ESPN says defensive lineman who transferred to Alabama football is worth $1 million

ESPN’s Max Olson reported teams were well aware Devan Thompkins, who transferred from USC to Alabama, was worth $1 million or more when he entered the portal.

Thompkins finished his time as a Trojan with 56 total tackles, nine tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in three years of meaningful action. According to Olson, top defensive tackles were at a premium in the portal.

Alabama’s defensive coordinator Kane Wommack recently spoke highly of Thompkins.

“Devan is just a special skill set just to be that big and athletic, and he can move and do some things both from the Bandit position and from the 3-technique position,” Wommack said. “It allows me as a play caller… There’s a lot of different things that we can do with him, but just his physicality, you know, his ability to take on blocks, disengage, when a lot of times offenses are trying to figure out how they can attack that C-gap area, right? So, they’re to create a C-gap area rider or a split zone concept or insert somebody back inside, and so, if you can constrict that area, it makes it more difficult to run the ball or for the ball to be able to wind back.”