By MATT VAUTOUR
Raquan Thomas admitted he was nervous when he first took the field for the UMass football team on Saturday.
A year ago he was preparing to play Imhotep Charter on a field that doesn’t have stands on one side. So the prospect of playing in front of 88,000 at the Swamp was daunting for the true freshman.
But the Philadelphia native became a rare offensive lineman to start in his first career game and made a good showing.
After quarterbacks, offensive lineman are usually the players most often redshirted. The jump from high school to college requires learning a considerably more complicated playbook and many players aren’t physically ready until they’ve spent a year on a college weightlifting program.
But Thomas, who is listed at 6-foot-5, 392 pounds, showed the coaching staff he was ready and he drew the start at left guard.
“He made some mistakes. They’re pretty fast at Florida,” UMass coach Mark Whipple said. “He’s done a good job. When he knows what he’s doing, he’s doing a good job. Those other guys have done a great job around him. Fabian and Elijah have all been there (to help). He’s going to be good. … The biggest improvement for a lot of these young guys is in the second game.”
Whipple was referring to center Fabian Hoeller and left tackle Elijah Wilkinson, whom not only sandwich Thomas on the line, but have helped speed his acclimation.
“The whole line has really helped, but Fabian and Elijah, I’m right in the middle,” he said. “They make sure I know the plays. If I forget I can ask them and they let me know. They never leave me hanging. They show me how to simplify things.”
His size can help make up for some inexperience. He was over 35 pounds heavier than everyone on the Gator roster and is more than 80 pounds larger than anyone on Boston College.
“He has unreal talent. It’s through the roof,” said UMass sophomore quarterback Ross Comis. “If he makes mistakes in games, he’s still learning. He’s getting into the playbook more and more as the weeks go on. But physically he’s unreal. He makes plays and makes blocks on Florida defensive linemen.”
Thomas missed time early in training camp with an infection in his hand, forcing him to play catch-up. He felt more confident as camp progressed and felt more confident as Saturday’s game progressed.
“Through the game I started feeling better,” he said. “My O-line helped me out a lot, helping me out with the plays so I could react instead of thinking.”
He’d eventually like to be a little lighter.
“The goal is to keep coming down in weight so I can better myself. All that weight on my knees build up a lot of stress,” said Thomas, who thought continued time with strength coach Joe Connolly would help. “My goal is to get as strong as I can. That’s going to be nice. I like the weight room.”
He said he’s just scratching the surface for his potential.
“Each week if I keep working harder, I’m going to get better. I know it’s going to get much better from here,” he said. “My talent and my hard work and dedication is going to take me farther.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage