Jonathan Thompson
Is steady in every phase without a signature trait. Four seasons in the Cincinnati linebacker corps to date. One game to point at: 15 tackles against West Virginia — Week 7, 2026.
60 tackles · 2 sacks
Play style
Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
60 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 4.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Cincinnati | 60 | 30 | 4.5 | 2.0 | 1 |
| 2025 | Cincinnati | 67 | 32 | 8.5 | 1.0 | -- |
| 2024 | Cincinnati | 49 | 22 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 3 |
| 2023 | Cincinnati | 31 | 20 | 4.0 | 0.0 | -- |
| Career | 207 | 104 | 22.0 | 5.0 | 4 |
Last game (Wk 9): 3 tackles, 1 pass breakup.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 8 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 34-15vs Boston College | 8 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 62-10vs Western Carolina | 6 | 5 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 35-31vs Miami (OH) | 6 | 4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 31-26vs Kansas State | 8 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 7-34@ Arizona | 8 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 42-45@ West Virginia | 15 | 8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 15 tackles |
| Wk 8 | W 37-24vs No. 8 Texas Tech | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 25-49vs No. 6 Utah | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 60 | 30 | 4.5 | 2.0 | — | 1 |
Oct. 31 · L 25-49 vs Utah, play by play
3 tackles, including 1 pass broken up.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
His game this year: disruption in the backfield — 4 tackles for loss, 2 of them sacks, in the 8 games with play by play.
How Cincinnati’s defense played that day
Utah’s 11 drives: 6 stopped (2 takeaways) · 5 scored.
6 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
A big game: 15 tackles. He hurried the quarterback once.
8 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
8 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play: 7 of his 8, sacks included.
6 tackles, including 1 more for loss, 1 sack.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play: 5 of his 6, sacks included.
6 tackles, including 1 more for loss.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
8 tackles, including 1 sack. He hurried the quarterback once.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
Ratings of the games shown run from -4 to +18 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
60tackles this seasonTFL rate
8%4 TFLSack rate
3%2 sacksPD rate
2%1 pass breakups60 tackles · 4.5 for loss · 2 sacks.
4 seasons under Scott Satterfield — 20-25 over that span.
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 8 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 6.2 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Road2g | 11.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 8.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+2g | 4.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Scott Satterfield
Pass share
42.4%
221 pass / 300 run
Plays / game
65.1
8 games
Team sack rate
6.5%
247 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2026
60 tackles in 8 games, more tackles a game than most FBS linebackers who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #115 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Big 12
Based on 2025: #40 of 73 Big 12 LBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
The No. 1,185 recruit in the country is starting at linebacker in the Big 12.
2026 is in progress.
A stat line in 37 games over four seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2022–2026
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Luke Fickell → Scott Satterfield. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
