The Carolina Panthers’ top pick will have to work his way up from the bottom.Shaq Thompson went through individual drills on Thursday as the last linebacker in line during what was just his second practice with the entire roster. But it’s not like he didn’t have a good excuse for missing the first eight OTA sessions.“I had to put school first,” he said Thursday, two days after finishing his third year in college.And it’s not like Thompson could have done anything different. An NFL rule prohibits rookies from participating in OTAs until their school’s academic calendar is complete. The University of Washington, which is on the quarter system, didn’t wrap up until this week. So Thompson spent the past month in Seattle focusing on three classes before prepping for his new job.“It was difficult because there were times when I wanted to put the playbook first, but I couldn’t. I had to get essays out of the way, study for finals, and put as much studying in the playbook as I could,” Thompson said.As he churned through papers for a couple African American Studies classes and a music class, Thompson’s main teacher back in Charlotte was Panthers linebacker coach Al Holcomb. He’d send what the defense was installing to Thompson’s iPad, and they’d talk it through over the phone.”He’s been studying since he’s been away. The guy is very smart, but it’s going to take some time for him to catch up a little bit,” said assistant head coach Steve Wilks, who filled in for Ron Rivera on Thursday. “Coach Holcomb is working extra with him in the afternoon as well as in the morning, trying to get him up to speed.”“You can see his athleticism out there, the way he’s flying around. He’s going to make a lot of plays for us this year.”While Thompson was last in line during individual drills, he worked with the second team in nine-on-nines and 11-on-11s. Eventually, the Panthers would prefer their first-round pick to play next to Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis. But considering how little Thompson has been on the field, it’s not surprising he’s currently behind third-year veteran A.J. Klein.Thompson tweaked a hamstring on the first day of the Panthers’ two-day minicamp early last month, so the past two days were his first complete pro practices. And it took extra effort just to pull that off.His original schedule would have put him back in Charlotte on Thursday night after OTAs had finished. So Thompson asked his professors if they’d consider moving up his exams. They did, and Tuesday night, he boarded a red-eye from Washington. Then, on basically no sleep, he was back on the field Wednesday morning.“I really wanted to be out here, but at least I got two days in to prepare and get reps,” he said.Two days this week, and three more the next during minicamp. It’s time for Thompson to go to work.