He’s Poetry in Motion; Can It Translate to Pros?

More than 320 college football players traveled to Indianapolis for the NFL’s annual scouting combine this week, but quarterback Jason Thomas was not one of them.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be there. It’s just that he wasn’t invited after a dismal senior season at Nevada Las Vegas, which finished with a 5-7 record.

But even though Thomas wasn’t ranked among the top 10 quarterbacks, and his college coach, John Robinson, told him that he’d be better off switching to tight end, there are some who believe he has what it takes to be an NFL quarterback.

“Here’s a guy that some people projected to be the first guy picked in the NFL draft two years ago,” said Randy Whitsitt, a respected Southern California quarterback coach who began working with Thomas in late December. “He’s still 6 feet 4, 235 [pounds] and a great athlete. If he walks out there with confidence and throws the ball consistent with the same type of energy every time, what are they going to do?”

Draft Thomas ... at least that’s what he’s hoping.

“It bothers me a little bit not to be at the combine,” said Thomas, who spent one redshirt season at USC before transferring to UNLV in 1999. “But after going to the East-West Shrine game and talking to a lot of NFL personnel people, I’m not too concerned. They told me that just because you made the combine doesn’t mean that you’re going to make it in the league. So my thought process is that it’s a marathon and not a sprint. Whatever it takes for me to get to the NFL, I’m going to do it because I’m determined to make it.”

In a league desperate for quality quarterbacks, Thomas may be a steal for someone. At least that’s what agent Leigh Steinberg thinks, and why he took Thomas on as a client. Steinberg knows a little about quarterbacks. His client list has included Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Warren Moon, Mark Brunell, Drew Bledsoe, Jake Plummer and Kordell Stewart.

But convincing an NFL team that Thomas is not the same quarterback who looked so shaky last season will be difficult. He threw interceptions, fumbled at the wrong times and his throwing mechanics were horrible.

“The first thing we did was refine his fundamentals and get his confidence back to open the door to the great athlete that he was,” said Whitsitt, who coached Randall Cunningham in college when Whitsitt was quarterback coach for UNLV from 1982 to 1986. “[Thomas] used to pull way to the right when he threw the ball. We had to go in and break the bad patterns that he’d developed. It was obvious that the [tougher] the throw, the tighter he would get.”

Thomas has been working out with Whitsitt four days a week. They throw all types of passes for three hours a workout, starting with short throws and ending with deep ones.

Thomas has responded well. He no longer has trouble setting his feet and his release is textbook, a far cry from last season when he would step away from his receivers and throw with an erratic touch.

“He’s really making the turn right now,” Whitsitt said. “He’s so relaxed throwing the ball. He used to play with so much fear; he couldn’t get the ball there. We’re just trying to get him to the point where he was in high school when he believed that he could do things. He has such a great strong arm. The biggest thing is to get himself out of his own way.”

Next month, Thomas will work out for NFL scouts on the UNLV campus and he’s excited about getting a chance to show that he has the ability to be another Donovan McNabb or Daunte Culpepper.

“I’ve grown so much in the last five or six weeks, working with Randy,” Thomas said. “Just learning how to control my body. How to drop back, how to throw and how to relax and not be so tense. When I used to think about throwing before, my whole body would get tense because, to me, it wasn’t natural. I always felt more comfortable when I could run and get out of the pocket and make plays.

“Putting the work in is building my confidence. It’s like taking a test. If you know that you’ve studied, you know that you’re going to do well. That’s how I feel now and I know that I’m going to make it.”