| Thomas' decision to skip his senior season at Oregon took many by surprise, but he felt he was ready to make the jump to the NFL after outstanding back-to-back seasons. As a sophomore in 2010, Thomas led the Ducks to a 12-0 record before they lost 22-19 to Auburn in the BCS national championship game despite his career-high 363 yards passing. He passed for 2,881 yards and 30 touchdowns while running 93 times for 486 yards and five more scores. Thomas then threw for 2,761 yards and a school-record 33 TDs as a junior despite missing one game due to a left leg injury, helping the Ducks win their first Rose Bowl since 1917 behind his three TD passes. He went 23-3 as a starter, had a school-record 66 touchdown passes in 31 games and finished sixth on Oregon's all-time list with 6,629 yards of total offense and seventh with 5,910 yards passing. Thomas rushed for 719 yards and nine TDs in his career and showed off his speed at the NFL combine, where he was ninth among quarterbacks with a 40-yard dash time of 4.80 seconds. He also tied for first with 14 reps in the bench press, was second in the broad jump (10 feet, 1 inch), tied for fourth in the vertical jump (36.0 inches), tied for fifth in the 20-yard shuttle (4.28 seconds) and was 11th in the three-cone drill (7.17 seconds). Despite all of his solid numbers, Thomas likely won't be picked until a later round because many scouts believe he was helped by the spread-option offense run at Oregon, where he often didn't have to throw the ball downfield. He has good size to be a QB in the NFL, but he needs to work on his throwing motion to succeed at the next level. |
