His brothers are Thayer and Drake Thomas. Will he play football for NC State, too?
Having a Thomas brother on the N.C. State football roster is a tradition like no other.
Dave Doeren already has two — Thayer and Drake — of the three playing for him, with the youngest, Lex, possibly on the way.
Thayer is a 6-0, 197-pound redshirt junior wide receiver, while Drake, a sophomore, is a 6-0, 238-pound linebacker. Both played for Heritage High School in Wake Forest, where Lex is now a junior quarterback.
Lex received an official offer from N.C. State after attending a camp this past weekend.
It was the first official visit weekend for the Wolfpack, which hosted camps for the first time since the summer of 2019.
After performing on the practice field, Doeren invited Lex and his family to the Murphy Center. Not that Lex needed a tour. He’s been visiting the campus since Thayer enrolled in 2017. Doeren sat down with the family, including dad Trevor and mom Shelly, and ended the meeting by making the official offer.
“It was a surprise, but it was good though,” Trevor told the N&O. “It was really, really special because his two brothers and his mom and myself were there to be a part of it.”
Trevor told the N&O that it was hard to say who was more excited out of the group, but Thayer found the right words for the situation.
“He said ‘I’m so happy for Lex I could cry,’” Trevor said. “I think that kind of sums it up, the feeling was kind of mutual for the whole family.”
Lex Thomas’ exposure to college football
Lex Thomas has led the Huskies’ junior varsity program to a 16-1 record with 80 touchdowns over the past two years. He impressed N.C. State’s coaches enough to earn his first college offer. The 5-11, 176-pound quarterback hasn’t taken a varsity snap yet but will return to school in the fall with a Power 5, in-state offer. Not something a lot of juniors can boast about. But he’s remained even-keeled, his dad said.
“He’s going to stay the same guy,” Trevor said. “He’s been exposed to a lot of high-level football, a lot of high-level people, so his expectations were a matter of when not if. I think he’ll keep his head and just keep working hard. That’s the reason why he’s in the position he’s in right now. One of the things that Coach Doeren told him was ‘you earned this.’”
Lex has put in the time on the practice field, oftentimes working out alongside his brothers and other college players in the offseason. Last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, he would throw to Thayer and be right in the mix with the ACC guys, going through drills.
“That’s the advantage you have of having brothers who are playing at a high-level college football program,” Trevor said. “It gives you more exposure and it helps direct you in some of the decisions you need to be successful. It gives Lex not only the information he needs, but it gives him confidence.”
Recruiting process
Drake and Thayer Thomas are starters for the Wolfpack program. Thayer is a wide receiver and punt returner. Thayer caught 42 passes (second on the team) for 529 yards and six touchdowns as a redshirt junior. Drake started 10 games as a sophomore in 2020, finishing with 58 tackles and three sacks.
Thayer was a three-sport athlete coming out of Heritage and walked on in 2017, earning a scholarship in the spring of 2018. Drake, who was a four-year starter at linebacker for the Huskies, was a big-time recruit in the class of 2019.
Trevor said each recruiting experience has been different for his three sons. Thayer didn’t get much attention at Heritage and got a preferred walk-on offer from Doeren late in the process. Drake had offers from Alabama and Michigan and was taking recruiting trips as early as his sophomore year.
Knowing how close Lex is with his older brothers, outsiders might think it’s a given he’ll commit to the Pack. Lex has two more years to go through the recruiting process and Trevor doesn’t want anyone to think it’s an automatic pipeline of Thomas kids from Wake Forest to Raleigh.
“Lex is going to have to do his own processing of information and come to his own conclusions,” Trevor said. “It’s the same thing I told Drake when he was choosing. We’ll just let him (Lex) enjoy the process and check the boxes and eventually, he’ll end up where he’s supposed to be when it’s all said and done.”
With the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility for athletes, Drake could realistically be at N.C. State three more years, meaning Lex could be a freshman in Drake’s final year of college. It hadn’t even dawned on Trevor that he could have two more sons on the same team in college.
“That’s kind of neat if that would happen,” Trevor said with a laugh. “I guess I never thought about it. It could be a possibility.”
Wolfpack recruiting notes
N.C. State also got a verbal commitment from defensive lineman Nick Campbell, a three-star prospect from Lake Minneola, Fla. Campbell (6-3, 260) committed after participating in a camp over the weekend. During the 2020 season, Campbell had 70 tackles, including 19 tackles for loss and seven sacks. On Tuesday, Doeren got verbals from two in-state linebackers. Doeren now has five commitments for the class of 2022.
Torren Wright (6-3, 215), a four-star linebacker from A.L. Brown and Daejuan Thompson, a 6-3 190 pound linebacker from Whiteville, both announced on social media they were committing to the Pack.
Campbell, Wright and Thompson join quarterback M.J. Morris (Atlanta, Ga.) and center Rylan Vann (Cary) in the class of 2022 so far.
This story was originally published June 10, 2021 at 12:38 PM with the headline "His brothers are Thayer and Drake Thomas. Will he play football for NC State, too?."
