It’s not an easy process to learn a new offense in a single offseason as a transfer. Considering how fast Tennessee football’s offense can go, it makes the task even more difficult. For Duke transfer Star Thomas, that was one of the biggest hurdles for him in preparation for the upcoming season.
In the spring, Thomas felt rushed to get it all under his belt. As a result, he dialed in on it during the summer. With some time to regroup before fall camp, he spent two hours a day to get the playbook and signals down before returning to campus.
“I didn’t understand the ins and outs of the playbook from when I came in in the spring. It was kind of late and everything was rushed to me,” Thomas said. “This summer, I took a lot of time to learn the playbook, learn the ins and outs of it. Learn the pass protection schemes of it. Learn the run tracks, inside zone footworks, how to run the counters, the gap schemes and all that.”
Helping Thomas get things memorized was one of his sisters. Thomas has 16 siblings, but tasked his 19-year-old sister with the important task of giving him signals. He occasionally would have to correct her, but she picked it up quickly and was a key piece of him learning the offense.
As a result, Thomas is able to hit fall camp at full speed thanks to the newfound familiarity.
“She did alright,” Thomas said. “She could’ve did better. I had to stop her sometimes just to get her to do some of them different. She had the directions of some of them wrong.”
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Thomas was listed alongside Bishop on the preseason watchlist for the Doak Walker Award. Tennessee is one of five SEC teams to have a pair of players on the list. Georgia, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Missouri are the other quartet of schools.
Thomas is in his first year with the program after spending a season at Duke. Prior to that, he played at New Mexico State and at the junior college level. In 40 career FBS games between Duke and New Mexico State, he has racked up 2,044 yards on 433 carries and 16 touchdowns. He has also caught 54 passes for 504 yards and six touchdowns.
Prior to his time at the FBS level, Thomas played two seasons at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. He was named a 2021 KJCCC All-Conference First Team member in his last year.
247 ranked Thomas as a three-star transfer in this past cycle. He was the No. 692 overall player and No. 44 running back. He is from Homer, Louisiana, and was not ranked out of high school or junior college.
