Justin Micheal Bryant Thomas (born March 15, 1994) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

and signed with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He has also been a member of the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

, Atlanta Legends, and

DC Defenders The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne Johnson’s Alpha Acquico. The ...

. He is now Quarterbacks Coach of the Prattville Lions.

Early years

Thomas attended

Prattville High School Prattville High School, formerly Autauga County High School, is a high school in Prattville, Alabama, United States. It forms part of the Autauga County School System. In 2010, it had an enrollment of 2,109 students and a faculty of 103 teachers i ...

Prattville, Alabama Prattville is a city located within both Autauga and Elmore counties in the State of Alabama but serves as the county seat of Autauga County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,781. Nicknamed "The Fountain City" due to t ...

. He played football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. He helped lead the Lions to win the Alabama class 6A state football championship in 2011.

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

rated him as a four-star recruit in football. He originally committed the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

to play

but changed to

. He made the change due to Georgia Tech offering him a chance to play quarterback. Alabama had indicated that he would be used as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

College career

Thomas was redshirted for his freshman season at Georgia Tech in 2012. As a redshirt freshman in 2013, he played in 10 games as a backup to

Vad Lee Lavaedeay Monlique "Vad" Lee (born April 27, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League (USFL). He previously played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and BC Lions of the Canadian F ...

. He completed nine of 17 passes for 131 yards and one passing

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

and rushed for 234 yards on 33 carries and two touchdowns. Thomas took over as the starter in 2014 after Lee transferred. He went on to start all 14 games including the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

victory against

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

led by

Dak Prescott Rayne Dakota Prescott (born July 29, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State, where he twice received first-team All- SEC honors, a ...

. He was named the MVP of the game after he had 125 passing yards, a passing touchdown, 121 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. For the season, he passed for 1,719 yards and 18 touchdowns with six interceptions and rushed for 1,086 yards and eight touchdowns. The 2015 season was one that was marred by injuries. The team finished with a dismal 3-9 record. Thomas' most notable performance of the season was against then undefeated Florida State. He rushed for a 60 yard touchdown that kept the Yellow Jackets in the game, making the score 10-13. The team moved on, and Thomas lead the way to an impressive 2016 season. He led the Yellow Jackets to wins over SEC teams Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Georgia. Thomas had a historic game against Duke, passing for 264 yards and two touchdowns, and running for 195 yards and 2 more touchdowns. The team went 9-4 on the season. Thomas is regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in Georgia Tech history.

College statistics

Year* 2012 – red shirt

Professional career

New Orleans Saints

Thomas signed with the

as an undrafted free agent after participating in the team's rookie minicamp as a

and wide receiver. He was waived on July 29, 2017.

Los Angeles Rams

On August 3, 2017, Thomas signed with the

. He was waived on August 18, 2017.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On August 23, 2017, Thomas was signed by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. He was waived on September 2, 2017, and was then signed to the practice squad the next day. He was released on September 20, 2017, but re-signed six days later. He was released on October 18, 2017, but was re-signed on November 6. He was released again on November 20 and re-signed on December 21. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Steelers on January 16, 2018. On August 27, 2018, Thomas was waived by the Steelers.

Atlanta Legends

For the

2019 AAF season The 2019 AAF season was the only season in the history of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which began on February 9, 2019. A ten-week regular season was scheduled for each of the league's eight teams. On April 2, multiple sources indic ...

, Thomas signed with the Atlanta Legends. He was waived on April 1, 2019.

DC Defenders

In October 2019, Thomas was picked by the

as part of the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social m ...

's open phase. He was released during mini-camp in December 2019.

References

External links

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bioESPN Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Justin 1994 births Living people Players of American football from Montgomery, Alabama American football quarterbacks Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players New Orleans Saints players Los Angeles Rams players Pittsburgh Steelers players Atlanta Legends players DC Defenders players People from Prattville, Alabama