Talking season players to watch: Bryan Thomas Jr.
With 105 days to go until South Carolina kicks off their season on August 31, talking season is official here. For a third straight year, it’s time to spotlight a few players you should be keeping close tabs on this season.
The first player up in this series: EDGE – Bryan Thomas Jr.
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From talking with South Carolina coaches and different members of the team this offseason and through the spring, there are few players who’ve generated the type of buzz Thomas has. If you’ve been paying close attention to the Gamecocks since last spring, hearing Thomas’ name shouldn’t come as a surprise.
After having a monster spring game in 2023, he carried that momentum into the regular season. Appearing in all 12 games, he made six starts and finished with 22 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, and forced a fumble. His 22 tackles were the most by any South Carolina EDGE last season.
Jump ahead to this spring and what did Thomas do? He picked up right where he left off by having another strong spring game finishing with a game-high seven tackles, including 2.5 sacks.
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“He’s been really good. He really, really has been,” said Shane Beamer following South Carolina’s spring game. “He’s been very consistent. I think Bryan’s done a great job of understanding where his strengths are. You look at him, he doesn’t look like Dylan Stewart, he doesn’t look like Desmond (Umeozulu) just from a size standpoint and that’s okay. My dad’s in the room and one of the greatest defensive ends he ever had was a guy by the name of Corey Moore and he was maybe six feet (tall). But he understood leverage and he was hard to block and he was a relentless player. Bryan I think has done a great job of embracing his skill set.”
One thing that was very noticeable this spring about Thomas was his appearance. We’ve talked a lot this spring about the speed that’s in South Carolina’s EDGE room. Thomas has committed himself to growing in the weight room, which should only help him even more on the field this season.
“Throughout (my time at South Carolina) my weight has definitely changed. I can play the run way better. Like last season, I was around 235. I put on about ten pounds of muscle (this offseason) and I feel like I have a lot more energy while also playing faster. I’m just trying to do my job for the team.”
BOTTOM LINE:
South Carolina’s EDGE room is loaded with talent, speed, and experience. Thomas checks boxes for all three and more. Even if the Gamecocks are rotating EDGE players in-and-out like hockey shifts, as EDGE coach Sterling Lucas alluded to during the spring, Thomas should be at the top of that rotation.
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While Thomas hasn’t been receiving a lot of early buzz for the 2025 NFL Draft, I expect that to change after this season. The good thing for Thomas, and the Gamecocks, is that even if he has a good season that doesn’t necessarily mean he’d enter the draft since he has two years of eligibility remaining. He also has a tremendous support staff and has a strong understanding of how the draft works, since his father Bryan Thomas Sr. was a first round draft pick in 2002. Thomas Sr. went on to play 11 years in the NFL, all with the New York Jets. The point is, people who’ve been sleeping on Thomas Jr. will wake up soon.
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