had on the mat,” Smith said. “And his relationship with coach (Shawn) Golden, our offensive line coach, has kind of blossomed in the last couple of years. Last year was Coach Glo’s first year here and Frank wasn’t a starter the year before. He was one of our five new offensive line starters as a junior. Through that relationship and the weight room and the mat — and through his own adversities in his life — he’s really turned into a heck of an offensive lineman. He’s really physical and pretty darn talented.”

The line of his freshman year is virtually identical to the Lions 2018 and 2019 varsity offensive line.

Thompson kicks up the physicality for the group, Temoc Sandoval is the spokesman, while center Brian Dean handles the calls and Vincente Maestas and Jared Crean are the stabilizing forces.

“We were a pretty good freshman team, at 8-1. We had a good chemistry,” Thompson said. “My role is probably helping set the tone up front. Temo has been a great leader for us vocally. We all bring each other up.”

They were split up a bit as sophomores with some concentrating on junior varsity while Thompson and Sandoval saw varsity snaps as reserves.

Mostly, Thompson said he tried to emulate that 2017 team and its offensive line. Those Lions upset then-nationally ranked Centennial in the regular season finale and finished a little more than 20 yards short of knocking off the Coyotes again in the 5A semifinals.

“I definitely learned the toughness mentality and not giving up. That team wasn’t a bunch of power five kids but they all worked hard and grinded to win. I think they’ve really set the attitude for the time I played here,” Thompson said.

Then the Lions moved up to 6A. In May 2018 they learned their only returning lineman, Zach Hunzinger, would have his career cut short by bone cancer in his knee.

It was up to the Class of 2020, ready or not. The group kicked it into gear in the second half of Liberty’s 49-43 home win against Sunrise Mountain on Aug. 31, 2018.

“When we first heard about Zach’s situation it was going into spring ball. That made the whole team work harder,” Thompson said. “It probably was the Sunrise game. And that was a big game because Zach was having his surgery that day. It was emotional for us. We were super motivated to win it for Zach.”

The Lions’ line stood out from there. Thompson then grew into a top heavyweight in Arizona wrestling and a key cog in Liberty’s state Division I championship team.

Liberty wrestling coach Eric Brenton stated in an email that the growth he has seen from Frank as an athlete and as a wrestler has been remarkable. Each year, month, week, and day there is progress in Frank and his skills, Brenton said.

“Having Frank in the room always continues to show the benefit wrestling and football have with one another. We believe we help Frank become a better football player and I can confirm Frank has made our wrestling program better,” Brenton stated. “Last year, at the state tournament Frank was really bent out of shape when he lost his ‘blood round’ match (win the match and you place) not because so much he missed placing in state but because he felt he let the team down. In the disappointment, he changed his mindset to get the next best thing and that was to get his teammates ready to go in the placement matches.”

Smith said enjoyed watching Thompson set a physical tone this spring at practice. And when that transferred to the Lions winning big man competition at ASU June 3, the coach knew that Sun Devil coaches were taking notice.

“I was actually there and it was really cool. He was just kicking some butt. Sometimes watching him play, he’s almost more physical without the helmet and shoulder pads, just throwing around people and being physical,” Smith said.

This season, the line and quarterback Jonah Guevara were the only returning starters. Smith said if he was going to lose five positions on offense, he would rather lose four receivers and a running back and have five lineman and the quarterback return.

Beyond that, the long-time coach said he has rarely witnessed a line withstand two straight seasons like this.

“Their durability stands out. You’re talking about five guys that took every snap in 6A football last year, coming back and taking every snap this year. You want to talk about toughness and playing through some aches and pains. I don’t know how many times that happens,” Smith said.

For the most part, this senior class has stuck together through the years.
In this era of concussion research and other long-term injury concerns, a 40-player senior class is a rare treat to savor.

“We have a great chemistry in this senior class. There’s not really any tension between any of the leaders of the team. We’re trying to increase the winning culture here,” Thompson said.

He said he wants to study business at ASU. While his family history and devotion to football suggest a serious-minded, quiet and physical presence, both of his coaches said that’s not exactly the case.

Brenton said Thompson brings hard-nosed work ethic and on the other end comic relief at the right time.

“When Coach Filleman left here, his last words to me were, ‘keep Liberty weird.’ And when I got here in 2012 I realized this had always been kind of a weird place.” Smith said. “Frank kind of does that. He’s helped me keep Liberty weird. He enjoys life and he enjoys the game. He appreciates the opportunity he has to play and play at the next level. And when he gets fired up, everyone else gets fired up too.”