Phillip Thomas. If you notice, he has the ball in his hand which is something you won't find our safeties doing a lot.
He was one of 5 players to be ranked in NCAA FBS in both forced fumbles and interceptions. Lead the country in takeaways this year with 8.
61 Tkls
8 TFL
3.0 Sacks
7 INT
3 TD
4 BrUp
3 FF
Thorpe award finalist, numbers were better across the board than winner Johnathan Banks.
Sports Illustrated story
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Thomas is keying a major defensive turnaround. A team that ranked 116th nationally in turnover margin last season is up to 11th in 2012, thanks in large part to a player who spent most of his junior year watching from the sidelines on one good leg.
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“When we first got here, in the weight room, he obviously stood out,” said DeRuyter. “He looked like a safety’s supposed to look like. He had the right measurables. But when we first went out to practice, he was a little tentative at first, trying to push off that foot. Like many athletes do when they’ve had a major injury, he just didn’t have that confidence. So we were a little nervous about what we were really getting in him, but as spring went on, he really started to show up on tape.
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“He was a 170-pound kid,” said McDonald, “and he’d turned into this 6-1, 215-pound behemoth. You couple that size with the athletic ability that he naturally had, and I knew he could be something special.”
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“There’s a lot of guys out there that are athletic, talented,” said McDonald. “But Phillip’s got a great feel for the game. He’s a very instinctive kid. He’s the guy that gets it. He’s able to pick things up by feel that may not make sense on the board.” And he’s doing so with a success rate that’s infected his teammates with confidence in their new system.
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I want this guy. Maybe we could get him in the 3rd.