SAN ANTONIO -- It's been more than a year since defensive tackle Fred Thompson died, but

. And according to players, that's a good thing.

The No. 15 Beavers arrived in Texas on Sunday evening and were surprised to see a locker made up for the late Thompson, a would-be sophomore who suffered a heart attack last December while playing pickup basketball.

"Once I saw that (locker), I knew this was really a family," said sophomore receiver Brandin Cooks. "I always knew that, but for coaches to set up a locker, that was something special. This whole year, we've been playing with him on our backs."

He's had a long time to get used to it, but Mike Riley says he still can't believe Thompson is gone.

"That (locker) thing was done by players and equipment guys and that's what those guys, and our whole team, that's how everybody in this football family feels about Fred," Riley said. "He's part of this deal. I was telling (director of operations Dan Van De Riet), it is absolutely still surreal to me; to this day I still can't imagine that we lost a player. But the locker, it's one of those constant reminders that Fred has been a part of this group."

Wednesday afternoon, defensive coordinator Mark Banker and a few players took the podium to talk about the Longhorns, but they were still happy to chat about Thompson.

"We bring Fred everywhere we go," said senior cornerback Jordan Poyer. "He's in our hearts, he's in our prayers all the time."

If he were here -- and Thompson would have contended for a starting spot on the Beavers' defensive line this season -- safety Ryan Murphy says Thompson would have loved all the off-field hoopla. His former high school teammate would have insisted on swimming with the dolphins at Sea World, and he definitely would have

.

And he would have relished the chance to play in a big game on a big stage with all of his friends and family back in Oakland watching.

"Me and Fred, that's one thing we always talked about," Murphy said, "we wanted people to look at us, not just because we were playing football but because we were getting an education, showing them there's more to life than the easy way out, which could be drugs, alcohol, crime."

"He'd be amped up for this. As Jordan (Poyer) said, we play with him and we play through him."

-- Lindsay Schnell (I came, I saw,

)