Senior Spotlight

TENACIOUS TYREL: Time, toughness highlight Bobcat career of Thomas

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BOZEMAN, Montana – Tyrel Thomas comes from what some would call the mean streets of Compton, California. And regardless of how you categorize inner-city Los Angeles or just how tough Thomas’s neighborhood really was, where Thomas grew up is certainly a world away from Bozeman, Montana.

During his Montana State football career, Thomas has immersed himself in the Treasure State way of life. He’s soaked up hunting and fishing and hiking. When former Montana State secondary coach Kyle Risinger tells stories about his former pupil, it didn’t take him long to mention that Thomas even earned the nickname “the Mayor of Whitefish.”

“He would go up with (Whitefish product) Luke May (a former Bobcat safety) to Whitefish and explore around,” Risinger remembered with a laugh. “Living the Montana life put the hook in him and helped him stick it out.

“He was a guy who would go out hunting and fishing with local Montana people and really experienced the culture around here instead of just sitting in the dorm or his apartment playing video games. He’s gone out in the community and around the area to see everything the state of Montana has to offer.”

The career arc for Thomas has been atypical. He came into Bozeman as a splashy recruit, a 2-star stud out of vaunted St. John Bosco Prep who played right away. He started the final three games of his rookie season, ending that freshman campaign with a signature moment that’s one of the pivotal, most unforgettable moments in the modern history of the football rivalry between the Bobcats and the archrival Montana Grizzlies.

Thomas broke up a fourth down pass on the final of MSU’s 31-23  victory over the Griz, Montana State’s first win over Montana in Bozeman since 2005. Thomas’s ensuing celebration perfectly encapsulated his exuberant personality. He broke up the pass and ran all the way out of the back of the end-zone.

That Bobcat victory basically got Bob Stitt fired, brought Bobby Hauck back to Montana and gave Montana State its second of what would become a four-game winning streak over the Grizzlies.

The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Thomas has made up for his lack of height and length with an aggressive playing style and an ability to talk smack just as aggressively. His penchant for contact and his willingness to tackle in space helped him make an impact instantly upon arriving on campus.

And Thomas’s commitment to MSU in recruiting years ago also helped unlock a key recruiting area for the Bobcats. Former assistants Gerald Alexander and Michael Pitre used Thomas’ name plus their well-earned reputations to make inroads in the Los Angeles area, particularly recruiting schools from the Trinity League, the prestigious conference that St. John Bosco is a part of.

Montana State cornerback Tyrel Thomas (0) in 2022/ by Brooks Nuanez

Those inroads helped MSU land prominent Trinity League alums like Travis Jonsen, Jalen Cole, Level Price Jr., plus highly regarded prospects from the L.A. area like Greg “Munchie” Filer Jr., Ty’Rhese and Ty’Rhae Gibson. Each prospect, regardless of if their stay in Bozeman was short or long, helped the Bobcats rebuild their secondary under former head coach Jeff Choate.

Thomas started battling injuries in 2018, missing four games. In 2019, Choate’s final season at the helm, Thomas started in 12 of Montana State’s 15 games, snaring two interceptions and breaking up 12 more, giving him 14 passes defended, the fifth-most in the Big Sky Conference that season.

The rest of the story has not been all roses for the fast-talking, magnetic cornerback who’s green eyes sometimes get so bid, it’s impossible to believe he plays football with anything but intensity. In January of 2021, Choate left for a co-defensive coordinator job at Texas. By last fall, Thomas had fallen all the way off the depth chart because of a persistent lower-body injuries that cost him enough time, Thomas got an extension on his career.

The late redshirt led to this, a fifth season and sixth year with a group of seven other super-senior Bobcats. And although Thomas has seen his position on the depth chart fall to backing up fellow senior James Campbell, despite the fact that Thomas has six tackles this season and several games with no statistics recorded, he remains committed to the team dynamic that has helped MSU enter Saturday’s game at Cal Poly with an unbeaten (6-0) record in league play and a No. 3 national ranking.

“I’ve always stayed because of the love of the game, the environment and I always wanted to take this all the way to the end as long as I could, until I have to throw the cleats on the wire,” Thomas said.

“It’s hard to think about it coming to an end. But sometimes, I don’t think about it because I don’t want to think about things that are not happening at the moment. And that takes away from just living in the moment of the here and now. That’s what I’m doing is living in the moment of where my 10 toes are at.”

Montana State cornerback Tyrel Thomas (2) in 2018/ by Jason Bacaj

Thomas played a much more integral role for the Bobcat defense in 2019 as a third-year junior then either of the last two seasons. Part of that has been injuries, part of it has been a new scheme under defensive coordinators Freddie Banks last season and Willie Mack Garza this season.

