University of Colorado Athletics
Brooks: Thomas' Past Puts Present In Perspective
October 04, 2012 | Football, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - If Gerald Thomas chooses, he can tell his Colorado teammates a little something about dealing with adversity. And, if he wants, he can add some perspective with this postscript: those struggles the Buffs endured in September weren't real life struggles at all.
An engaging freshman with a high-wattage smile, Thomas played high school football in the Dallas suburb of The Colony. How he got there, then moved on to CU, is an adventure that helped shape his outlook and teach him the value of adaptability. And much more.
Thomas, his mother, father and their extended families lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of the city in 2005. The Thomas family - 13 of them - relocated for two months in Plano, Texas.
"It was me, my mom, my grandparents, baby cousins, uncles . . . everybody," Gerald Thomas said.
They all stayed in a hotel . . . room. One hotel room.
"There were two beds," Thomas recalled. "We took off the mattresses, put them against the door and slept on them and on the beds (frames). My great grandpa was kind of sick at the time . . . we did what we had to do and got through it."
They lived on food provided by federal agencies and local organizations and wore clothes donated by groups in the surrounding area. "People helped as much as they could; it was really nice of them . . . I ate free through almost all of middle school," said Thomas, who was 12 at the time and is an only child.
In time, his grandparents and other relocated relatives returned to New Orleans and their homes on the West Bank. His grandparents' house, he said, suffered more damage than the house he had grown up in. Still, his mother and father decided they would remain in Texas - a decision based partly on what they considered a better educational opportunity for Gerald in Texas as well as that state's high school football reputation and opportunities it offered. They moved from Plano to The Colony, near Dallas.
"My mom thought Texas was the football capital of the U.S., so she wanted me to stay there and go to school," he said. "It was tough at first, just seeing my (extended) family every now and then. The hard thing wasn't making friends, it was losing friends. I got close to a lot of people and ended up staying close to a lot of them.
"But moving from New Orleans to Texas was tough because I have my Southern accent . . . people at first couldn't understand what I was saying. I had to change that. But I adapted, and football took my mind off of things and it worked out for the best I think."
School got harder, Thomas said, but that turned out to be a blessing for him: "I think Texas (middle and high schools) pretty much set me up for what to expect; it was a big jump from New Orleans academically. But that was a good thing . . . in the long run, Katrina probably wasn't that bad for me."
At least not as bad as it was for some. And on the football front, Thomas, a speedster with sure hands, quickly excelled. He ultimately set receiving records at The Colony High School for catches (127), yards (2,345) and touchdowns (22). He also ran track, winning the district championship in the 400-meter dash.
Football recruiters from a broad area - Boise State, Arizona, Arizona State, Iowa and CU were his final five from among more than a dozen offers - took notice. His very early personal choice was Texas Tech: "I was a Red Raider in my head for a long time," he said. He visited the Lubbock campus, where he met fellow Texas high school receiver Jeffrey Thomas, who also eventually signed with CU and will reenroll in January. (Gerald Thomas is in close contact with Jeffrey and says with a laugh, "If he ever has any change of thought I'll make sure I get him back.")
As happens in the recruiting process, one school cools on a prospect while another school's interest heats up. A week before national signing day last February, Texas Tech and TCU tried to reenter the picture with Gerald Thomas. ASU, he said, also was pushing hard and until he studied the Sun Devils' returning roster and their commitment list, settling in Tempe was a consideration.
Other schools - Texas, Oklahoma State, Nebraska - showed interest in him as an athlete. But he knew what that meant: "They wanted to put me at DB." CU wanted him solely as a receiver, which is what Thomas wanted.
He called Buffs receivers coach Bobby Kennedy and committed before seeing Boulder. Said Thomas: "I committed before my visit, but once I visited it made it all clear. I thought it would play out for the best, and it has."
Kennedy said Thomas "had done his research; he knew our receiver situation. One thing I respected about him is that there was no wavering. He made this decision and said I'm going to do it. (Other schools) got on him because he had a pretty good senior year, but he was a guy who kept his word. He's a straightforward guy, a fun guy to be around."
At 5-11, 175 pounds, Thomas isn't what Kennedy calls "a big, pretty receiver." But he has other attributes - namely his speed, his ability to "burst" and change directions and find seams in the defense. And then there are his hands. Said CU coach Jon Embree: "He catches the ball with his hands. When you're a smaller guy, if you catch the ball against your body it's trouble. He was just a natural ball catcher with his hands."
Added Kennedy: "Everybody looks for the 6-foot-3, big pretty guys, this and that . . . and obviously Gerald is not that size. But he has a different skill set from those guys - good hands, the ability to make people miss. But he still has to learn to lower his shoulder and say, 'This is what I can get' rather than trying to dance around. But that's a growth process he's got to go through."
Through the Buffs' first five games, Thomas has made 10 receptions for 115 yards. He's also been used as a runner, gaining 44 yards on five carries. In CU's lopsided loss to UCLA, he had one carry for an 11-yard loss - the first time he's lost yardage this season.
Thomas - "GT," "G-Money," "G-Baby," or "Two-Five" (his number) to his teammates - said he's been utilized about as he expected: "I know the coaches are trying to figure things out with all of us (young players) and see what we're comfortable doing. I think every week since CSU they've tried to use me more in the game plan. I'm fine even being used as a distraction (decoy) if that helps my team.
"I was kind of nervous, but as the weeks have gone on I've found out that nobody is really going to be faster than me. I've beaten a couple of guys deep and that helped my confidence knowing I can play with these guys."
With Jeffery Thomas unavailable and Paul Richardson electing to take a redshirt season while rehabbing from knee surgery, Gerald Thomas is one of the Buffs' few deep receiving threats. On-lookers might believe the fleet freshman could be used more, and Kennedy concedes, "There's no doubt that I could be playing Gerald another 10 or 15 more plays a game, but I also want to have a good balance with it."
And there's a good reason for that. While Kennedy called Thomas' playing time through five games "significant for a true freshman," he added, "The thing that I'm always conscious of and cautious about is there's a fine line between playing guys (early) and letting them have success. You want to put them in situations where they can be successful. The thing you worry about with young guys is that if you play them too much and overuse them and they don't have success, they can lose confidence. Sometimes it's tough to get that stinger back.
"The thing I realize about Gerald - and really with any young guy - is that they're going to be better in their second and third year than they are in their first year. What you want to do is continue that growth rather than stunt the process . . . keep feeding them, keep growing them and they're going to get better and better.
"We know we've got some talented young guys. I tell (Thomas), 'You're a freshman, but you're really not. You've got playing experience now.' With younger guys we live with their mistakes and hopefully they don't continue to make them."
After this weekend's bye, the Buffs play Arizona State on Thursday night, Oct. 11 at Folsom Field (7 p.m., ESPN). CU goes into the season's final two months 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-12 Conference. ASU, which also has a bye this week, is 4-1, 2-0 under first-year coach Todd Graham.
Thomas, understandably, is disappointed with the Buffs' first month. "It's tough right now," he said. "We didn't expect all this (losing) to happen in the first part of the season. But we're going to stay together as a team and finish out the season as strong as we can. We know we're young and have years ahead of us to get better.
"That's the good thing: We brought in, what, 27 freshmen and 13 of them are playing. We're playing so many redshirt freshmen and sophomores. We're all still so young; I just turned 18 in May. We're one of the youngest teams in the nation.
"People (in the media) forget that; they're busy quoting the bashers. They'll be the same people, when we're winning ten games, they'll be back around for us. I don't let that affect me at all. I know how some fans are; I try to focus on the team and just getting better. That's what we're all trying to do."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
