Thayer Thomas: "We Know How Much Is At Stake"

NC State wide receiver Thayer Thomas met with the media to discuss his role as a punt returner, facing Syracuse's 3-3-5 scheme, and much more!

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Syracuse runs a similar scheme to you guys. Does that help you with the game this week? Maybe playing against your defense during practice and Fall and all those things?
Yeah. I know they drop a lot of guys. They play that three weak defense, and they also play five across and drop a guy down, like a little similar to Mississippi State as well.

I think as much as we've gone against our defense over the years, I know when Coach Gibson sort of first installed that defense, we had trouble with it, but just by going against it everyday in practice, now it's a lot easier for us.

We feel pretty confident going against that type of defense.

Coach talked about all that you guys still had to look forward to in this season and that it all wasn't lost after the Wake Forest game. Have you latched on to that idea and moved forward and feeling pretty good about where this team can get to?
Yeah. First of all, it starts with us.

We just got to take the next two games one game at a time. Then also know in the back of our head that Wake goes and plays at Clemson. I know Clemson hasn't at lost home in probably 30-plus games, so it's definitely a challenge for Wake Forest to go there and beat Clemson at Clemson.

Then you never know, they go to Boston College on their senior day at the end of November, which is going to be probably a cold game and they got their quarterback back.

So I think we're very confident in ourselves to finish out the way we're supposed to. Then also we know that we still have a chance at this thing. We just got to do our part and then hope and pray.

So you guys are actually holding out hope that you can still get this share of the ACC title?
Yeah.

Is that the case for you guys?
Yeah. If we take care of business and then things play out like I think they will, we definitely have a chance to go to Charlotte. Once again, we got to focus on Syracuse. Then once we do that, we've got to focus on the next game and everything will take care of itself.

With just the amount of guys who were limping off the field against Wake Forest, was there an extra emphasis on rest and recovery this week, and maybe some guys just taking a little more time to take care of their bodies?
Yeah. I think our team's a pretty veteran group, so each week after a game you're always sort of banged up. Everybody sort of feels the same, but that's everywhere in college football. Everybody sort of feels that at this time of the year.

So I think we have a really veteran, older group, which understands the importance of getting your recovery in. Like on a Monday, you're in the training room for multiple hours doing what you're supposed to do in the cold tubs. Then just knowing the importance of getting your sleep at night.

I think everybody just is taking that very seriously at this time of the year, just because it could give you an edge on the field on Saturday.

Speaking of an edge, you had a pretty good game against Syracuse last year. How much do you personally go back and watch that film to see what worked well for you against the same team a year ago?
I looked at the game last night. I’ll probably look at the game again today. Obviously, they'll probably watch that film as well and try to fix things that they definitely didn't have, I guess, the gameplan for, like they did last year. You look at that film and just try to see what worked. See what didn't work, and obviously they're going to try to fix the things that worked for us.

You watch it. I watched every game that we played last year; the team we played this year, I go back and watch that game. Even when we played Louisville two weeks ago, I went back and watched the 2019 game. Yeah, I do that usually for every game. So, it's very helpful to have film on yourself against an opposing team.

For you guys, both of the other losses this year have been close and tough games on the road, but then you've come back the next week at home and been able to really take care of business. You touched on it a little bit ago with maturity in the rest and recovery, but what is it about this group that's allowed you guys to be able to flush those losses and bounce back?
I think maybe in times before where it's like, I don't know, maybe in years prior we've had a loss and it's been more of a.... There's been a couple losses where we really haven't been in the game. This year it's almost like every loss I feel like we're right there. We understand how good we are and we don't let a loss here, a loss there define what we think of ourselves and what we think of the season.

I think we just do a great job of flushing it and have the confidence that we're still a great team. We can go out, and we have a chance to win every game that we play. So we know that going into every game.

With the final two weeks coming up on the line, we know how much is at stake. People wanted to say the Wake Forest game was the game of the year, but if we would've beat Wake Forest, this Syracuse game would be the game of the year, because we would still have to win that game. So it's just taking it one game at a time. Understanding each game is just as important as the other one, is a key concept that we like to grasp onto.

