By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter
Southern vs. MVSU
WHEN: 4 p.m. today.
WHERE: Soldier Field (61,500),
ChicagoTV: None
RADIO: KQXL-FM, 106.5.
RECORDS: Southern 1-0 (0-0 SWAC), MVSU 1-0 (1-0 SWAC).
LAST MEETING: Southern won 31-14 in Baton Rouge last season.
SERIES: Southern leads 29-9
CHICAGO — Trent Thomas is defining what it is to be a good teammate before everyone’s eyes.
He didn’t ask to be a left tackle. He’s probably about 30 to 50 pounds too light and two or three inches shorter than the prototype for the position. And he had no experience playing what, with center, is one of the most important positions on an offensive line.
Yet there he was a week ago starting and there he will be again today for Southern University.
“Man, I just want to win a championship,” said Thomas, who said he is on pace to graduate with an electrical engineering degree in December 2008. “It doesn’t matter where you have me. Wherever you need me.”
If Southern, which plays Mississippi Valley State at 4 p.m. today at Soldier Field in the Chicago Football Classic, is to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference title for the first time since 2003, that will happen because the Jaguars are left with guys like Thomas, guys who want to be there.
The Jaguars (1-0) were whittled into this predicament by losing 15 players, most because of academic problems, since spring practice. Five of those were offensive linemen. Though only one of those was a tackle, the shifting and mixing and matching inside meant Thomas was not going to spend his senior season where he’d always been, at tight end.
Just days into preseason camp, Thomas got moved inside. Then, the move was a precaution, a just in case. Trent still held to the idea he’d be a tight end, at least most of the time. But as it became clear that, with the first three already not in camp, that two more would no longer be with the team this season, it also became clear that Thomas was going to be a left tackle. Because that’s what the team needed.
“I was kind of bitter about it at first,” said Thomas, the kind of student-athlete who is used to losing sleep to balance all he does. “I was like, ‘Man, I don’t want my senior season to be like that.’ Then I was like, ‘I’m not really worrying about myself. I’m trying to help my team out.’ ”
Thomas’ parents, Alphonso and Darlene, meanwhile, were upset.
“Were they? Man!,” Thomas said.
They felt their son was better at tight end, and they worried about him being undersized. Their son was, in essence, paying for the mistakes of others.
“They’re all right (now),” Thomas said. “They told me as long as I feel all right, they were going to be behind me 100 percent.”
Thomas and junior Evan Alexander entered this season as the only true tight ends on the roster. While SU produced the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s top tight end last season in Brian Washington (236 yards, a team-best seven touchdowns), the transition from offensive coordinator David Oliver to Mark Orlando, meant a pure tight end wasn’t as much of a necessity.
Alexander got more work in the backfield, and Thomas, out of dire need, moved to the line.
“People thought I was a little crazy when I moved Trent to offensive tackle,” SU coach Pete Richardson said. “What I was trying to do was get the best players we have on our football team to help us out.
“He and Alexander are probably two of the finest athletes we have on the field. We wanted to get them on the field.”
And so, Thomas became a left tackle three days into preseason camp.
No. 84 is now No. 52.
“We did that early enough (in camp) to build confidence up in him, because he’s an individual who is very intelligent, will learn the system and will do what you tell him,” Richardson said. “He’s done an outstanding job for us.”
The first few days felt strange.
“It was kind of different,” said Thomas, who has four career catches for 43 yards, including three grabs for 39 yards and a touchdown against Texas Southern in 2005. “I’d never blocked in a two-point stance. I’d always been in a three-point stance, taking off. That was a big adjustment, also blocking noseguards. Oh, and pass blocking. I wasn’t used to kicking back and pass blocking.”
Thomas, who was once second-team all-district at tight end and defensive end in Beaumont, Texas, said going against defensive end Vince Lands — another player undersized for his position but a scholar, an athlete and a guy who comes hard all the time — helped him develop.
Lands, who is 6-foot-1, 250 pounds, is also a good example of ends commonly found in SWAC. In other conferences, a player like Lands would be a linebacker.
That’s why, with SWAC play starting today for SU against Valley (1-0, 1-0 SWAC), Thomas being undersized from the NFL or major college football standards isn’t so much a detriment.
Thomas is 6-2, 248. That’s down 2 pounds from when he came to camp. Initially, coaches talked to him about bulking up to 270 or so.
“I feel I’m comfortable at this size right now,” said Thomas, who nevertheless insisted on changing his number to one in the 50s. “As long as I can move like I want to and still have my strength, I want to stay at this size.”
Thomas was happy with the reshuffled line’s debut in a 33-27 win over Florida A&M a week ago.
“They figured we’re young, kind of inexperienced, we’ve been moving around a lot and we might not be as physical,” Thomas said. “We showed them this past week.”
Thomas’ season, his approach, could be emblematic of the entire unit.
“It doesn’t matter how big you are,” Thomas said. “It’s how you bring it.”
