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By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
After 3 seasons at LSU, dipping his toes in the water as a freshman, surviving a frustrating yet promising sophomore campaign, before exploding in a brilliant "money year" fitting right in with the best of LSU's "3rd year = money year" development tradition, junior WR Brian Thomas Jr declared for the NFL Draft on Tuesday afternoon.
Making it official after a month of hard speculation as to his future, Thomas Jr is leaving the Tigers following one of the best receiving seasons in recent program memory.
Catching 68 passes from 87 targets for 1,177 yards and a nation-leading 17 touchdowns, Thomas Jr's numbers were incredible behind Nabers, his 2023 yards and TD marks ranking 7th and 3rd in WRU's entire history.....in particular, his 17 TDs over 13 games is only bested by Justin Jefferson's 18 and Ja'Marr Chase's 20 during 15 contests back in 2019.
The third year WRU sultan was named a Biletnikoff semifinalist for his outrageous production, piling on 6 games recording over 100 yards, another at 98 yards, while recording 6 appearances where he captured multiple touchdowns (3 at most).
Finishing his LSU career catching 72.2% of his targets (127/176), clocking a total of 1,897 yards, headlined by 24 total TD receptions, Thomas Jr ranks 3rd on the all time program list for overall receiving scores, tied with Justin Jefferson and only trailing Dwayne Bowe's #1 ranking with 26.
Had Thomas Jr returned for 2024, the former Walker High 5 star recruit would've only needed 3 scores alongside just under 1,200 yards to break Bowe's 17 year old TDs record and reclaim Malik Nabers' all time receiving yards record.
Tiger fans already expected the departure of the program's all time leading receiver & pass catcher, Malik Nabers, a likely 1st round pick, however, now LSU will be without both of their 1,000 yard receivers from their historic 2023 offensive deluge.
Much like Thomas Jr's production compared to counterpart Malik Nabers, the Louisiana native thoroughbred isn't projected as highly as his teammate, yet many mock Drafts feature Brian among the late 1st round and into the late 2nd at worst.
As for me, it's been a wild ride.
Thomas is a player we've covered in hyper detail since his 2020 recrutiment....it has been an amazing time witnessing his development each season, blowing up into a nationally syndicated aerial assassin by Year 3; More than fulfilling his potential, the junior branded his legacy upon LSU's 2nd greatest offense.
By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
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