3 MRH Athletes to Continue Football Careers into College

Antar Thompson committed to Missouri, though he was absent from the signing ceremony.

3 MRH Athletes to Continue Football Careers into College

Antar Thompson committed to Missouri, though he was absent from the signing ceremony.

Three Maplewood Richmond Heights athletes signed letters of intent to continue their football careers into college Wednesday afternoon. Lineman Antar Thompson committed to Missouri, quarterback Kahlid Hagens to University of Tennessee at Martin, and middle linebacker Wes Williams to Northwest Missouri State. See more photos of the signing at Maplewood-Brentwood Patch Facebook. Thompson was the highest-profile player of the three to commit, though he wasn’t at the signing ceremony at MRH High School. The Columbia Tribune, in an article on Thompson's signing, said MRH Head Coach Rich Nixon challenged Thompson "to play harder and better and he did both." Hagens is going to UT Martin as a quarterback, the position he started at beginning his …

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Future Mizzou Teammates: Antar Thompson and Eric Beisel

Thompson and Beisel may have never met, but next year the two St. Louis area athletes will play Missouri football together.

Some local high school football talents who have committed to Mizzou football were written up in Rant Sports recently. Two from opposite ends of the St. Louis area who will be Tigers teammates in 2013 are defensive lineman Antar Thompson, from Class 2 Maplewood Richmond Heights and linebacker Eric Beisel, coming from Class 4 Rockwood Summit, in Fenton. Thompson has focused on football, while Beisel is known for his baseball heroics as well. Read more in Patch about these two athetes who will be teammates next year. Antar Thompson Eric Beisel

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Is This the Year for Maplewood Richmond Heights Football?

A Missouri prep sports website says it's looking good for the Blue Devils.

Maplewood Richmond Heights football's new head coach, Rich Nixon brings a 43-9 record at Hazelwood Central to the Blue Devils, as reported in MoSports.com. MRH had a 11-3 record last year, making it well into playoffs. An article in MoSports.com notes returning senior quarterback Kahlid Hagens, sophomore running back Elijah Keely, backfield senior P.J. Grady-Liska, backfield senior P.J. Grady-Liska, senior defensive lineman Antar Thompson and senior linebacker Wes Williams are players to watch. Read the rest of the article on the Blue Devils on MoSports.com. Read more about MRH football in Patch:

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Antar Thompson Just What Mizzou Needs for D-Line, Columbia Tribune Writer Says

Dave Matter calls Thompson a "ready-made" defensive tackle. Photos of Thompson in action.

Maplewood Richmond Heights junior lineman, Antar Thompson, created quite a buzz on Saturday when he verbally committed to Missouri. Columbia Daily Tribune sports writer Dave Matter says Thompson could be what the Tigers need in the front four. In the article, MRH coach Brandon Gregory said he recently found out that Missouri had always been Thompson's dream school. “A lot of schools come in here and want to talk to him, but when I introduced him to Coach Ford, he automatically started smiling. I told Coach Ford, ‘I don’t know what you just said to him but he don’t usually smile like that. He’s usually laid back and quiet.’ Come to find out, Mizzou has been his dream school and he’s always wanted to go there. But he’s so quiet and laid back…

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Antar Thompson Chooses Missouri Football

The junior had wide interest, but chose the one closest to home.

Maplewood Richmond Heights lineman Antar Thompson, after receiving envelopes from the likes of Notre Dame and Kansas State, made a verbal commitment to play for the Missouri. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported the commitment Saturday night. Thompson was voted the MVP at a Mizzou football camp he attended last summer, and has visited since then. He was quoted in the Post Dispatch article, “It felt right,” Thompson said of his visits to Mizzou. “I see the team they are building. They have a lot of nice players on that team. There are a lot of players they have coming in that I know from St. Louis.” Thompson was also named to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's All-Metro team after the 2011 season. Read past Patch articles about Antar Thompson:

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MRH Lineman Has Offers from Big-Time Schools

Antar Thompson has offers and interest from the likes of Mizzou, K-State, Notre Dame and Alabama.

Antar Thompson, the Maplewood Richmond Heights lineman who caused some serious damage to area offenses last football season, is now grabbing more than opposing quarterbacks. During the season, he had interest from Division 1 schools, now he has offers. Mizzou and Kansas State have made offers to the 6-foot-3 (almost 300-pound?) MRH junior, and according to MRH head coach Brandon Gregory, Louisiana State University, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Purdue have shown interest. Thompson had seven sacks and 74 total tackles for a total of 77 lost yards to opposing teams in 2011. He made the St. Louis Post Dispatch All-Metro team too. Gregory said he sends highlight films to coaches, but coaches at big-time schools get films “every day, all …

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MRH's Antar Thompson Named to Post-Dispatch's All-Metro Team

The newspaper also named Kabron Thomas to the third team in its All-Metro defensive football list.

Maplewood Richmond Heights defensive lineman Antar Thompson was the only athlete from Maplewood or Brentwood named to a first team in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's All-Metro team for the fall. Thompson was named to the newspaper's All-Metro football first team for defense. The newspaper put defensive back Kabron Thomas, a junior at MRH, on its All-Metro football defensive third team. The list of All-Metro players was released in a special section of the newspaper on Friday. The Post-Dispatch selected an All-Metro defensive team and offensive team and made Thompson one of its choices for first-team defense, noting that "Thompson anchored the Blue Devils' offensive and defensive lines as MRH went 11-3 and advanced to the Missouri Class 2 …

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Conditioning Was Key for MRH Football's Win

The Blue Devils proved they could last a whole game on defense, shutting down the Rebels in the second half.

At 2-2, and in front of hundreds of Maplewood Richmond Heights alumni at the game for homecoming, the Blue Devils were looking for a win any way they could. They found it against Park Hills Central, winning 31-6, scoring with passing, rushing and a 39-yard field goal. The win puts MRH at 3-2 and leaves the Park Hills Central Rebels at the opposite: 2-3. “Defense finished,” MRH coach Brandon Gregory said. He was referring to last week’s game against Ste. Genevieve when MRH was up 19-0 at the half but lost 25-26. (A photo gallery from the game is available on our Blue Devils Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MRHBlueDevils) The Devils worked extra hard on conditioning during the week and it paid off. “Nobody cramped up,” he said. “When you’re …

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MRH Lineman Thompson Gains Big-Time Attention

The Maplewood Richmond Heights junior drew attention at a camp at Mizzou this past summer.

Maplewood Richmond Heights coach Brandon Gregory said his junior lineman Antar Thompson is a baby. If that’s so, at 6-foot-3 and 295, he’s a baby who knows how to block pretty well. At a weeklong camp at the University of Missouri this past summer, Thompson was voted the MVP for the whole camp. He came out of that summer with serious interest from Mizzou and Kansas State. Just recently, Gregory received an envelope from Notre Dame for Thompson. “I told him that’s kind of big-time,” Gregory said. “I know K-State and Mizzou are very interested. It’s only mail, but when I got that Notre Dame envelope for him, it was pretty impressive.” Thompson is keeping his priorities straight. He knows how important grades are. “I’ve got a lot of schools …

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