Countdown to Kickoff: No. 5

Justin Thomas

The countdown to kickoff is officially on as Georgia Tech‘s season-opening matchup at Colorado on Aug. 29 is less than 100 days away.

Until then JOL will be counting it down with one Jackets’ player daily that wore the corresponding number of days remaining until toe meets leather in Boulder.

With it now five days until kickoff in Boulder, today’s focus is on No. 5 Justin Thomas, an option quarterback that ran Paul Johnson’s offensive attack well over three years as the starter, throwing for 40 touchdowns and rushing for another 22 while racking up two wins over rival Georgia along with bowl wins over Mississippi State (Orange Bowl) and Kentucky (TaxSlayer Bowl).

Thomas was a highly-rated prospect as an athlete during his prep days while playing at Prattville High (Ala.) and led his team to a state championship as a senior in 2011 at quarterback. He originally committed to Alabama but eventually flipped to Georgia Tech in the 2012 recruiting class, as the Jackets offered him the chance to play quarterback rather than defensive back where the Crimson Tide had him slotted into their recruiting class.

Thomas redshirted his first season on The Flats in 2012 and then played in 10 games as a redshirt-freshman in 2013, mostly as a backup as he threw for a touchdown and ran for two touchdowns over limited reps in 10 games.

Following the transfer of previous starter Vad Lee, Thomas took over as the full-time starter in 2014 and had a huge year, starting all 14 games and throwing for 1,719 yards and 18 touchdowns while rushing for another 1,086 yards and eight touchdowns. He was named All-ACC Second Team by the league’s coaches and Phil Steele and All-ACC Third Team by the ACSMA while helping Tech to an 11-3 record, a win over rival Georgia in Athens and an Orange Bowl victory over Mississippi State. He was named Orange Bowl MVP after throwing and running for 100-plus yards, rushing for three TDs and throwing for another.

Thomas still produced strong numbers during his redshirt-junior season despite Tech’s struggles as a team overall in 2015 as the team went 3-9. He threw for 1,345 yards and 13 touchdowns and rushed for 488 yards and six touchdowns.

Thomas and the Jackets bounced back in 2016 with a 9-4 campaign that included another win over rival Georgia in Athens and a TaxSlayer Bowl victory over Kentucky. He finished his college career strong with 1,559 passing yards and eight touchdowns along with another 604 yards on the ground and six touchdowns.

Thomas finished his Tech career in the top 10 in career passing yards (seventh, 4,754), career passing touchowns (sixth, 40), career rushing yards (ninth, 2,412) and career rushing touchdowns (tied-10th, 22). He is also fourth all-time in Tech history in total offensive yards with 7,166, fifth in single-season total offensive yards with 2,805 in 2014 and third in single-game offensive yards with 459 vs. Duke in 2016.

Thomas had a brief run in the NFL after signing with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2016 and then being a part of the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers’ franchises over the next two seasons but never made it onto the active roster.

Thomas later played for the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football in 2019, was signed briefly by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League in 2019 and then drafted by the DC Defenders in the 2020 XFL Draft before being released leading up to the season.