Just spoke with four-star Tennessee defensive line signee Omari Thomas of Braircrest Christian School in Eads, Tenn., here at check-in for the All-American Bowl in San Antonio. He measured in at 6 feet 4 inches, 319 pounds. He'll be playing on the defensive line this week for the East team, and he's wearing jersey No. 37, although he said he's hoping to wear No. 5 for the Vols.
Thomas said he's happy to have the recruiting process behind him. He initially planned to sign in February, but after announcing his commitment to Tennessee on Dec. 9, he said he just decided he was happy with his decision and ready to finalize things with the Vols.
After being a two-way lineman throughout his high-school career, he's looking forward to focusing on the defensive line starting this week. He said he believes working on just one side of the ball will help his development, and he thinks he can be special on the defensive line. Tennessee's coaches have told him they expect him to play multiple positions on the defensive line, and he's hoping to slim down to about 305 pounds by the time he arrives in Knoxville in late May.
He's currently playing for Briarcrest's basketball team — he's missing a few games this week, including a showdown with IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla., on Saturday, to be here for Saturday's game — and he said he likely will throw shot put again this spring, but he probably won't play tennis again this year. Once basketball season is over, he'll start turning his attention to getting ready for Tennessee, and mostly doing a lot of running, while continuing to throw shot put.
Looking back on the recruiting process, he admitted there were times when Tennessee didn't lead — he said Texas A&M and Auburn, his other two finalists, were up there, and there was one point when he was high on Ole Miss — and there were times when he didn't really have a leader in mind. But he admitted the Vols led for the majority of the time.
We'll have multiple stories on Thomas this week and full coverage from his practices over the next couple of days.