", Texas A&M, for its part, tried to get rid of the ball quickly. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. "We made some changes at halftime to free Derrick Thomas," Alabama coach Bill Currry said later, according to Penn State's student newspaper, the Daily Collegian. I can imagine such a pride that you'd feel as a player to receive this honor. DO NOT respond to this profile if you are not a trained and currently licensed professional. [5], Thomas was selected fourth overall in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Going into the end zone, he went with this goal of setting up a program, a foundation that he could help or give back. College Football at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. Green said Thomas had no movement or control of movement below his chest level. He's a student of the game, who continues to model his game after an all-timer like . He might have been taken one pick ahead of Deion Sanders in the first round of the 1989 NFL draft, but Thomas wasn't flashy like "Prime Time. Please see our Contributors and Sources page for data source details. The linebacker made the Pro Bowl nine times, recorded 126.5 career sacks as one of the best pass rushers ever. 2: 0: . 32 Derrick Thomas Position Guard Height 6-4 Weight 185 Class Senior Hometown New York, N.Y. High School St. John's College High School (D.C.) Bio Stats Historical Biography One of three Drexel seniorshas started 90 games and appeared in 93 during his careerenters his final season with 663 career points and 176 assists. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). He kept you guessing.". Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. I know that the other Chiefs Hall of Famers here, and some are past, welcome Derrick also. Left and right arrows move across top level links and expand / close menus in sub levels. ", How'd it feel to be sacked by Derrick Thomas? Do you have a blog? Biography. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. I started at the 35-yard line and ended up at the 50 because I was a little dazed. Thomas has several fractures in his cervical. [1st] Most Opponents Fumbles Forced, Season - 8 (1992) Complete 1990 Kansas City Chiefs Score Team Set / 25 Total Football Cards / Derrick Thomas / Okoye / Case Fresh! The player picked after Thomas was Florida State CB Deion Sanders by the Atlanta Falcons, giving the 1989 draft four future Pro Football Hall of Famers in the first five selections. You see, Derrick and I had a special connection. Derrick To Be Great. Even the NFL -- which made it a stat in 1982 -- understood that sacking the quarterback while he's attempting to pass is vital to a defense's success and should have its own metric. It's a real nightmare when there's a player like that on the other team.". Thomas spinal column was fractured at the C-5 vertebrae level and in the thoracic vertebrae level. What did dinosaurs evolve that eventually allowed them to evolve into birds? And even then Pavlas' confidence was lifted when Thomas was later inducted into both the Pro Football and College Football Halls of Fame. Get the latest news, stats and more about Derrick Green on Eurobasket, Mad Foxes Yerevan, Antelope Valley University, Antelope Valley, Antelope Valley University, Lake Clifton Derrick Thomas' career was meteoric, he became a symbol of our team's success, and certainly we had other outstanding players at that time, Neil Smith, Christian Okoye, Deron Cherry, Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Will Shields and Tony Gonzalez to simply talk about a few prominent ones. Derricks injuries are primarily to the spinal column, Dr. Jon Browne, the Chiefs team doctor, said. Those tell part of the story. [2nd] Most Opponents Fumbles Forced, Season - 6 (1990, 1994) He came back to Marty and I, and he said, what do you think? Derrick had aspirations beyond the football field. Forged by the fact that we both came to Kansas City about the same time, and Derrick was my first draft pick. Francis tried to escape to his right -- "That didn't work well," he said sarcastically -- and Thomas was on him in the blink of an eye, pulling Francis down to the ground, landing on his shoulder and creating a separation in the area of the collarbone that never fully healed. At 6-foot-4, he checked in at a relatively trim 230 pounds. [1st] Most Safeties, Career - 3 Just answer me one question, why would we be having our best pass rusher run away from the quarterback?. On February 8, 2000, Chiefs legend Derrick Thomas was involved in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. "But obviously we didn't do a very good job because he had three sacks. 