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P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> GOING DISTANCE W I D E R E C E I V E R S For the past two seasons, he's been a deep threat in PSU's powerful aerial attack. But DeAndre Thompkins is facing a new challenge this fall: a move to the slot THE eAndre Thompkins could have ended up playing football at any number of schools. He had been a Florida fan growing up, and the Gators made a play for him shortly after the coaching staff that had recruited him for Penn State abruptly left en masse for the NFL. Other schools even nearer to his home in Hubert, N.C., wanted him, too. If it had a football program and was located somewhere in the general vicinity of Tobacco Road, it probably was vying for his signature. North Carolina, North Car- olina State, South Carolina, East Carolina, Clemson – all extended scholarship offers, as did Georgia, an- other school he seriously considered. Penn State was a lot farther away than any of those places, but Thompkins knew that if he put geo- graphic constraints on the schools he was willing to consider, he would also be putting constraints on his future. When he talked it over with his parents, they made sure he understood that distance wasn't a fac- tor that he ought to be weighing. "We already had the idea: 'You go wherever you feel like going, whether that's right down the street or across the world,' " Thompkins recalled. "We had that discussion: 'Don't limit yourself to a location. Limit yourself to where you feel comfortable and happy.' " That place was Penn State, where the players had already made him feel like family, even as a recruit. So even though the Nittany Lions changed coaching staffs late in the recruiting cycle, announcing James Franklin's hiring only two days before Thompkins enrolled at University Park in January 2014, the young wideout prospect followed through on his commitment. "There was some heartbreak," he ad- mitted, recalling Bill O'Brien's decision to leave for the Houston Texans. But Penn State had been the right choice when Thompkins committed to O'Brien the previous April, and it was still the right choice when he arrived on campus. More than four years later, it still feels like the right choice. "I wouldn't change it for the world," he said. "It's shaped me into the person I am now, and it's still continuously shaping me in every aspect of my life. So I wouldn't change it for anything." Thompkins' ambitions for his final season at Penn State are not modest. In addition to establishing himself as Trace McSorley's go-to receiving target, he wants "to lead the Big Ten in all aspects of receiv- ing. And not only that, but on special teams, with punt returning, to be the most explosive punt re- turner in our conference, leading in yards, yards per catch and touchdowns, and taking a couple of chances, not fair catching things that other guys would fair catch. Those are really my goals: to be the leading receiver in the Big Ten and the country, and the leading punt returner in the Big Ten and the country as well." To those assessing Penn State's receiver corps heading into the season, Thompkins' name might not be the first that comes to mind. In his three sea- sons of eligibility, he's never finished higher than fifth on the team in catches. But entering the 2018 season, he has more career receptions (58), receiving | D

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