NFL Draft Will Include Charles Thompson

Charles Thompson, a wishbone quarterback at Oklahoma until involvement with cocaine landed him in prison for 17 months, announced Wednesday he was making himself eligible for the NFL draft.

Thompson, who transferred to Central State of Ohio after his jail term, ran for 1,018 yards and five touchdowns and caught 29 passes for 439 yards and seven touchdowns for a team that won the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics Division I championship last season.

Among others declaring on the last day of eligibility were Miami wide receiver-kick returner Kevin Williams, Georgia wide receiver Andre Hastings and Mississippi State wide receiver Olanda Truitt.

Thompson, 24, said he’s not getting any younger. “A lot of guys I played with said they remembered watching me play at Oklahoma in the game we played against Miami for the national championship (in the 1988 Orange Bowl after the 1987 season),” he said.

He said his prison record will “definitely be something they will address, but once they meet me and sit down and get a feel for what type of person I am, and see how I play on the field, it’ll overshadow that.”

Thompson, who started at quarterback as a redshirt freshmen for Oklahoma, was arrested in February of 1989 in Norman, Okla. The FBI videotaped him selling 17 grams of cocaine for $1,400 to an undercover agent.

“That is the past,” he said.

Hastings was the second Georgia player in as many days to declare for the draft. On Tuesday, All-American running back Garrison Hearst made himself available for the draft, to be held April 25-26.

Hastings, at 6 feet 2 and 192 pounds, led the Southeastern Conference in receiving yardage with 860 yards on 52 catches, both school records. He had five touchdowns. In three seasons at Georgia, Hastings caught 124 passes for 1,876 yards and a school-record 13 touchdowns.

Truitt, who caught 49 passes and scored six touchdowns for Pittsburgh in 1990, caught 22 passes in Mississippi State’s run-oriented offense last season. He averaged 17.2 yards per catch.

Marshall Faulk, the leading rusher in major college football the last two seasons, will remain in school for his junior season at San Diego State.