The brother of NC State wide receiver Thayer, Drake Thomas has an NFL-level skillset. He’s a good zone coverage half-field linebacker prospect. His size isn’t exactly ideal, and he appears to lack some of the typical length normally found at that position. While Thomas is a good tackler, he is most effective making stops in between the tackles. Some of his boundary pursuit isn’t idea. Regardless, there are tools to work with here and Thomas is going to turn some heads.
HT: 6002
WT: 238
Year: Super Junior
High School: Heritage (Wake Forest, NC)
Rating: 3-star (0.8755)
Drake Thomas scouting notes
Pros:
- Decent speed. Solid overall athlete. Great closing speed.
- Very solid lateral quickness. Moves really well laterally in coverage and in any other function.
- Solid wrap up tackling technique. Punishing hit power.
- Works downhill through gaps extremely well.
- Very solid blitz timer. Understands how to work through blocking schemes undetected.
- Solid space defender. Played well in spy roles against Louisville. Consistently makes the stops that he needs to by himself.
- Capable in zone coverage. Not as instinctive as he could be but does a good job disrupting pass lanes. Just needs to understand what’s going on around him better.
Cons:
- Does struggle to keep his feet sometimes.
- Doesn’t have the athletic ability to stay with running backs in man coverage, especially when he has to work across the formation.
- Drake Thomas’ size and lack of length could prove to be a detriment to his evaluation.
