A touted member of Oklahoma’s most recent recruiting class has seen his true freshman season come to an end before it ever got started.
Michael Thompson took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce that he suffered a torn ACL in one of his knees, although, interestingly, the player ultimately deleted the tweet. There was no indication as to how the injury occurred and whether it was football-related or not.
Regardless, though, the defensive lineman will be sidelined for the entire 2018 season.
A four-star member of the Sooners’ 2018 recruiting class, the 6-3, 295-pound Thompson was rated as the No. 4 defensive tackle in the country; the No. 2 player at any position in the state of Missouri; and the No. 72 recruit overall on 247Sports.com‘s composite board. He was the highest-rated defensive lineman in that OU class, and only three Sooner signees overall carried a higher rating.
Thompson was expected to contribute immediately this fall prior to the injury.
“That was a big get. As we all know defensive linemen are the toughest position to recruit. Everybody wants them and there’s not very many of them out there,” head coach Lincoln Riley said back in February by way of Tulsa World. “He gives us a great presence right there immediately.”