Junior TE Thomas Has ND as Leader
Written by Will Biggers Monday, 18 October 2010 14:43
St. Ignatius (Westlake, Ohio) has a history of developing some pretty good tight ends. Former Notre Dame Tight End, Dan O’Leary (97-00) is a name Irish fans can remember, while Brendan Carozzoni, a freshman tight end at Pittsburgh, is the latest. Blake Thomas appears to be next.
Thomas (6-foot-4, 235-pounds) is in his first year as a starter under Head Coach Chuck Kyle, after filling in four games for the injured Carozzoni last year.
“I didn’t play much last year because I had Brendan Carozzoni in front of me,” said Thomas. “He got hurt though, and I started four games. I had 10 catches and two touchdowns.”
So far this season, the St. Ignatius star tight end has 21 receptions for 264 yards and one touchdown for the 4-4 Wildcats. While Thomas takes pride in his pass catching ability, having only one dropped pass this year, he thinks his blocking really sets him apart from other tight ends.
“We played McKinley (Canton, Ohio) earlier in the year in a scrimmage, and I had to block Steve Miller (Ohio State commit) a lot,” said Thomas. “I was really pumped up before the game for that, but I didn’t have much problem (blocking) him. I came out during the second half, and my back up didn’t do so well against him.”
Chuck Kyle can attest to Thomas’ blocking ability.
“Running the ball, we run towards him as many times as we can,” said Kyle. “He’s very effective on the corner.”
The 6-foot-4 tight end also gives the Wildcats a dangerous weapon in the passing game.
“The ability for him to get deep and go vertical has been really helpful,” said Kyle. “Sometimes tight ends are just guys that curl up, or just drag across the middle. However, we’ve got Blake several times on long balls when he’s gotten the mismatch of linebacker on him. It’s been very effective for us. We’ve played a very tough schedule this year. We’ve played Don Bosco (Ramsey, N.J.) and Centerville (Centerville, Ohio) this year, and they’ve all game planned for the tight end as being one of our major weapons. If I had to compare him to someone, it would be Dan O’Leary.”
This past summer, Thomas attended camps at Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.
“The Pittsburgh camp was the first camp I’d been too, but I thought I did pretty well,” said Thomas. “The tight ends coach there (Brian Angleichio) told me I did well and he would stay in touch. The camp I went to at Notre Dame, I felt like I was one of the better guys there. I didn’t really have any problems with the DB’s there.”
Although the versatile tight end doesn’t have any offers at this point, he’s been receiving interest from schools like Notre Dame, Michigan, LSU, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, and Nebraska. In that long list of potential destinations, Thomas already has a favorite picked out.
“If Notre Dame offered, I’d commit right away,” said Thomas. “That’s where I want to go, so there wouldn’t be a need to wait on other offers. I love the tradition and tough academics there. It’s a lot like St. Ignatius, and I like that. I get emails from Chuck Martin. He wants me to get up there for a game. I’ve followed Brian Kelly since he was at Cincinnati, and I really like him as a coach.”
Besides Notre Dame, the Westlake-prospect has other schools he’s interested in as well.
“Cincinnati would be up there,” said Thomas. “I went to a game there this year, and it was pretty awesome. They have a huge weight room and good facilities there. I like how they use their TE. I also got to talk to Butch Jones, and he seemed like a pretty cool guy. This is his first year at the school, so he’s under a lot of pressure. I like Pittsburgh because a bunch of St. Ignatius guys have been going there lately. Northwestern is up there because I like their academics. I like Nebraska because of their academics and their campus.”
The lack of offers at this point doesn’t bother the 235-pound tight end.
“It’s still early in the process for me,” said Thomas. “I just sent my mid-season high-light film out the other day.”
Thomas reports running a 4.8 (40 yard dash), a 310-bench, and a squat of six repetitions of 450 pounds. He carries a 3.2 GPA, and just took the SAT for the first time last week
