Something Has Clicked for Wyoming Safety Jones Thomas

LARAMIE -- Elite sprinters can reach 22 miles per hour in short spurts.

So can a select few professional athletes, with the right training. The scooters that litter city streets, most of those are capped at that number. The world's top cyclists cruise in that neighborhood, too.

So does Jones Thomas.

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Wyoming's sophomore safety has always possessed that break-neck speed, but now, if you ask his coaches and teammates, he's finally becoming a well-rounded football player.

The eye-opening moment for Jay Sawvel came during the second week of fall camp when the Fort Collins product collided with 6-foot-2, 230-pound running back Sam Scott.

"Sam had about a 12-yard run that he bounced outside on," Wyoming's second-year head coach said. "There wasn't any slowing up. I mean, he blew it up on the sideline. When a guy can go that fast, that far and then there's not going to be any hesitation to go hit him, that's what you want to see."

Jaylen Sargent remembers the play well.

"Jones came down hill and, I think he pulled up a little bit, too," the senior wideout said with a grin. "He still brought it. Sam is a big dude. I have a lot of respect for Jones, just the way that he plays. You can tell that he's going to turn it on in a game."

"He's a guy who's really up and coming," fellow receiver Chris Durr Jr. added. "Last year, he wasn't as good as this year. He's going to be a dog this year. He has a chip on his shoulder now."

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Thomas is hesitant to release his actual speedometer readout. It was either 22.6 or 22.4. He doesn't want to brag. As far as the meeting with Scott goes, let's just put it this way, he hasn't been the only victim this August.

Just ask Max White.

"I know he got one pretty bad," Thomas said with a slight smirk, referring to the senior running back who transferred here from Iowa. "It's just been so long since I've hit someone like that. It feels good. I needed to let that out."

Thomas, who stands 6-foot-2 and tips the scales around 200, didn't appear in any games as a true freshman after a standout career at Poudre High School. There he was named the Front Range League Defensive Player of the Year as a senior. He tallied 114 tackles that fall. He also picked off four passes, returning one of those 79 yards for a touchdown.

Football is in his DNA.

His grandfather Earlie Thomas was a shutdown corner for Border War rival Colorado State. His Hall of Fame plaque said he allowed just one score during his three seasons in the Rams' secondary. He went on to play for the New York Jets where he was runner-up for NFL Rookie of the Year in 1970.

His father Jeramie Thomas was a receiver at CSU in the late 90's. He once set the state's all-time record in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.68.

Jones Thomas was forced into duty in a Week-4 meeting with North Texas. He made just one tackle while attempting to replace a pair of seniors, Isaac White and Wyett Ekeler, who for the first time in their Wyoming careers were sidelined with injuries.

He played in nine games, mainly a fixture on special teams, capping his redshirt freshman season with four stops.

With those aforementioned ailments to the back end of the Cowboys' defense, Thomas gained valuable experience -- and plenty of confidence, he added -- running with the top unit all week in practice while the starters were in the training room.

Aaron Bohl said those repetitions have paid off in spades.

"His growth from week one to week 10 was awesome, and he really bought in this summer," the second-year defensive coordinator said. "He always had the athleticism. When you go back to developmental football, he's one of those guys. He had really good talent but was raw to football."

Jason Petrino said when he accepted the job as the team's safeties coach before last season there were plenty of questions surrounding Thomas. Would he ever become the player this staff hoped he would?

He needed a couple birthdays, he said bluntly.

"In high school, it was just like, 'Hey, see ball, go get ball,'" Petrino said. "So, it's just learning football, but also being super coachable and understanding. He's one of those guys, you tell him once, he sees it, and then the next time it's done exactly how you want it. That's a credit to him."

If you're looking for a seminal moment, you won't find one here. It's been a long, demanding process, Thomas said.

"I kind of don't have anything else to learn, as far as Wyoming's playbook," he added with a shoulder shrug. "I'm getting onto those things that you can learn, like pre-snap clues of the offense and stuff like that. That just allows me to get a step up on the offense and play fast."

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With the Cowboys' opener at Akron just four days away, Thomas pointed toward the whiteboard in the team's meeting room. It reads "Who How." It's meaningful, especially after Wyoming was blitzed in the desert 48-7 by an Arizona State squad the national media had already written off.

That won't happen again, Thomas said.

It's also a reminder to himself. It doesn't matter who is across the line, he said, it's how he performs when the lights come on. Though the two-deep depth chart has yet to be released (that's supposed to happen sometime Sunday) there's little doubt No. 23 will be on it.

Whether that's as a starter or a reserve, Thomas said his focus is on stacking days, the next more productive than the last.

That's what he's shown all offseason, Sawvel added. Now, it needs to show up on Saturdays.

"He tackles extremely well, his speed shows up and he's playing with a really high level of confidence right now," he said. "He's improved tremendously. He's done a great job."

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players