by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
LSUOdyssey on Instagramith
As uncomfortable as the Walker High receiver can be in conversation, he's more than cozy leaping far above 5 Star DBs under the hot Friday night lights.
The best receiver in the country is without a doubt Walker's Brian Thomas: the massive, lengthy, freakishly intelligent playmaker is considering 4 schools now, Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia and LSU...but our crystal ball has him in a close race between LSU and Alabama.
Although there's many variables to consider when you recruit Brian Thomas, the #1 thing Coach Orgeron and WRs Coach Mickey Joseph know very well:
Bezzy catching passes from Mack Jones, Bryce Young or whoever the hell at Alabama is a worst case scenario for both Thomas and LSU, as well as a big hit to the wonderful 2021 WR group we've established so far.
Make no mistake about it: Brian Thomas is a nuclear priority for Coach Orgeron's staff, as evidenced by our cutting edge offer extended a clear 5 months ahead of Alabama's own "counter-offer" as if Brian were a car for Saban to steal (offered in June of 2018, Alabama during November of the same year).
Even though BT stole his #1 ranking at WR (within Louisiana), recent LSU commit Chris Hilton demanded BT's presence within the revolutionary Tigers offense.
Hilton knows it too....with Brian Thomas on our 2021 offense, the sky would truly be the limit; due to Terrace Marshall and Ja'Marr Chase most likely foregoing their final years of eligibility, as well as the graduation and NFL Draft declarations of Jontre Kirklin and Racey McMath, LSU will need big time, versatile, thoroughbred receivers to continue our high octane offensive antics.
Our offense requires the same sort of skilled strength and mobility out wide in order to expose the best defenses in college football, as we utilized to devastating effect in 2019.
With Jo Jo Earle, Chris Hilton and Deion Smith already on board, the 2021 WR class has a magical chance to become LSU's most electric group, especially while 2020 freshmen Kayshon Boutte, Koy Moore, (TE/WR) and Arik Gilbert join the 2019 class of Trey Palmer and Jaray Jenkins...all in Mickey Joseph's wide out room at one time.
Now, if Brian will choose LSU over Saban's fragile, fleeting Bama, becoming the crown jewel of our 2021 class, we may need Jack Marucci or Dr. Bankston to genetically modify our players' hands to add extra fingers, such is the reckless amount of jewelry we could harness over the next few campaigns.
When we evaluate Thomas, we see a few things right off the bat:
The Walker receiver has an empirical ability to throw off would-be tacklers as if they were made of dust, never giving up on a play despite your first impressions of his lengthy stature....once you witness him running down the field, breaking away from three or four top talents while sandwiched between their galloping pursuit, your jaw drops....we gotta sign this young man...
Frequently he's rushing through tacklers to the point he forces these 4 or 5 star defenders to alter their tackling angle, running rampant through the gauntlet of defenses like a Madden cheat code...when watching these ravenous plays from the Walker High senior, you finally realize how strong Thomas can be.
Brian is an unstoppable machine in space, but he's a carnival of Saban rotisserie when given the ball anywhere at any time, proving an impossibly robust figure to bring down....ala Ja'Marr Chase, another Yards After Catch King who buffalo'd the CFB for 21.2 yards per catch last year en route to a National Championship.
I'm not messing around or dancing with hyperbole when I say Thomas could absolutely pull off the same electric, dynastic oblivion as Ja'Marr Chase or Justin Jefferson.
Not only does he possess die hard strength across his hulking torso or the Achilles Last Stand of his upper-body, Thomas shows a consistent acceleration which is so sick we wonder if Geaux247 or Rivals can even quantify.
Brian doesn't have the same type of burner "all day" speed as 2021 LSU commit Jo Jo Earle or Chris Hilton's track star attributes, yet he has an iron will pace which can't be rejected once set in motion.
There's kids who were just born fast, mercurial lightning emanating from the bottle; then there's kids who can run for days if there's a ball to win or a touchdown to score, despite any preconceived physical limitations: Brian has a foot firmly planted in either camp.
With such dominant athleticism on display, Thomas made damn sure his championship mentality wasn't passed over:
In the final seconds of a 54-34 loss to Fountaineblue, Thomas received a nasty shot from the secondary as the pass coming towards him was picked off. He laid there for a split second, but like most competitors, found it insulting to stay down. Thomas picked himself up, chased down the interceptor and brutally smashed the DB so hard Thomas sent the dude back to 1994.
He would not roll over...he would not roll tide...no matter what the score said.
“A lot of guys would have laid there,” said Chad Mahaffey, Walker’s first-year head coach. “No one would have blamed him. He already had 359 total yards and the play wasn’t going to make a difference in the outcome of the game. But he did it anyway. I recorded bowl games on VHS when I was in college. I saw Philip Rivers run down and deck a guy who intercepted his pass. He was going into the NFL draft. He could have held back, but he didn’t. I remember thinking, ‘The physicality — that’s a football player, not a quarterback.’ It’s the same thing with Brian.”
Just as we suspected...he's a gamer, Jamer.
He's also tasted victory as title winner for Walker High....as a basketball star!
During his freshman season, Thomas stepped up huge in the semifinals and final of the Louisiana State 5-A tournament: 15 points and 8 rebounds vs Natchitoches before settling matters with 21 points vs Landry-Walker in the 2018 State Title game, rejecting shots left and right as he took home the Most Outstanding Player award alongside the championship trophy.
That's the profile for the kind of player LSU are recruiting during the Orgeron era:
we're recruiting ultra-competitive kids who are ready to fight and win, harmonize and conquer. We've seen Orgeron's staff drawn to battle-tested young men who are proficient in multiple sports, notably Kary Vincent Jr (LSU track champion), Mo Hampton (LSU baseball), K'Lavon Chaisson (the Jaguars edge-rusher didn't even play football his sophomore year, focusing only on basketball when he was offered by LSU) the list geauxs on and on...
Thomas's greatness and intelligence on the basketball floor is incredible, yet its his mastery of slowing down proceedings on the football field which creates an effortless aura surrounding the Walker High supernaut's every step....
Yet if you talk to him, he won't let you feel that he's anything special. He will utter the same Belichick-ism replies during interviews about "working hard", looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else....
...and you'd be right: he'd rather be playing football....in fact, he probably hung up on Julio.
He has been Objective One in the war room for quite some time...the clipboards are out, the Ipads, the film sessions, the phones, the phones, the phones...Mickey Joseph has already earned his new contract and then some....
Brian Thomas isn't just another wide receiver who could be replaced by anyone else from the 2021 or 2022 classes: LSU cannot miss on a dynamic, transcendental footballer such as BT.
ODYSSEY FUTURES: Thomas should join the Tigers and we believe he will.
by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
BLACK LIVES MATTER
GEAUX TIGERS
COPYRIGHT 2020 UNINTERRUPTED WRITINGS INC LLC
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
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BRINGING HEAVY LIGHTNING TO THE TABLE...
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