HUNTINGTON - Once and for all, DeMetrius Thompson has shed the title of "the walk-on defensive end who could."

Marshall entered its 11-on-11 phase of practice Monday morning, and the Capital High graduate was taking snaps with the second unit, as usual. As Press Taylor dropped back to pass, Thompson fought with an offensive lineman, partially collapsing the pocket. As Taylor fired, Thompson instinctively jumped straight up.

The leap was perfect. Taylor's pass hit Thompson right in those extended arms, but did not ricochet. Instead, Thompson collected the pigskin and dashed the 20 yards or thereabouts to the end zone.

Coach Mark Snyder immediately ordered the airhorn blown, stopped practice and gathered the team together. Was a head coach's chew-out session coming?

"I didn't know what was going on," said defensive end John Jacobs. "I thought he was calling us together to tell us to pick it up, or something like that. I was like, 'Oh, man, here we go again.'"

As it turns out, it was nothing of the sort. Snyder brought the troops together to praise Thompson for his years of struggle against long, long odds.

And then Snyder put the program's money where his mouth was - he announced that Thompson had secured a scholarship, right then and there.

Obviously, the coaching staff was considering the move for some time. Thompson, a junior, had long held that as a goal.

Still, the news came like a thunderclap and was greeted by a rousing chorus of applause by the players. For his part, Thompson was caught off guard, much like getting hit with a blind-side block.

"I was definitely surprised," he said. "I didn't think he would announce it in the middle of practice. Last year, he did it at the end of practice, at the end of camp. At first, I was in shock."

Thompson has a long history of making big plays in practice, but he didn't come to Marshall with the "measurables" coaches seek and recruiting junkies love to rattle off. Even now, as a junior, he is listed at 6-foot-2, 224 pounds, not exactly a behemoth among major-college defensive ends.

"DeMetrius, he had a nice frame, but he was really light," said Jack Woolwine, his coach at Capital. "He was athletic and could run and do some things. He wasn't a real big kid. He was rangy, but wasn't heavy."

But Thompson, much like Capital teammate and senior defensive tackle James Burkes, has shown great heart, along with commitment to the Thundering Herd program. It's what a walk-on needs to become, well, a former walk-on.

"It's a similar story to what happened with James Burkes," said defensive end John Jacobs. "He's always there, always did everything right, always went to class, always worked hard, and when given an opportunity, they always knew what to do.

"That's the biggest thing you can say about [Thompson] - he's sitting in meetings, always asking questions. He's not sitting there thinking, 'I'm not one of the guys who's not going to play, I'm a walk-on, I'm never going to get a chance, I don't really need to know this.' He's never had that attitude ever. He's always asking questions, always wanting to know what to do, and he's always doing everything right, so it's well-deserved."

Thompson was a first-team all-state selection in 2006, then decided to walk on at Marshall. In his first year with the Herd, he got to witness the quick rise of Burkes, his long-time teammate and old friend from Charleston's East End, from sub-obscurity to the starting lineup. Along the way, Burkes earned a scholarship and ditched his walk-on status.

"It was an exciting moment for him, I know, and I was proud for him," Thompson said. "I was talking to him every now and then and he was telling me, 'Yeah it's hard.' He's been on offense and defense side of the ball, and he's had his trials and tribulations, but he made it through."

That was a lesson in perseverance that rubbed off on Thompson. As a freshman, he played in a sub-varsity game against Harmony Prep of Cincinnati, recording nine tackles with two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

He saw a limited amount of varsity action in 2008, and started making more big plays in practice. A sack here, a batted pass there and after a few more of those, it was getting tougher to ignore No. 77. That has continued into this camp, where he has been working Monday on the second unit opposite John Youboty - and in perhaps a telling development, Michael Janac took all his snaps inside at tackle.

Thompson's interception was his second this camp, but those weren't his first in a Herd practice.

"I had one my freshman year, where I knocked it down and it fell between me and my offensive tackle," he recalled. "He didn't think I had the ball, so I paused for a second, so I ran. That was my first big play at Marshall University."

As not to rest on his newfound laurels Monday, he "sacked" Brian Anderson in the afternoon practice, which was conducted in shoulder pads and shorts. Whether in "shells" or pads, he seems to find the ball.

"He's always had a knack for it," Jacobs said. "But this camp, he's caught two or three tipped passes and taken them to the house, and he's always around the ball and making plays. A lot of that is effort - when you're flying to the ball, you're always going to be around the ball."

At lunch Monday, Thompson was prepared for "hours" of excited conversation with his mother, who is suddenly off the hook for several thousand dollars in MU tuition, room and board. The pride was already flowing from his hometown connections.

"I'm very excited for him. I know how hard it was for him to make it," Burkes said. "Everybody on defense was excited for him, especially the way he got it today, I was very excited. He's going to be a playmaker; he works hard, hustles and he's in the right places all the time."

Back at Capital, Woolwine now has two former players who have fought their way from walk-on status to becoming scholarship players. Thompson was quick to credit Woolwine, Cougars offensive line coach Bob Cummings and defensive line coach Mark Mason, himself an undersized (but overly nasty) Marshall D-end in the Herd's Division I-AA era.

Needless to say, Woolwine enjoyed hearing the latest news.

"Says something about their character. They were quality young men," Woolwine said of Thompson and Burkes. "They were quality men in our program. Good students and well as good players. Both of them could have gone Division II and got scholarships, but sometimes you go to school where you want to go and see if it works out.

"I felt like both of them could be success at that level, with some work."

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.