Marcus Thomas (born September 23, 1985) is a former

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 ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

. Thomas 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 ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

Early years

Thomas was born in

Yokosuka, Japan is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...

. He attended

Mandarin High School Mandarin High School (MHS) is a public high school in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It was established in 1990 and is part of the Duval County Public Schools district. As of 2010, it is the second-largest high school in Duval County fol ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, where he was an all-state high school football player for the Mandarin Mustangs.

College career

Thomas accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

team from

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 97, 99, 186 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011. In November 2006, he was kicked off the team for violating the terms of his reinstatement from a drug-related suspension. He missed curfew, went on an unapproved out of town trip, and skipped a mandatory drug counseling session. Thomas was an anthropology major.

Professional career

Denver Broncos

Thomas was picked in the fourth round with the 121st overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. On July 11, Thomas signed a 4-year contract with the club worth a reported $3 million.Quick Hit - 4th Round Pick Marcus Thomas Locked Up
BroncoTalk. Retrieved on July 12, 2007

New York Giants

On August 16, 2012, Thomas signed a one-year deal with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. On August 31, 2012, Thomas was released by the

Toronto Argonauts

On October 16, 2013, Thomas was signed by the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

to a practice roster agreement. On February 10, 2015, Thomas became a free agent.

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts profile

Marcus Thomas
– Florida Gators player profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Marcus 1985 births Living people African-American players of Canadian football American football defensive tackles Denver Broncos players Florida Gators football players New York Giants players People from Yokosuka, Kanagawa Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida Mandarin High School alumni Toronto Argonauts players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people