BOZEMAN, Mont. -- The sight was common in the fall of 2000 on the Montana State practice field. A fast, gangly kid sprinting as fast as possible to keep up with a receiver in the middle of a pass route, would turn, look for the ball, and almost routinely get tangled up with the receiver, or himself, or simply whiff.
Late afternoon would often fade into evening with Thomas chasing balls thrown by secondary coach John Rushing, drills often terminated only by darkness. After one early-season session, first-year coach Mike Kramer watched from the side. "That guy (Thomas) is going to make a lot of money playing football some day," Kramer said.
Potential notwithstanding, the message that fall was clear: Joey Thomas had a long way to go, but he was on the fast track. On Saturday, in his parents' living room in Seattle, with only his folks, his brother, and a couple of family friends as witnesses, Joey will arrive. "This is it," he says, flashing the boyish grin for which he gained fame around Bozeman. "Saturday is the day."
Saturday is the day that much of Thomas' future is decided for him, when he is likely to become one of the first handful of players -- perhaps the first -- from a Division I-AA school selected in the 2004 NFL Draft. "Hard work," Kramer says, when asked how Thomas progressed from being a spindly-legged freshman transfer to a player tabbed by most draft experts as a sure-fire first-day choice. "Dedication. And a lot of natural ability."
Thomas is considered by consensus a low second or high third round pick in Saturday's draft. If that form holds, he will be the second-highest Bobcat ever selected. Bill Kollar, a defensive tackle who is now and NFL assistant, was Cincinnati's first-round pick in 1973. Two Bobcats (Jan Stenerud, Atlanta, 1966, and Jon Borchardt to the Bills in 1979) were picked in the third round. The last Big Sky player chosen as high as the second round was Scott Shields of Weber State in 1999. Since Shawn Collins of Northern Arizona was a first-round pick by Atlanta in 1989, only two Big Sky Conference alums have been picked as high as the second round (Scott Gragg from Montana in 1995 was the other).
Saturday's draft -- which begins at 10 am MST when the San Diego Chargers go on the clock -- is the culmination of a dizzying array of activity for Thomas, which began as soon as MSU was eliminated from the Division I-AA Playoffs by Northern Iowa last November. He played in the Senior Bowl, participated in the NFL combine, spent a couple of separate stints in Tempe, Ariz., at a training center utilized by several aspiring and current NFL players, visited a handful of NFL teams (including Green Bay, Dallas, and Pittsburgh in the last two weeks), written a diary for Sports Illustrated's web site, appeared on ESPN Radio, and continued working out.
The process hasn't been nerve-wracking, Thomas said. "It's been tiring, but a lot of fun. I'm trying to just take it all in. This is something you only get to go through once, and I want to enjoy the experience. But yeah, it can make you a little anxious, wondering what's going to happen when it's all said and done."
Kramer said that that the system Thomas lands in on Saturday doesn't matter as much as the organization. "If Joey Thomas is chosen by a team that works to nurture relationships, that understands the human element, that really invests in people, then his potential is limitless. He can become anything he wants to become. If he goes to an organization that is strictly X's and O's, then it could be misery for all. My feeling is that Joey will land in the right place because the team that drafts him will most likely be a team that has really evaluated him as a person and gotten to know him."
Thomas' career at Montana State was spectacular, sometimes star-crossed, and always interesting. Montana State was 11-8 in the past two seasons with Thomas in the lineup, 3-4 when he missed starts due to knee injuries. When healthy, Thomas made plays that changed games. He locked down receivers, taking away an entire series of options for opposition offenses. He blocked a field goal against the Grizzlies in 2002 that preserved MSU's first win over Montana in 16 years, and led the Big Sky in passes defended as a senior.
After beginning his collegiate career with a short stay at the University of Washington in his hometown of Seattle, Thomas transferred to MSU in August of 2000. He'd participated in spring drills at Washington, but says it was obvious he didn't fit into the Huskies' plans and took only limited repetitions. It was a raw player who was handed a starting job at MSU, essentially upon arrival, by a new coaching staff looking to instill a defensive system predicated on pressuring receivers and quarterbacks with man-to-man defense. "We knew from the beginning that Joey was exactly what we needed," Kramer says.
It may be an exaggeration to say that Thomas' ascent as one of college football's supreme cover corners triggered MSU's rise to regional and national prominence, but Thomas' emergence certainly mirrored that of his program. With fellow seniors Kane Ioane, who played next to Thomas as strong safety for all four years, defensive lineman Adam Cordeiro, offensive tackle Brent Swaggert, and receiver and return specialist extraordinaire Corey Smith, Thomas helped pull the Bobcats from the misery of an 0-11 2000 season to back-to-back Big Sky Championships. All five, Kramer said, are expected to be affiliated with an NFL team by Monday, and some long-time conference observers expect that somewhere from five to eight league players may hear their names called during ESPN's interminable two-day draft coverage.
Although he has been peppered by questions and comments about being a "small-college player" by draft experts and media members for the past couple of weeks, Thomas is staunch in defending his alma mater. "Things worked out great for me, coming to Montana State," he says. "Things happen for a reason. I received great coaching from coach (John) Rushing (now at Utah State) and coach (Frank) Robinson. The Big Sky is a good football conference, and I'm happy and proud that I'm a Bobcat."
MSU article on Joey
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SonomaCat
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Things worked out great for me, coming to Montana State," he says. "Things happen for a reason. I received great coaching from coach (John) Rushing (now at Utah State) and coach (Frank) Robinson. The Big Sky is a good football conference, and I'm happy and proud that I'm a Bobcat."
Very nice words for Big Sky/Bobcat program. Go Joey!
Anyone hoping he lands with a certain team at all? Any guesses on where he'll go? For some reason I'm betting he'll go to these teams in this order:
Green Bay / S.F / Pittsburgh
Very nice words for Big Sky/Bobcat program. Go Joey!
Anyone hoping he lands with a certain team at all? Any guesses on where he'll go? For some reason I'm betting he'll go to these teams in this order:
Green Bay / S.F / Pittsburgh
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wbtfg
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I would like to see Joey go to the Eagles. Not only would he have a pretty good opportunity to win a ring, but he will also have a couple of Pro Bowl verterans to learn from (Troy Vincent and Bobby Talyor...along with pro bowl Safety Brian Dawkins) AND he would be able to go up against Terrell Owens in practice.....
