After watching Fairfield (Ohio) lineman James Thomas last season in Week One of the Ohio high school football season, when he lined up as a 230-pound tight end, we wondered if Thomas would find himself reaching the potential to play football at the college level.
Thursday night, Fairfield played another tough season opener when they hosted Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne. In researching the game, we reviewed Thomas’s junior highlights to see how the rest of his junior year went. What we found was a prospect we wanted to see more of.
We learned that Fairfield head coach Jason Krause and his staff had moved Thomas from tight end to defensive line midway last season, and things started to click for the 6-foot-5 and now 290-pound Thomas.
Our evaluation of Thomas had us leaning towards him playing along the offensive line; however, what we watched against Wayne was a player with the ability to play on either side of the ball, depending upon the scheme. In our opinion, this ability makes Thomas a prospect who should be getting offers from Power Five schools. However, nothing against those outside of the Power Five, as Thomas will be able to develop his game at a better pace in a non-Power Five program.
Thomas brings legit size and has natural brute strength while also being explosive in his core. While there is still needed work on technique, no matter what side of the ball he’d line up on, Thomas has the tools to play at the college level and excel.
Just a year ago, we felt Thomas showed more of a soft side to his game; now, we see a player who understands how to play the game and is working towards developing into a player to watch in Ohio’s 2023 recruiting class.
Following his team’s victory over Wayne, DBHuddle.com spoke with Thomas one-on-one in this exclusive interview presented by First Star Logistics.
