NC State WR Thayer Thomas: "It's Been A Special Ride"

NC State wide receiver Thayer Thomas met with the media to discuss Senior Day and the home matchup against Boston College.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview with Thomas.

How do you process this being your last home game?
Yeah, obviously it's here, finally. And I've taken this week to really just take it all in and understand that it's going to be my last time going out in the stadium here, playing in Raleigh. So, just going to take it all in and live in the moment, and not look too far ahead because it's been a special ride for me here for sure, and I'll definitely miss it.

Does it feel different from, because you walked last year... does it feel different this year?
Yeah, I feel like I don't have anything left on the table. Last year, I could come back or whatever, but now I feel like I poured everything into it and it's maybe a little bit more satisfying, walking out the way I'm walking out this year, just pouring everything into it.

What has your journey been like here? Obviously you come in as a walk-on, you get a little bit of a chance to play as a redshirt freshman, but you get a starting role for the last several years. What has that journey been like here at NC State?
Yeah, it's been a blessing. For one, I'm in my hometown. For two, I get to play with my family, Drake. And then obviously I've gained a lot of other family here, all my teammates. And then my family, my home, my mom, my dad, they all get to come to the games. Every weekend, we have family coming, we have friends coming and it's just been special. And it's definitely, probably, if you would've told me that everything that's happened in my career here five years ago, I would've told you it probably wouldn't have happened. It's crazy to think about it and it's been a blessing and a dream come true to be able to live this process through.

Torry Holt had some nice things to say about you. I don't know if it got back to you or not. But what kind of influence has he been?
Yeah. Honestly, when I was in high school, I really didn't know what my path was going to be like, what sport I was going to choose. And to be honest with you, going into my junior and senior year, I probably would've said football was the least of the three that I played, that I was going to play in the next level just based on my size and just based on what I thought of myself as a player. I thought I was an okay player, but I would say him and Dwayne Washington really spoke highly of me, spoke confidence in me, and it really led me to be able to play here. I felt like those guys were definitely influencing people in my life that really helped me out.

You talked about the fact that last year you got to walk-out; Drake gets a chance to do that again this year. You talked about it a little bit about how much fun has it been to be able to play with him; how much have you talked to him about what that moment's going to be like and the decision that he has to make?
Yeah, our journey goes all the way back to the backyard one-on-ones that we used to do. We used to play football at halftime games of Super Bowls back in the day in our living room with couches and the two couches were the touchdowns. I remember Tom Brady was playing the Panthers in the Super Bowl and we were playing football at halftime. I remember it like was yesterday. But just experiencing everything I had with him, even going through high school, it's been a blessing. And to play the level that we're playing at, at our hometown, you can't really speak to it. It's been a dream come true and it's hard to even put into words.

How much have you seen through your eyes, MJ becoming more that vocal leader and making this, now that he's been thrust into this position, taking control, making this all his team?
Yeah, it is hard for a young guy like him to take control of a team as veteran we are. And so, I'm looking at it as I have someone that's basically my little brother's age, throw me passes out there. I think I try to do my best to just help him out, talk him through situations like, "hey, we have this, remember this." I never really used to do that with Devin because I knew Devin knew everything that was going on. I know MJ does too, but for me it's a little... I look at him as more of a little brother and I just try to make sure that he knows everything that's going on. But he's definitely taking the leadership role on really well. He talks when he needs to speak and he's done a really good job.

How much do you guys feel like the wide receiver group has stepped up to really make plays for him and to make sure that this offense continues going?
Yeah, I mean I think that's what was needed to happen just because you have Devin Leary, he's such a great talent and he's able to do a lot of things for us, but with the situation that we had at hand with the two new quarterbacks to make their lives easier, we knew we had to step up our play and just make the plays that came our way and maybe make a couple more. So, I think that we've done a good job of just taking what we've done at practice onto the game field and just really taking practice seriously, because that's how you make plays in the game is when you make them in practice.

You've been here long enough, you've gone through the highs and the lows and the highs again of this program. But how much of a bond is there with the players that have been here forever going through all the things like the four and eight season, Covid, and Grant talked about going through those times is really maybe propelled you all to have a thicker skin to get through tough situations.
I think we've been through a lot, especially me and Grant in Isaiah Moore's class. We've been through the highs. We won nine games, won nine games, then we only won four and we won eight and then we won nine or 10, whatever you want to call it. And then we have this year, we have a chance to do the same.

I think it's just we had success early then you don't have success and how do you make up for that? How do you respond to that? I think that's what life is like. You have things that hit you in the mouth in life and you got to be able to respond. And so, I think that just shows what kind of guys that everybody in the locker room are and we've done a good job of responding, I feel like throughout our career here.