Centre Daily Times · Sep 2, 2017
DeAndre Thompkins makes peers, coaches proud with punt return touchdown
UNIVERSITY PARK
Tim Laspada — DeAndre Thompkins’ high school coach at Swansboro in North Carolina — contemplated making the nine-hour drive to Beaver Stadium for Penn State’s season opener, but decided against it after looking at the weather forecast.
“I wish I would’ve went now,” Laspada said on the phone.
Instead, the Pirates coach watched his former player make history from his couch 500 miles away.
Thompkins electrified Beaver Stadium in Penn State’s 52-0 win on Saturday, returning a punt 61 yards for the Nittany Lions’ first touchdown of the new season. It was Penn State’s first punt return touchdown since Derrick Williams ran one back 63 yards against Wisconsin in 2008.