I always felt like one of the hardest things to do in the game was field a punt. When it's 11 guys bearing down on you and the crowd is screaming and the ball so high. Pull back the curtain and talk us through that experience, and what's that like, doing it five or six times a game. What are your keys? Just talk us through it.
Yeah, I'll go back to when I was a freshman and just trying to find my way on the team, and I didn't have a role at all. I started with Nyheim; in my first ever college practice he encouraged me to come catch punts, just because he thought it would be a good way to get me on the field. My receiver coach at the time was surprised I came back there. There was three other guys around me at the time; it was Nyheim, Jakobi, and Jay Sam, all NFL guys. I walked over there and started catching punts, and he was like, you're not really supposed to be over here. Nyheim told coach to chill out, I would end up being the punt returner one day, and I laughed about it.

Then that next year it ended up happening. My first ever return, I returned, I think, a 40-yard ball against James Madison.

Ever since then... I think it's one of the hardest positions to do on the football field. It gets under-looked a little bit. The toughness of being able to judge a ball, being able to see [if] you should return it or not, catching all these different types of kicks. We played Miami, the kid kicks with his right foot, his left foot. Florida State, same thing. The whole game he rolls out to his right, kicks it with his right foot. Then one time in the third quarter he rolls to the left and kicks it with his left. It's just so much goes into it.

I probably catch punts three times a week in the offseason with Trent. I go catch Trent Gill’s punts. I have a really consistent routine with that. I go back to my freshman year and my sophomore year. I think I've been pretty consistent with making good decisions and being able to return the balls I need to return, but then again, we're not always perfect. I've dropped a few back when I was a younger player, but just so I can make sure I do the right things, I catch probably 10, about 10, 15 punts after practice each day just because I know how important it is to our team, that I make good decisions and I secure the ball.

It's really hard, though. I definitely think it can help me in the future at the next level for sure, to make a team.

Okay, but catching 10 after practice, just you and Trent is one thing, but when you're in a stadium with 60,000 people, especially on the road, there's 11 guys bearing down on you, what's that like?
I know it's tough.

I could probably tell you every time I go out there, the other team, on the sideline, they're yelling at me like, drop the ball, drop the ball. That's happened multiple times.

Gavin Locklear is a very close guy to me on the staff. He played with me my freshman year, but he's a GA here now. He usually lines up close to where I'm at every punt that I have to return. He screams at the top of his lungs, usually when I should return it, versus when I should fair catch it. So he's sort of my eyes a little bit. I can hear him almost every game. There's been times where I couldn't hear him, but there's been also times where I do hear him and he helps me. He has a good judge on it, too.

So we work together in that aspect of it, but it's tough. You got to have some guts doing it, but I think I'm the right guy. I wouldn't want to have it any other way.

I imagine tracking it in the air goes back to baseball skills, finding that ball in the air?
Yeah, for sure. I don't know which one I would think would be harder, but definitely the spin on the ball is really hard sometimes to track, especially when the weather's bad.

Against Wake Forest, it was pretty windy and cold, so that had an effect on the way the ball was moving in the air. There's been different games in my career, like we played UNC one time and it was raining, and it's tough. Someone's got to do it, and I think I've done a pretty good job of it throughout my time here.

Some people refuse to fair catch. Are you one of those guys who you would rather catch it and field it every time, or do the coaches tell you, be smart and fair catch most of the time?
They trust me to do whatever.

I'm a veteran guy and they don't really get in my ear too much on what I should and shouldn't do. There's been times this year that I've actually tried to return it where I probably should have fair caught it. That might help my average a little bit more if I would've fair caught it.

Then there has been times, a few times, where I feel like I could have returned one, and I didn't just because I didn't feel comfortable on the read of the ball or something and they completely understand that... just based on the amount of times I've been back there and the decisions I've made in the past.

So they let me free when it comes to that.