John Thompson

#85 · WR · Washington State5′8″ · Spanaway, WA · Bethel

John Thompson: WR · Washington State · #85.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Quadree HendersonPittsburgh · 2016 · 94% season match
Kameran ShanksWake Forest · 2026 · 91% season match
A.J. ConeyAkron · 2016 · 87% season match
Jereme JonesSouth Alabama · 2014 · 86% season match
Andrew RodriguezUtah State · 2015 · 85% season match

John Thompson

WR · Washington State · #85

Moves the chains on third down. Arrived as a two-star recruit; three seasons of production at Washington State since. On tape: 51 receiving yards and 5 receptions against Arizona, Week 10, 2016.

Style of play

Play style

Reliable target who converts on critical downs. Not flashy; consistently productive.

Fans

No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2016	Washington State	23	195	8.5	1	18
2015	Washington State	24	255	10.6	1	29
2014	Washington State	1	5	5.0	0	5
Career		48	455	9.5	2	29

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2016 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 42-45vs Eastern Washington	2	18	9.0	0	12
Wk 2	L 28-31@ Boise State	1	7	7.0	0	7
Wk 5	W 51-33vs Oregon	2	14	7.0	0	7
Wk 6	W 42-16@ No. 15 Stanford	1	11	11.0	0	11
Wk 8	W 37-32@ Arizona State	3	32	10.7	0	12
Wk 9	W 35-31@ Oregon State	1	4	4.0	0	4
Wk 10	W 69-7vs Arizona	5	51	10.2	0	18	Season-high 51 yds
Wk 11	W 56-21vs California	1	13	13.0	0	13
Wk 12	L 24-38@ No. 12 Colorado	2	10	5.0	1	7
Wk 13	L 17-45vs No. 6 Washington	3	25	8.3	0	13
Bowl	L 12-17vs Minnesota	2	10	5.0	0	7
Total		23	195	8.5	1	18

Signature game

Week 12 · 2016

L 24-38

at Colorado

2 rec · 10 yds · 1 TD

With L. Falk — 325 yds · 3 TD · 1 INT · QBR 53.2 · K. Sweet — 5 rec · 54 yds

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 10 · Arizona · 2nd and 13 · Q1 · EPA +2.23Luke Falk pass complete to John Thompson for 14 yds to the WshSt 41 for a
Week 12 · Colorado · 1st and 7 · Q3 · EPA +2.20Luke Falk pass complete to John Thompson for 7 yds for a TD, (Erik Powell KICK)
Week 11 · California · 3rd and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.17Tyler Hilinski pass complete to John Thompson for 13 yds to the WshSt 38 for a
Week 10 · Arizona · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.12Tyler Hilinski pass complete to John Thompson for 9 yds to the WshSt 32 for a ARIZONA Penalty, personal foul (Larry Tharpe Jr.) to the WshSt 47 for a
Week 13 · Washington · 3rd and 10 · Q3 · EPA +1.62Luke Falk pass complete to John Thompson for 13 yds to the WshSt 31 for a
Week 6 · Stanford · 2nd and 7 · Q3 · EPA +1.59Luke Falk pass complete to John Thompson for 11 yds to the WshSt 41 for a

4 more plays

Week 10 · Arizona · 3rd and 6 · Q2 · EPA +1.42Luke Falk pass complete to John Thompson for 18 yds to the WshSt 29 for a
Week 8 · Arizona State · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +1.15Luke Falk pass complete to John Thompson for 12 yds to the WshSt 47 for a
Week 8 · Arizona State · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +0.93Luke Falk pass complete to John Thompson for 9 yds to the ArzSt 35
Week 2 · Boise State · 1st and 10 · Q1 · EPA +0.66Luke Falk pass complete to John Thompson for 7 yds to the BoiSt 48

Teams and coaches

3 seasons under Mike Leach, all pass-heavy, fast tempo offenses — 20-18 over that span.

2014Washington State3-9HC: Mike Leach · Pass-heavy, fast tempo

2015Washington State9-4HC: Mike Leach · Pass-heavy, fast tempo

2016Washington State8-5HC: Mike Leach · Pass-heavy, fast tempo

Our ratings

Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2016 season

11 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: fumbles lost (82nd percentile). Concern: explosive rate (1st percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Catch rate#247 / 674 · 63rd pct

70.6%

EPA / target#435 / 674 · 36th pct

0.39

TD rate#458 / 674 · 32nd pct

2.9%

Yards / catch#613 / 674 · 9th pct

8.3

Explosive rate#655 / 674 · 1st pct

0.0%

Box-score rates (6)

Fumbles lost#1 / 216 · 82nd pct

Receptions#352 / 524 · 31st pct

Rec TDs#356 / 524 · 22nd pct

Rec yards#444 / 524 · 15th pct

195

Yards / catch#497 / 524 · 5th pct

8.5

Long catch#510 / 524 · 2nd pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

56th → 36th percentile

Explosive rate

32nd → 1st percentile

Catch rate

56th → 63rd percentile

TD rate

31st → 32nd percentile

Yards / catch

32nd → 9th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2016. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2016 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home5g	2.6	24.2	9.5	0.0
Road5g	1.6	12.8	7.5	0.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-75g	1.6	12.0	7.8	0.0
Weeks 8+6g	2.5	22.5	8.5	0.2

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2016 season

Head Coach

Mike Leach

Pass share

65.1%

663 pass / 356 run

Plays / game

78.4

13 games

Team sack rate

4.3%

719 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Pass-heavy, fast tempo.

Awards

Player standing · 2016

23 catches in 11 games

Fewer catches a game than most FBS receivers who play every week.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

John Thompson

Similar players

Style of play

Fans

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

23 catches in 11 games

Four seasons at Washington State

2013