“He can definitely play,” Risinger said. “I remember telling Coach Vigen when he first got to Montana State, and I truly believe this: I think in 2019 the second half of the season between Tyrel and Damian Washington when we went on that run, on film, I didn’t see a whole lot of corners on film playing better than Damian and Tyrel.”

Part of Thomas being relegated to a backup role stems from the emergence of Campbell, who played wide receiver all the way through the Choate era. And part has come because of the emergence of Simeon Woodard, a stud recruit out of San Antonio, Texas who started the second half of his true freshman year last season and all year this year as well.

Thomas held down the starting role at nickel back during parts of his career, and again injuries forced him to the sidelines. Players like Ty Okada filled in and never looked back.

It would’ve been easy (and typical in today’s college football) for Thomas to leave. But his current head coach has been impressed with ability to adjust his perspective and soak in the final weeks and months of his experience at Montana State.

“It takes guys awhile sometimes to figure out what it truly is about,” MSU second-year head coach Brent Vigen said. “And I think more so this year, for Tyrel, it has shined the light on what’s really important. The games you play, the stats you put up, all that stuff, when you are young, that’s what you think it will be all about.

“When it’s beginning to come to an end, you realize it’s certainly about the degree you are walking away with. And I’m sure when you come from different parts of the country, what is Montana and Bozeman going to mean to you, you don’t have any idea when you step on campus.

“Tyrel has had his struggles staying on the field even before we got here. This year, he’s been forced to be even more unselfish with the opportunities he’s been granted. He’s playing through an injury now with his hand. He’s a great example of a guy who is leaving here better than he came and I think the clarity of what he was ultimately supposed to experience here is becoming more clear.”

While Compton and St. John Bosco Prep are certainly a world away from Bozeman, Thomas had actually already been to the Gallatin Valley before Montana State offered him a scholarship.

He had been up to see a friend who was a year older who was going to school at MSU. So when one of his classmates asked, “Where the heck is Montana State?” after Thomas shared the news of his offer, Thomas pointed it out on a map with no trouble.

Gerald Alexander, the charismatic former Montana State cornerbacks coach who quickly rose from MSU to coaching in the NFL, helped unlock the Los Angeles area in recruiting for the Bobcats early in the Choate era. Alexander and Michael Pitre — at the time, MSU’s recruiting coordinator who also had deep ties in SoCal’s Trinity League — knew getting elevated talent from the LA area would be a key to revamping MSU’s roster coming out of a 2016 campaign when it was needed.

Montana State won only two Big Sky Conference games in Choate’s first season seven years ago.

“He was a big get for us because it opened up the door for us to L.A.,” said Risinger, who spent six seasons coaching various secondary positions for MSU. “We used his name in L.A. for years after we had gotten him because everyone knew who he was.”

Although Choate and his staff showed a high acumen for recruiting high-level  players — Thomas was a 2-star recruit and fellow Trinity League cornerback Jalen Cole of Mater Dei was a 3-star and one of the top-rated FCS recruits in the Class of 2017 — the Bobcat program was still defining the type of recruit that would fit in Bozeman from a non-football perspective.

“Any time you take a new job, you don’t know exactly what is going to fit,” Choate said. “We kind of stumbled on to some of those guys early on but that became the blueprint.

“If you saw our recruiting manual, it obviously had measureables we were looking for. But if you would look to intangibles, that’s what we looked to. Guys like Tyrel, Jalen, it’s the intangible qualities that help them make it in a place like Bozeman.

“It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s not diverse but these guys have the adaptability to do it.”

Tyrel Thomas (2) in 2018/ by Brooks Nuanez

Risinger said that one common factor from that Class of 2017 for players wanting to stay was “a strong support system at home from their families”. Encouragement from mothers and fathers — particularly ones like Thomas’s parents Durel and Keisha Thomas who had the ability to come to games — helped keep those athletes who were a long way from home from getting too homesick.

“The support from back home and his parents truly believed in us and what we were doing helped us and Tyrel to continue to be successful,” Risinger said.

“Sometimes, you get kids who are unhappy — and let’s be honest, everybody is unhappy in football and in college in general at some point, everybody gets home sick — but having that support system to help them stick through this is very important.”

Thomas knew a little bit about Bozeman before arriving. But when he first dove into playing college football, he starting realizing just how different life would be living in the heart of the Rockies. 

“Once I committed and came out here, that’s when things started feeling like a blur and very different in a sense,” Thomas said. “I just wanted to be in a new environment. And I came out here and it was open skies that I was never used to seeing. California, we have a lot of skyscrapers, not big skies.”

Adjusting to a new lifestyle is a challenge for any 18-year-old. Thomas didn’t have nearly the learning curve adjusting on the football field.

