Brandyn Thompson is a lot of things — smart, articulate, big-hearted and a helluva football player, the kind of guy you want on your team. One thing he’s not is phony.

The defensive back may never play another down for the Ottawa RedBlacks … or for that matter, any other CFL team — and since he’s a free agent, they’re all chasing him.

When you talk to him, when he tells you why he won’t be in Ottawa on Sunday for the start of the RedBlacks mini camp, why he hasn’t signed with any other CFL team, you have to respect him and what he stands for.

“I’ve tried to be as upfront and honest about it as possible,” said Thompson, who at 26 is still very young in football years. “I’m still kind of weighing the options whether I want to play football. I don’t know if I’ll be back. I don’t know if I still want to do it. I have a standard I hold myself to. If I’m not willing to put the necessary time and work into maintaining my standards for myself, I won’t play. If the fire comes back and somebody will have me, I’ll come back.

“Where I stand right now, I’m not sure. And if I’m not sure, I’m not going to do anybody a disservice by coming up there and playing half-hearted. I know better than to tell myself I’m going to write it off. I’m not going to go with the complete no. But if you ask me today, I would say no.”

Right now, he’s got things that are more important on his mind, including the True Grit Sports Academy he runs — an organization his dad Eric founded in 2008 with more than 100 kids going through and getting scholarships. Thompson, a teacher, trainer, mentor and shoulder for the kids to lean on, said: “It’s a good feeling when you help a kid get a free education.

Thompson was a very good DB with the RedBlacks. In 2014, he had 55 tackles and four interceptions; last season, he had 42 tackles and three interceptions.

“My experience in the CFL has been great,” he said. “I would never say anything bad about it, especially Ottawa … it was so perfect. The last time I talked to (the RedBlacks), it’s probably been a month. There’s no bad blood or anything. It’s more of a personal decision.”

A seventh-round draft pick of the Washington Redskins in 2011, Thompson said his decision is, for the most part, not about money.

“I had this game taken away from me at one point when I got cut from the Redskins,” he said.

“I really don’t know how to explain it, other than if I don’t have the fire, I don’t want to go back and not be all the way back. Money is not the biggest piece, but it’s a piece, it’s something you think about. I was a free agent, so teams were offering me high dollar amounts. At the end of the day, my decision isn’t based on money.

“Fortunately for me, I’ve been blessed to grow up around genuine people who do things for the right reason. Don’t get me wrong, I love to have dollars in my pocket — everybody’s got to eat. But at the end of the day, if you’re doing what you want to do and what you’re passionate about, I believe the money will come. It was like that in football.

“My fire and my passion, I was willing to work my ass off for everything I got and the money took care of itself. If I start pursuing football again, as long as I put my all into it with my energy and my passion and effort, the money will take care of itself. If it’s something else, it will be the same.”

If this is it, if he never plays another down, Thompson will push ahead, not look back.

Said Thompson: “I had like a big cousin when I was younger and he would say something that kind of stuck with me. He always said, ‘Regret is a waste of time.’ We get caught in analysing things over and over again because that’s how we’re built. Weigh the pros, weigh the cons, make a decision. For me, most of the time you know exactly what you want to do with that first gut feeling. Trust that gut feeling. Everything will take care of itself.

“I definitely have people come up to me, ‘You have to be smarter, there’s money up there for you.’ But at the end of the day, they’re not up there playing for me, they’re not putting the hours in for me. I have to want to.”

TRYOUTS ON TAP

There are going to be more than 160 dreamers from as far away as Hawaii on Saturday at TD Place when the Ottawa RedBlacks host a tryout camp.

It’ll be the second time there’s been a tryout on home turf — the RedBlacks had one in their first season, in 2014, signing one player, receiver Robin Medeiros who stuck with the Canadian Football League team through that year.

There will be a mixture of players who have already passed their draft eligibility year, nationals (Canadians) who would have to go through the draft in May and Americans who can be signed as free agents.

The RedBlacks will begin testing at 10 a.m.

On Sunday, the RedBlacks will begin a voluntary three-day mini camp with most of the roster players on hand.

Camp times will be 10 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, 1 p.m. on Monday and 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday — all at TD Place.

BIGGER AT THE BACK

The RedBlacks will have some bigger defensive back bodies at the camp.

“I don’t know if it’s a conscious effort to get bigger,” said RedBlacks general manager Marcel Desjardins.

“If it’s a good player who has that size, it’s a benefit. We have four or five new DBs who are right around the 6-foot mark. One of the guys we signed is 5-9, so they’re not all above six feet — but several of them are and they’re still athletic enough to have the ability to run with people.”