From Scout Team to Pro Day
Mar 10, 2022 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
There's a story that Skylar Thompson likes to tell, so let him tell it. It's a tale of two hopeful up-and-comers pouring it on the older guys, the starters, taking no prisoners, status be damned, blowing up the game plans and frustrating coaches out on the Kansas State practice field.
Simply put, Thompson and wide receiver Dalton Schoen made K-State's starting defense, which included the likes of D.J. Reed, Duke Shelley, Jordan Willis and Elijah Lee, look, well, bad.
Thompson completed dimes to Schoen. Nobody could stop them.
Here's a small detail: Thompson and Schoen were on the scout-team offense.
"So, for him to come back and for us to this again," Thompson says, "it's very fitting."
Thompson and Schoen are together again at K-State's NFL Pro Day on Wednesday in Manhattan. For about 30 minutes, one of the best quarterbacks in school history will throw a variety of passes to one of the best former walk-on wide receivers in school history in the K-State Indoor Practice Facility.
CBS Sports listed Thompson as the "sleeper" at the quarterback position at the NFL Draft Combine last week in Indianapolis. Schoen has bounced from the Los Angeles Chargers to the Kansas City Chiefs to the Washington Football Team during his two years away from K-State.
It remains unclear how many of the 18 NFL scouts in attendance at K-State's Pro Day might pass a note to a director of scouting or slip a tip to a general manager, but Thompson and Schoen combine to put on a show.
"Our careers matched up so perfectly together," Schoen says. "Skylar was a year behind me. We played scout team together, we started playing at the same time together, and had a lot of cool stuff happen in our careers together. It's fitting for me that I got to do that with him today."
Back in the day, the 6-foot-1, 209-pound Schoen, a former walk-on from Blue Valley Northwest High School, recorded 92 catches for 1,569 yards and nine touchdowns over the final three years of his college career, averaging 17.1 yards per reception, and snagging touchdowns of 82, 70, 68, 42, 38 and 23 yards.
On Wednesday, Schoen believes that he tested at around a 4.4 40 — consistent with when he clocked between a 4.44 and 4.48 at Pro Day two years ago. He certainly moves while hauling in a variety of passes from Thompson, including handfuls of deep patterns.
"We had a few sets in there," Schoen says. "I loved our fourth set, which is super fun. I ran a deep over and ran a K route and then a firecracker and all those routes played off each other and they were all deep balls. We connected on all of them. That was fun to really get it going. The deeper ones got the energy up, too. That was a lot of fun."
Two years ago, Schoen's hopes of reaching his NFL Draft dreams were virtually dashed due to COVID-19. Although he landed with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent, organized team activities were cancelled. That left Schoen literally trying to learn the offense while sitting in his parents' living room until training camp. With no preseason games or scrimmages, it was near impossible to rise above the proven pass catchers on the roster. The Chargers cut Schoen on the final day of training camp.
Just as Schoen's childhood dream was to play college at K-State, his other childhood dream was to one day play for the Kansas City Chiefs — a dream that was realized when he was with the Chiefs all the way through training camp last season, then resigned with the Chiefs as a member of their practice squad for Week 15. In between, he enjoyed a stint on the Washington Football Team's practice squad.
"That was pretty awesome with the Chiefs because growing up a huge Chiefs fan, we saw the rough days, the good days, then the glory days," Schoen says. "We finally got Coach (Andy) Reid and it was pretty cool to be in that locker room and to be in a meeting room with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, and it was fun to be back in the meeting room with Byron Pringle, one of my guys, after we played at K-State together. Getting to play in Kansas City together was fun."
Schoen just awaits another opportunity with an NFL team.
"I feel confident I can (make an active roster)," he says. "I've been in three NFL locker rooms now. I've seen the guys. I know there's the top-level elite players and after that, I'm just as good as those guys, if not better. I just need to fall into the right opportunity. It's kind of similar to my career here. I came here as a walk-on, didn't get a shot for two years and was on the scout team, and then finally got an opportunity to capitalize and all the sudden I was a starter for three years."
He has an avid supporter in Thompson, who says it is "not a surprise" that Schoen continues to pursue a home on an NFL roster.
"The fact that he's bounced around from a couple teams and is still scratching and clawing for an opportunity, he's a guy you want in your program," Thompson says. "He's going to make everyone better and do all the right things. He showcased what he can do today. That guy can run and he's in great shape and that's very challenging to do when you're not on a team and on your own. That says a lot about Dalton for sure."
Thompson was the first K-State quarterback invited to the NFL Combine since current offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Collin Klein in 2013. Thompson had formal interviews with the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions on his trip. He says there are between five and seven teams that have perhaps shown more interest than some other teams.
