St. Luke's Thomas prepares for UConn football

[huskymedic]

Stamford Advocate Article

"I definitely think I can play early as a freshman and I'm hoping I can be a game-changer," said Thomas, who wil enroll at UConn next week. "I just want to kind of bring a spark to the offense."

"I looked at Rutgers and Temple, but when I visited UConn, I felt at home as soon as I saw the campus," Thomas said. "I met the coaches and they showed they cared about me as a person first and a player second. That relationship is kind of big to me."

 

[huskymedic]

http://www.thehour.com/sports/norwa...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The Hour Sports (@Sports_TheHour)
1/18/13, 8:47 PM
Norwalk's Noel Thomas Jr. officially a Husky: NEW CANAAN -- Norwalk native Noel Thomas Jr. made it official at a... Post original url/10nZM7P

Great Article... Glowing praise from PP

>>Right now, his new head coach has no intention of having Thomas Jr. sit out a year.

"(Junior) Shakim Phillips returns, and (junior) Geremy Davis returns, and they have the most experience," Pasqualoni said. "We have some other younger guys, and I have no notion of a redshirt season for Noel. We want him to compete to play. At the end of the preseason we want Noel in the competition to play in 2013. We don't want to put pressure on him to make the travel squad. If it happens, that's fine. He also has to compete academically and get acclimated to school, and being away from home. There has to be a high level of maturity, and that's something we evaluate here on a daily basis."

The UConn head coach did not rule out other phases where Thomas Jr. may contribute early in his career.

"Right now, we'll see how far he can take this as a wide receiver," Pasqualoni said. "We'll also see what Noel's special teams contributions can be. That's another area where he can contribute and add plays. We want to see exactly how he does with those things."

Pasqualoni was practically giddy about having Thomas Jr. in the Huskies' spectacular football training facilities for the next seven months.

"Noel is a bigger wide receiver, and now that he is moving on to UConn, everything is specific, and he can focus on football and the weight room," Pasqualoni said. "Noel has the chance to gain more and more strength, and with that comes more speed. With more speed comes more explosiveness, and with more explosiveness comes more durability, and that will enhance his speed. All these things are advantages, and these are things we want him to focus on."<<

 

[Adios]

Very nice to see we are gaining ground in-state.

 

[BNich]

He is a huge in state get. Great player on the offensive side of the ball in many aspects. Great kid. Coaches kid. Easy to coach, always wanting to get better. IMO he is one of the best gets in this class. I think he can develop into a very good player for this program in the near future. This kid has been all about Uconn since the day he committed. He's playing for his "hometown" school. Hard not root for him. He is ready to come to school and make a difference. He's right in stride with Richard Lagow. Same enthusiasm for the game and for Uconn. It's exciting to see, and let us not forget Dhameer Bradley is enrolling early as well. Two dynamic WR's to make a difference potentially right away from year 1.

 

[Adios]

He is a huge in state get. Great player on the offensive side of the ball in many aspects. Great kid. Coaches kid. Easy to coach, always wanting to get better. IMO he is one of the best gets in this class. I think he can develop into a very good player for this program in the near future. This kid has been all about Uconn since the day he committed. He's playing for his "hometown" school. Hard not root for him. He is ready to come to school and make a difference. He's right in stride with Richard Lagow. Same enthusiasm for the game and for Uconn. It's exciting to see, and let us not forget Dhameer Bradley is enrolling early as well. Two dynamic WR's to make a difference potentially right away from year 1.

What's great for us now at this point in time is that all recruits can only remember we're a big-time program. 12 years into being at the FBS level and now we are pretty much only thought of as an FBS program in the minds of recruits.

Thank you to all those who contributed to our program's growth in the past.

 

[sportsart]

What's great for us now at this point in time is that all recruits can only remember we're a big-time program. 12 years into being at the FBS level and now we are pretty much only thought of as an FBS program in the minds of recruits.

Thank you to all those who contributed to our program's growth in the past.

You make a good point about the perception of the program and kids who are now high school seniors only know us as Fiesta Bowl participants and a team who beat the almighty ND and a team with NFL players, etc.,etc.

Now with so much uncertainty about our future we have talented kids/men sticking with their committment. Thank you to them as well as they keep us at a competitive level as we await our landing spot. In my eyes they guys are equally as important to the program as Dan O, Albert Fincher and Donald Brown were/are.

 

[Exit 4]

I think Noel could be the best player we have coming in athletically. I would want to try him out this spring as a corner and see how it goes. I wouldnt close out the notion of wide receiver either, but I would be tempted to see how he does the first couples weeks in spring ball as a corner. In his highlight videos his open field tackling was very strong.

 

[Woof 101]

I think Noel could be the best player we have coming in athletically. I would want to try him out this spring as a corner and see how it goes. I wouldnt close out the notion of wide receiver either, but I would be tempted to see how he does the first couples weeks in spring ball as a corner. In his highlight videos his open field tackling was very strong.

No argument with your assessment here or reasoning but he sounds like a very cerebral football player who has played a lot of positions. That and his father being a coach. He says his two best spots are at WR or S. From what he says and going by Paul's comments it sounds like he was promised a shot at the field early as a WR and this is probably a good part of why he came here. More here on him from a RATGIRLS site.
http://www.stateofrutgers.com/recruits/football/noel-thomas
Welcome to the pack NT.....

 

[Adios]

Now with so much uncertainty about our future we have talented kids/men sticking with their committment.

I really do think our school's athletic department will be fine in the end. To have historic basketball programs and an excellent football program (beating Louisville in the past season) can only help. Excellent in other sports too. Hockey is probably our biggest weakness but that should change, finally. With the way things taking shape, I can see the number of applications continue to rise and possibly the size of the student body increase. We're in between two of the six largest markets in the US. We have the best public university in between them.