Joe Thomas

positives

Has a developing frame that could carry at least another 20 pounds of bulk with no loss in quickness...Possesses a thick upper body with broad shoulders, adequate muscle development, good arm length and strong hands...Shows classic natural knee bend with good hip snap to redirect and mirror the edge rushers...Nimble moving his feet in his pass set-up, retreating fluidly while maintaining body control...Shows good urgency and leg drive coming off the snap, demonstrating the knee bend to drop his weight well pass protection...Capable of locating and neutralizing the edge rushers...Excels in the classroom, twice earning national academic honors and will have no problems digesting a complicated playbook...Quick coming off the snap, gaining position and generating movement to sustain...Shows very good in-line body control and agility, demonstrating a quick kick slide in pass protection...Stays low in his pads, dropping his weight to maintain balance and does a nice job of opening rush lanes on pulls and traps...With his quickness and balance, he consistently covers defenders up...Has no problems getting his body low enough to attain leverage, especially with his impressive knee bend...Plays well on his feet and possesses the lateral agility and quickness to adjust and sustain blocks on the move...Quick and agile enough to generate solid second level blocks and works hard to maintain the rushing crease (193 of his 311 knockdown blocks came in run support)...Runs his feet well and has a good base with a very good understanding of taking proper angles when working along the perimeter...Has exceptional knee bend and hip flexibility in his retreat and shows good patience waiting for the defender to attack...His lateral slide lets him reach his cutoff point and readjust when working on the edge...His pass drop quickness lets him generate the depth needed to anchor...Demonstrates the footwork and balance to stay on his feet, move around and handle switch-offs...Takes good angles to cut off at the second level and has the flexibility to adjust and pickup coverages working down the field...Has that sudden burst off the line to gain advantage when positioning in-line and the quickness to reach the second level... Explosive hip roller who has the upper body strength to push and wall off...Shows vastly improved hand placement to jolt and control the defender...Plays on his feet and is an aggressive finisher...Can quickly gain position off the snap and takes good angles to cut off the second level defenders...Very effective when used on long pulls due to his speed and hip snap...Has the balance and agility to quickly slide and get to his reach point.

compares to

JORDAN GROSS-Carolina...Not since the days of Paul Gruber (1985-87) has Wisconsin had such a complete player at the left tackle position. Thomas is similar to Gross in that they use a great combination of quickness, field awareness and athletic agility to dominate on second level blocks. Gross struggled a bit at left tackle, but Thomas is athletic enough to have great success in one-on-one confrontations vs. edge rushers and blitzers.

negatives

Used to be inconsistent with his hands, but showed good improvement in 2006, throwing his hands with much quicker timing and learned to use his reach to press and keep the defender at bay...Has a strong punch to shock and jolt his opponent, but must do it with more consistency...Must bring his arms up quicker when punching, but he showed better consistency in 2006 in using his hands to gain position and replace in pass protection.

2006: Suffered a torn anterior ligament in his right knee vs. Auburn in the Capital One Bowl (1/02) while playing on the defensive line, banging his knee hard on the turf with 7:53 left in the third quarter after a 6-yard gain by Tigers tailback Ken Irons. He was helped to the sideline, where he underwent treatment and did not return. He underwent surgery on Jan. 19 and underwent a grueling rehabilitation. Thomas has already put in a tremendous amount of work to strengthen his knee and reshape his upper body. He was listed 295 pounds last season, but during rehab, he increased his weight to 313. Most of that 18-pound increase appears to be in his upper body, which is noticeably thicker than a year ago.

Campus: 5.09 in the 40-yard dash

Bench presses 225 pounds 28 times

32 1/2-inch arm length

9 3/4-inch hands

Right-handed

29/34 Wonderlic score.

Attended Brookfield (Wisc.) Central High School, playing football for head coach Rick Synold

Was a Prep Star (first-team) and USA Today (second-team) All-American offensive lineman

Rated the fourth-best offensive tackle in the nation according to Tom Lemming's Prep Football Report and ranked among top twenty offensive tackles nationally, top 25 players in the Midwest and was rated the third-best player in Wisconsin according to Rivals.com

Added Detroit Free Press All-Midwest, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first-team All-State honors as a defensive lineman and second-team All-State accolades as an offensive tackle as a senior

First-team All-State defensive pick by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association and Associated Press

Chosen 2002 WFCA Defensive Player of the Year with fellow Badger Justin Ostrowski, as Thomas recorded 85 tackles and 12 quarterback sacks as a senior, adding 70 tackles and eight sacks his junior campaign

.Three-time All-Conference selection in football, lettering four times in that sport

Also lettered four times in both track and basketball. He captained the football and basketball teams his senior year and was a four-time Honor Roll student, in addition to garnering U.S. Army Academic All-American honors

In track, Thomas finished fifth in the national finals in the shot put as a junior and was second in the shot put and 10th in the discus at the 2003 Adidas Outdoor Championships

Earned All-Conference, All-Area and All-State recognition in both the shot put and discus

Thomas won the 2003 Wisconsin state title in the shot put and discus and was the conference, regional and sectional champion in the shot put and discus during his final season

Finished fifth in the shot put at the 2002 Adidas Outdoor Championships

Placed third in the shot put and fourth in the discus at the state meet as a junior

Was the sectional and conference champion in the shot and discus that year.

Business major, with an emphasis in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics

Earned Academic All-Big Ten Conference and ESPN Academic All-District V honors (2004-05)

Son of Sally and Eric Thomas

Born 12/4/84

Resides in Brookfield, Wisconsin.