Julius Thomas heads for NFL despite never playing varsity football

Julius Thomas never played one down of varsity football during his high school athletic career at Tokay (Lodi, Calif.).

He never played one down of college football until his fifth year at Portland State University.

However, with one year under his belt and a standout performance in the East-West Shrine football game, he was taken as a tight end in the fourth round of this year's NFL draft by the Denver Broncos.

Thomas, who starred in basketball both in high school and college, incredibly has followed a path taken by his father, Greg Thomas, who played baseball at JFK (Richmond, Calif.). He later made the Contra Costa Community College football team as a receiver and then moved on to the University of the Pacific where his career was cut short as a senior by a serious knee injury.



Thomas, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 256 pounds, runs 40 yards in 4.65 seconds and has a 35½-inch vertical jump. He can bench press 225 pounds 16 times.

"I played football a lot when I was younger," Thomas told MaxPreps. "I played Pop Warner in seventh and eighth grade. Football was a big part of my life. I spent a lot of time watching the game."

He tried out for the freshman football team at Tokay, but never got through preseason practice due to lower back pains. The culprit was a monster growth spurt that saw him shoot up from 5-9 to 6-2 by the start of his sophomore year.

"The doctor told me 'You've got to let your body take its course.' I thought I was going to be starting a long career. By the time I was a senior, I didn't have any issues," he said. "The main reason I didn't continue playing football was that my sophomore year I had a chance to play varsity basketball. I had a terrific year, the team was really good and I was starting to get attention for a college scholarship. I didn't want to take the risk of getting hurt."

Tokay basketball coach Dustin Lanz called Thomas "a major leader. He was the voice of the team. He had a really strong, deep voice and people followed him. He really took care of his body and his strength increased. He could really jump and he had a strong work ethic. In my offense, the ball had to go to him first. We had scorers all around him, but he was the centerpiece."

Thomas was the leading rebounder and No. 2 scorer as a senior, sparking the Tigers to their first Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship. Constantly driving to the basket, he made 11 of 19 free throws while fouling out Modesto's top two centers and drawing four on the No. 3 center.



Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}His success continued at Portland State where he was a key substitute for three years and started at power forward as a senior. While helping his team reach the NCAA tournament for the only two times in its history, he amassed 520 rebounds and 62 blocks in his career. He left with school records for games played (121) and victories (78).

"I couldn't wait to play football again," Thomas said of his fifth year at Portland State. "It was something I had looked forward to (since enrollment). After spring practice, I was convinced that football was what I wanted to do (for the future).

"My passion was revived. It was crazy how long it hadn't changed. I couldn't even go back to sleep. I was so excited about football. I was like a kid in a candy store."

But there was so much to learn.

"The hardest part was the verbiage," he explained. "I had to always remind them to break down the basics. Hip flexibility was different. Blocking, definitely, was very new, too. I struggled at first, but I was confident I would be able to pick it up and be a good blocker. Good hands? That was never an issue for me."

Tight ends coach Steve Cooper told MaxPreps, "At first he was pretty raw. He worked so hard and you could tell he was a pretty good athlete. He was natural catching the ball. Blocking – we worked on that every day. After we finished spring ball, he became a leader. He got better every day. He watched almost as much film as our coaches."



Even though Portland State was a running team, Thomas caught 29 passes for 453 yards and two touchdowns. He was rewarded with a first-team selection in the Big Sky Conference. His five-yard touchdown catch and overall outstanding effort during the East-West Shrine Game proved to professional scouts that he could compete with the top players in his graduating class.

Though the NFL players are locked out during the current labor dispute, Thomas is hopeful of following a similar trail blazed by Antonio Gates, who played basketball at Kent State University before a long, successful career with the San Diego Chargers.

He stressed, "I'm anxious to get going, to learn and figure out what my role will be. This is obviously out of my control. In the meantime I will continue to work hard, keep getting stronger and learn the game. I'll be lifting a lot and trying to keep my cardio up. I've got to be ready the first time I hit the door."

Cooper, who knows him best, says, "The reason that he got drafted so high is that he is so cerebral. He's a great athlete, a great football player and he's only going to overachieve."