During his senior year at St. John Bosco, the Braves had one of their most successful seasons in program history. And that’s saying something given the level of national prominence the all-boys prep school in Bellflower, California has risen to.

The St. John Bosco football website reads:

Achievement does not come easy.  It involves belief in your system, belief in your coaches and most important, belief in your players. Bosco football has transitioned. Over the past decade, the Bosco Braves have become a national brand, known by every high school football aficionado in the nation.  The Braves hold a Trinity League record for consecutive league wins at 23 from 2011-2016, thereby dominating the most competitive football league in America. Three California State Championships and two National Championships has propelled Bosco football to a new level of performance and success.

Former Montana State secondary coach Kyle Risinger in 2018/by Brooks Nuanez

During Thomas’s senior year in 2016, the Braves won the CIF state title and finished as the nation’s second-ranked high school football program. Thomas registered 92 tackles, six interceptions, two touchdowns, a sack and a forced fumble to earn second-team All-Trinity League accolades.

“They want their kids to be program ready not for us but for the next level,” Thomas said. “They were already teaching us to wake up early, go lift first, go to school, then come back to practice. However they could make it college oriented, that’s how they did it.”

During his time competing in the Trinity League, Thomas battled against players like Drake London, who was the No. 8 pick in last spring’s NFL Draft and is a standout rookie with Thomas’ former teammate Troy Andersen for the Atlanta Falcons. Thomas possesses strong level of self confidence and playing corner has a lower barrier of entry. So Thomas made an impact early.

“He came from a winning program and he knew how to do things the right way,” Risinger said. “He knew how to lead and he knew how to follow, which is something that’s underrated. You can’t have too many cooks in the kitchen. Coming from a big program and playing at an early age in a big program, he knew how to get in and fit in.”

Thomas played well as a true freshman. And that came to a head in Bozeman with a desperate Montana team in town. The Grizzlies were playing, essentially, for head coach Bob Stitt’s job.

With Montana State leading 31-23, Thomas one of the most memorable plays of the game, and one of the most memorable plays of his career.

Skyline Sports wrote on November 18, 2017:

Montana State cornerback Tyrel Thomas (2) vs. Montana in 2017/by Brooks Nuanez

Three plays later on fourth down, Jensen looked for Curran, who was blanketed by Thomas. The Bobcat true freshman jumped the route and broke up his third pass of the day. Thomas sprinted the length of the field after forcing a turnover on downs, surely the biggest play of his young career.

“I can’t even explain it man, I saw that ball and went to drive on it and I couldn’t stop running,” Thomas said. “It shouldn’t have been a pick but I couldn’t stop running. This experience is unbelievable.”

“Whenever you make a play like that to win the game, you will be remembered forever,” Bobcat senior captain linebacker Mac Bignell added. “I don’t know if he knows that but that was an incredible performance by him. To make that play to win the game, he’ll be remembered forever.”

The challenges for Thomas began before even officially moving to campus. While he was on his official visit, Choate sat Thomas and Cole down to tell them the bad news: Alexander, the confident corner backs coach who had recruited them, was on his way to coach in the Pac 12 at Cal.

Thomas rose to prominence early, then started what has been an almost endless battle with staying healthy. He’s seen GA and Risinger and Banks all move on to different opportunities. And he’s seen his position group change more each off-season than the rest of the positions on the roster.

Cole medically retired years ago. The Gibson twins transferred back home. Filer bailed to join Big Sky rival Sac State.

On February 1, 2017, Choate announced what he called “the Class of Champions” because almost every single one of the 27 signees came from state championship-winning programs, including Thomas. He is one of six signees — Campbell, fullback R.J. Fitzgerald, inside linebacker Callahan O’Reilly, wide receiver Willie Patterson and injured defensive tackle Kyle Rygg — from that signing class that still play for the Bobcats. All but Rygg are significant contributors to the 2022 Bobcats. Whether it’s playing a on a spot down, or running down on kickoff to make a tackle, Thomas has found a way to evolve at every turn.

The intense kid from Compton has always been determined to make it to the end. And now as he sees his career winding down, liberal studies degree in hand, he can put into perspective just how glad he is that he’s done his best to experience what the Treasure State has to offer.

“Being a brother, having someone’s back no matter what, that’s what I’ve learned,” Thomas said. “Whether it’s helping them deal with trials and tribulations — everybody is going to have their ups and downs and no one is going to have a straight line to climb to the top — that’s what I always will remember.

“Being injured, being away from your family, it can take a toll on you. That can get into a lot of people’s heads. But here, everyone has supported me, they’ve been my best friends and being the best teammates, and that’s something I will never forget.

PHOTO GALLERY BY BROOKS NUANEZ

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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