Thomas wants a better showing
NEW ORLEANS — On a warm Saturday night in Norman on the penultimate Saturday of September, Curtis Samuel took off down Owen Field, sprinting toward the end zone as Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett launched a deep ball about 50 yards down the field.
The only problem was the end zone — and Samuel — were just 45 yards away.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma safety Ahmad Thomas trailed Samuel as he crossed the goal line, just a couple feet away from a sure-thing score. If Barrett had connected with Samuel, Ohio State was going to get on the board and there wasn’t anything Thomas could do about it as he just got flat-out beat by the Buckeye.
Two plays later, Samuel beat Thomas yet again on the left sideline — and this time he had the ball tucked in the crook of his arm to give Ohio State the first touchdown of what eventually became the final nail in the coffin of Oklahoma’s College Football Playoff hopes.
It was hardly the kind of performance Thomas expected to have in his senior season, and yet, it’s the kind of play that’s defined his final year as a Sooner. Now,
he’ll have one last shot to show he still belongs in the NFL as the Sooners take on Auburn in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2.
“(This) is the game I’ve really been waiting on because after I look back on my season, I feel like I didn’t do enough,” he said.
“My name was really out there last year and now, nothing. It’s just firing me up to get to that game. I think it’s going to be a good game. We’ve just got to get everybody in the secondary and the rest of the defense to just start watching film early.”
This was supposed to be the season for Thomas to continue his upward climb and impress NFL scouts.
Instead, his number dipped drastically. The Miami, Fla. native posted 75 tackles in each of the previous two seasons. But in 2016, Thomas finished with just 59.
He also snatched three interceptions in his junior year but didn’t get a single one this season.
Thomas had a chance to snatch an interception against Baylor, but the ball dropped out of his hands.
He added two more pass breakups in his senior campaign, another slight drop from the three he had the year before.
Thomas went from earning all-conference honors in 2015 to a forgotten part of a muchmaligned OU defense this season, hardly the path that he thought he’d be on.
“I think they were scouting more this year because my sophomore year, I didn’t really have a good season,” he said. “That next year, (teams) heard I was starting so I guess they thought it was just free play and that’s when I got all my plays.
“Then I guess they just started scouting me more often, more throughout this season and I really didn’t get that many plays.”
With his time to impress NFL scouts rapidly dwindling, his final shot will come at the same bowl game where he took the field as a freshman.
He’s got one game left as a college player, and Thomas knows what he’s got to do to continue his football career.
“I felt like I didn’t do enough this season,” he said. “It was a lot of plays that didn’t come my way and it was a lot of plays that did come my way. Some of them I made and some of them I missed, but I really didn’t have too many opportunities on the ball this year. I had one opportunity and I dropped it, but I’ve just got to make plays that do come to me.”