Thompson, a native of Independence, Missouri, finished his career as the only player in K-State history with 6,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a career and ranks in the top 10 in 15 career statistical categories. His 24 career wins and 40 starts were most by a K-State quarterback since at least 1990.
"I showcased what I needed to do today," Thompson says following K-State's Pro Day. "The ball felt really good coming off my hands. I threw three incompletions out of 53 throws and that was my goal. I just threw completions and put it where it needed to be, hit the guy in stride with good timing and anticipation and all of that. I had confidence. I feel good about it."
Thompson began designing his script for Pro Day three weeks prior to the NFL Draft Combine. Whereas most quarterback draft prospects are only likely now putting together their plan for their own Pro Day later in March or in April, Thompson admirably crammed NFL Combine and Pro Day work all together and it appears to turn out wonderfully. He appears loose inside the indoor practice facility where he connected with Schoen so many times before.
"We've been working on it for a while to go through the things that I really wanted to showcase and things that might not have been on tape as much and to showcase what I can do — getting out of the pocket, making throws on the run, making deep throws, and challenging throws I can make. I just tried to show that today," Thompson says. "It felt like good ol' scout-team days. In all honesty, it was awesome being able to get Dalton back here."
For about half an hour, they were reunited like old buddies, just playing the game they love. Once college football up-and-comers determined to fluster starting defenses and open eyes, Thompson and Schoen bring out the best in each other again on Wednesday.
Schoen has high hopes for his old friend.
"I thought Skylar looked awesome today," Schoen says. "The script he had was great moving right to left and showing all these different throws. He had movement, the rush coming, and doing all this stuff. He showed he can make every throw on the field. His short throws looked great, his overs looked good, his balls to the tight end, and his deep balls he was dropping in a bucket. He looked really good out there today.
"The kid can just play and he's a winner. He showed he can make every throw out there on the field."
After it is all over, they hug.
Instead of these former scout-team players rising up and being introduced as starters at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the duo now separates, eager to perhaps one day share the same sideline or field inside an NFL stadium. Thompson and Schoen now await phone calls from potential teams, and Wednesday's performance should help.
They're eager to show what they can do in an NFL uniform.
There's a story that Skylar Thompson likes to tell, so let him tell it. It's a tale of two hopeful up-and-comers pouring it on the older guys, the starters, taking no prisoners, status be damned, blowing up the game plans and frustrating coaches out on the Kansas State practice field.
Simply put, Thompson and wide receiver Dalton Schoen made K-State's starting defense, which included the likes of D.J. Reed, Duke Shelley, Jordan Willis and Elijah Lee, look, well, bad.
Thompson completed dimes to Schoen. Nobody could stop them.
Here's a small detail: Thompson and Schoen were on the scout-team offense.
"So, for him to come back and for us to this again," Thompson says, "it's very fitting."
Thompson and Schoen are together again at K-State's NFL Pro Day on Wednesday in Manhattan. For about 30 minutes, one of the best quarterbacks in school history will throw a variety of passes to one of the best former walk-on wide receivers in school history in the K-State Indoor Practice Facility.
CBS Sports listed Thompson as the "sleeper" at the quarterback position at the NFL Draft Combine last week in Indianapolis. Schoen has bounced from the Los Angeles Chargers to the Kansas City Chiefs to the Washington Football Team during his two years away from K-State.
It remains unclear how many of the 18 NFL scouts in attendance at K-State's Pro Day might pass a note to a director of scouting or slip a tip to a general manager, but Thompson and Schoen combine to put on a show.
"Our careers matched up so perfectly together," Schoen says. "Skylar was a year behind me. We played scout team together, we started playing at the same time together, and had a lot of cool stuff happen in our careers together. It's fitting for me that I got to do that with him today."
Back in the day, the 6-foot-1, 209-pound Schoen, a former walk-on from Blue Valley Northwest High School, recorded 92 catches for 1,569 yards and nine touchdowns over the final three years of his college career, averaging 17.1 yards per reception, and snagging touchdowns of 82, 70, 68, 42, 38 and 23 yards.
On Wednesday, Schoen believes that he tested at around a 4.4 40 — consistent with when he clocked between a 4.44 and 4.48 at Pro Day two years ago. He certainly moves while hauling in a variety of passes from Thompson, including handfuls of deep patterns.
"We had a few sets in there," Schoen says. "I loved our fourth set, which is super fun. I ran a deep over and ran a K route and then a firecracker and all those routes played off each other and they were all deep balls. We connected on all of them. That was fun to really get it going. The deeper ones got the energy up, too. That was a lot of fun."
