Perry Thompson still feels strongly about Tide, but ‘Auburn is definitely there’

Foley wide receiver and longtime Alabama commit Perry Thompson told AL.com on Thursday that his final recruiting decision is still up in the air between the Tide and rival Auburn. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Thompson is planning to attend Auburn’s Big Cat Weekend later this month. “Me and my uncle like the atmosphere up there,” Thompson said following Foley’s win in the Jubilee 7-on-7 tournament in Daphne on Thursday. “I just wanted to get up there one more time before the end of July.” Thompson, the No. 3 senior recruit in the state according to On3, has been committed to Alabama since last June, but he said the situation at Auburn changed when the Tigers hired new coach Hugh Freeze. “I didn’t even hear from them before coach Freeze came in, but (wide receivers) coach (Marcus) Davis offered me when he was at Georgia Southern, so we had a relationship there,” Thompson said. “I went up there (when Davis was hired at Auburn) and met all the other coaches, and it felt like a family environment.” Thompson said Thursday point blank: “I feel strongly about Alabama, but Auburn is definitely there.” He said any final decision on college would come down to relationships. “If I feel like they are better at Alabama, I’ll go to Bama,” he said. “If I feel like they are better at Auburn, I’ll go to Auburn.” A Class 7A first-team wide receiver as a junior, Thompson caught 87 passes for 1,059 yards and 9 touchdowns for the Lions. He also had a pair of interceptions on defense. He played defense all day on Thursday without seeing time on offense. “It’s all about development and growing our team,” Foley coach Deric Scott said. “We are trying to put the best team we can on the field and that allows us to do that.” Thompson said he plans to play wide receiver in college, but is trying to get reps on defense while he can. “Obviously, we will face some talented receivers during the season that we need to stop, so it’s good for me to get out here and get experience on that side of the ball,” he said. Scott said Thompson is handling the recruiting attention as most student-athletes do. “Some days they are in love with it. Some days I think they hate it,” he said. “He is probably somewhere in the middle. I do think he is pretty tired right now of people asking him what he is going to do and where he is going to go. I think he’s pretty solid on what he is going to do, so we will see.” Thompson and Foley defeated Vigor 19-18 in the championship game Thursday. Thompson had an interception in the final. The Wolves went for 2 and the win after their final score but came up short. “At the end of the day, it was coming down to one play anyway,” Vigor coach Markus Cook said. “We had our play. I was confident with it. It was open. It just didn’t turn out how we wanted it to.”