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Thompson
Jye Thompson reached a milestone during his high school basketball career this winter. The Yulee High School senior reached the 1,000 career point mark, and he did it in three seasons.
“I had been keeping track,” he said. “The whole goal of this year was to reach 1,000 points. I think I was at like 665, so I knew I could get it by the end of the season.
“I ended up hitting it against Fernandina on senior night.”
Thompson played junior varsity basketball his freshman year at Yulee. He transferred to West Nassau for his sophomore and junior seasons, and returned to Yulee to complete his high school career.
“I didn’t really want to leave Coach (Ran) Coleman, but I knew if I wanted to go to college, I had to play football here to get a scholarship,” Thompson said.
He wanted to play college ball, even if it meant football, a sport he had abandoned in seventh grade.
“I really didn’t want to play. I never really liked it,” Thompson said. “I liked basketball. Once I had the opportunity to play basketball, I just wanted to play basketball. I fell in love with it an early age, like 2 or 3.”
He decided to play football at Yulee, because his stepfather was an assistant coach for the Hornets.
“I figured, if I was going to play football, I might as well play for my stepdad,” Thompson said.
The Hornets went 6-5 and made the playoffs. They lost to Baker County in the region quarterfinal round.
“I just picked up where I left off,” Thompson said. “The only thing I really know how to do is run and catch the ball. When I came here, they really taught me a lot.”
He had 33 receptions for 455 yards and scored seven touchdowns last fall. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound tight end received a partial scholarship to play football at Valdosta State University.
“It was really a smart decision on his part,” said Matt Schreiber, first-year head boys basketball coach at Yulee. “There’s places he would have the ability to play college basketball at, but I think potentially, he would have a greater impact in football.”
Thompson averaged 10 points a game his sophomore season at West Nassau. By his junior year, he was averaging 17.7.
“My sophomore year, I played with Deebo Coleman (a Georgia Tech player now),” said Thompson. “I learned a lot from him, and I applied it to the next season. Coach Coleman really taught me a lot, and we worked out a lot
that year. So, it was a big improvement.”
He averaged 14 points this past season for Yulee.
“I was just trying to play basketball and have fun,” Thompson said.
“It was a tough situation, in that I came in late and he was transferring in,” Schreiber said. “He played football, and the football team made the playoffs. So that extended their season.
“I think he actually only had two practices before we had a game. Everybody got off to a slow start. It was something we battled through. He kind of had varsity experience, enough to understand it’s a long season and you just work toward improving. But, he had been pretty battle-tested before.”
Not only did Thompson score more than 1,000 points for Yulee, he had more than 550 rebounds.
“It’s quite an accomplishment,” Schreiber said. “I’m not sure if anyone from Yulee has done it and very few from Nassau County. It’s about one in every 5-10 years in this county that somebody can do that.
“He’s just a natural athlete. In basketball, he has a scorer’s mentality. He just has the ability to put the ball in the basket.
“I’ve had the good fortune to coach a lot of great players and young men during my time as a basketball coach, and I will certainly remember him as both a great player and a great young man. I know he’ll be successful in college and after that. You don’t get sick of coaching a guy like Jye.”