Two years ago, Schoen's hopes of reaching his NFL Draft dreams were virtually dashed due to COVID-19. Although he landed with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent, organized team activities were cancelled. That left Schoen literally trying to learn the offense while sitting in his parents' living room until training camp. With no preseason games or scrimmages, it was near impossible to rise above the proven pass catchers on the roster. The Chargers cut Schoen on the final day of training camp.
Just as Schoen's childhood dream was to play college at K-State, his other childhood dream was to one day play for the Kansas City Chiefs — a dream that was realized when he was with the Chiefs all the way through training camp last season, then resigned with the Chiefs as a member of their practice squad for Week 15. In between, he enjoyed a stint on the Washington Football Team's practice squad.
"That was pretty awesome with the Chiefs because growing up a huge Chiefs fan, we saw the rough days, the good days, then the glory days," Schoen says. "We finally got Coach (Andy) Reid and it was pretty cool to be in that locker room and to be in a meeting room with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, and it was fun to be back in the meeting room with Byron Pringle, one of my guys, after we played at K-State together. Getting to play in Kansas City together was fun."
Schoen just awaits another opportunity with an NFL team.
"I feel confident I can (make an active roster)," he says. "I've been in three NFL locker rooms now. I've seen the guys. I know there's the top-level elite players and after that, I'm just as good as those guys, if not better. I just need to fall into the right opportunity. It's kind of similar to my career here. I came here as a walk-on, didn't get a shot for two years and was on the scout team, and then finally got an opportunity to capitalize and all the sudden I was a starter for three years."
He has an avid supporter in Thompson, who says it is "not a surprise" that Schoen continues to pursue a home on an NFL roster.
"The fact that he's bounced around from a couple teams and is still scratching and clawing for an opportunity, he's a guy you want in your program," Thompson says. "He's going to make everyone better and do all the right things. He showcased what he can do today. That guy can run and he's in great shape and that's very challenging to do when you're not on a team and on your own. That says a lot about Dalton for sure."
Thompson was the first K-State quarterback invited to the NFL Combine since current offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Collin Klein in 2013. Thompson had formal interviews with the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions on his trip. He says there are between five and seven teams that have perhaps shown more interest than some other teams.
Thompson, a native of Independence, Missouri, finished his career as the only player in K-State history with 6,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a career and ranks in the top 10 in 15 career statistical categories. His 24 career wins and 40 starts were most by a K-State quarterback since at least 1990.
"I showcased what I needed to do today," Thompson says following K-State's Pro Day. "The ball felt really good coming off my hands. I threw three incompletions out of 53 throws and that was my goal. I just threw completions and put it where it needed to be, hit the guy in stride with good timing and anticipation and all of that. I had confidence. I feel good about it."
Thompson began designing his script for Pro Day three weeks prior to the NFL Draft Combine. Whereas most quarterback draft prospects are only likely now putting together their plan for their own Pro Day later in March or in April, Thompson admirably crammed NFL Combine and Pro Day work all together and it appears to turn out wonderfully. He appears loose inside the indoor practice facility where he connected with Schoen so many times before.
2022 Pro Day ✔️#KStateFB pic.twitter.com/ooAy6kmWWb
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) March 9, 2022
"We've been working on it for a while to go through the things that I really wanted to showcase and things that might not have been on tape as much and to showcase what I can do — getting out of the pocket, making throws on the run, making deep throws, and challenging throws I can make. I just tried to show that today," Thompson says. "It felt like good ol' scout-team days. In all honesty, it was awesome being able to get Dalton back here."
For about half an hour, they were reunited like old buddies, just playing the game they love. Once college football up-and-comers determined to fluster starting defenses and open eyes, Thompson and Schoen bring out the best in each other again on Wednesday.
Schoen has high hopes for his old friend.
"I thought Skylar looked awesome today," Schoen says. "The script he had was great moving right to left and showing all these different throws. He had movement, the rush coming, and doing all this stuff. He showed he can make every throw on the field. His short throws looked great, his overs looked good, his balls to the tight end, and his deep balls he was dropping in a bucket. He looked really good out there today.
"The kid can just play and he's a winner. He showed he can make every throw out there on the field."
After it is all over, they hug.
Instead of these former scout-team players rising up and being introduced as starters at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the duo now separates, eager to perhaps one day share the same sideline or field inside an NFL stadium. Thompson and Schoen now await phone calls from potential teams, and Wednesday's performance should help.
They're eager to show what they can do in an NFL uniform.
Players Mentioned
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