3 career safeties. Derrick Thomas was elected into the Hall of Fame as a Player in 2009. He was a tremendous athlete, great quickness. Thomas, a 6-foot-3, 243-pound physical specimen, had just finished his 11th season as an All-Pro linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs. No one is even close to what Thomas managed back in '88. Thomas' sack total also is the SEC's career record. Player in 2009 Two weeks later, at 33, he died of a . All Drafted Players. Find out more. inMiami,FL, Died: Representing the Thomas family, I'm proud to accept on behalf of my father, Derrick Thomas, his enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. . The National Football Foundation announced on Thursday, that former Chiefs linebacker, Derrick Thomas will be inducted posthumously into the College Football Hall of Fame. "Any time that ball's inside the 10-yard line, they signal safety, we signal safety and then we go all out.". [3] Thomas started playing football when he was three years old, and played his high school football at South Miami Senior High School. That's where his intimidation came from, the fact that you knew what he was capable of. In the Chiefs week 10 game against the Seattle Seahawks, he broke Fred Dean's 7-year old record of sacks in a single game with 7 sacks. Thomas' performance broke the school single-game record of six that he had set exactly two months earlier against Kentucky. In addition to his career sack total, Thomas also forced 45 fumbles, had 19 fumble recoveries, scored four touchdowns on fumble returns and added three safeties. Counseling Guide. 2 player on Alabama's all-time list, Kindal Moorehead, who had 25. Derrick Thomas Overview Minor Lg Stats Minors Game Logs & Splits Minor League Batting Game Logs & Splits (s.2008) 2008 More More Derrick Thomas Pages at Baseball Reference ", Said Pavlas: "I am proud I got the chance to play against him and probably added to his sack total quite a bit. Derrick Thomas, part of the 2014 College Football Hall of Fame class, racked up 27 sack in 1988 and left Alabama with 52 in his collegiate career. Thirty years ago this fall, Thomas first etched his name in the history books when he recorded 27 sacks, a mark that still stands to this day. Do you have a sports website? Career Stats and Highlights In 13 seasons with this team, he earned 12,074 rushing yards, 472 receptions for 4,458 yards, and 88 touchdowns (65 rushings and 23 receiving) for 16,532 total yards from scrimmage. I'm the best on the field.' It gives you goose bumps. I looked at him as one of the finest people Ive been around, said then-Kansas City Chiefs coach Gunther Cunningham. Frequently Asked Questions about the NFL and Football, Pro-Football-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREE. And Derrick Thomas during his career was responsible for 65 of those takeaways. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Reports vary as to how many of those TFLs were credited as sacks -- the Los Angeles Times reported he had four, Sports Illustrated only two -- but he also recovered a fumble. February 26, 2023, 5:38 PM. Derrick was kind of more on the Reggie White-type situation where he didn't do all the talking, he just made play after play. 39 Tackles for loss by Thomas in 1988 - Alabama's single-season record by 12. Derrick Thomas Position: LB Birthdate: January 1, 1967 College: Alabama Draft: Selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1st round (4th overall) of the 1989 NFL Draft Stats Gamelogs Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009 Derrick Thomas Stats Derrick Thomas career stats with the Kansas City Chiefs. Thomas didn't stop at the college level. The NCAA's official record book lists Arizona State's Terrell Suggs as the FBS-level's record holder with 24.0 sacks in 2002. Later in the spring of 1990, Bill Cowher came to Marty, said Marty, I've got a great idea. An NFL player has recorded six sacks in a game three times, and Thomas has one of those, too, with six against the Oakland Raiders on Sept. 6, 1998. Thomas had 10 or more sacks in a season seven times and recorded multi-sack games 27 times during his 169-game career. For the uneducated, Derrick Thomas was a linebacker ahead of this time. He will require some extensive rehabilitation.. 19 recovered fumbles. Why don't we do this on the defense? Alabama It's time to honor one of the all-time greats and recognize No. [Tied for 3rd] Most Sacks, Game - 4.0 (vs. Buffalo, Oct. 7, 1991; vs. San Diego, Nov. 8, 1992) Thomas Marte singled; Domenick Cas advanced to second. (College Stats), Weighted Career AV (100-95-): 104 (103rd overall since 1960). Alabama Players/Alumni. Mitchell, who was drafted in the NFL a year after Thomas, said that to this day he's never seen anyone quite like him. He would've been 53 years young ? In an effort to capture exactly what it was like to play against him, ESPN spoke to eight of the 10 quarterbacks he sacked in 1988. "I'll be honest with you, I was a fan of Derrick Thomas. Don't miss a story! Arkansas (with Lance Alworth) and Missouri (with Roger Wehrli and Kellen Winslow) also have players who are enshrined in both halls of fame, but their college careers came before those schools became SEC members. We can think back to the closing moments of close games and how the Arrowhead Stadium crowd would chant his name. Derrick Thomas. Join Now. 4 pick in the 1989 NFL Draft - UCLA QB Troy Aikman, taken No. They start looking for him. With a victory in the game, the Chiefs would qualify for the playoffs. 126.5 Sacks by Thomas in the NFL, which ranks 14th on the all-time list. Thomas is the Chiefs' franchise sack leader, with 126.5 career sacks before his sudden death back in 2000. Those who played against him tell even more. After the game, all DT could think about was that sack he didn't get. Why the NCAA will not give a transcendent player like Derrick Thomas his rightful place on the mountaintop makes no sense. In what would be the final game of his career, as he would die 37 days later, the Chiefs played their rival the Oakland Raiders. 1 and 2 in sacks per game last season, respectively, and they combined for 27 sacks. On January 23, 2000, Thomas' 1999 Chevrolet Suburban went off Interstate 435 in Clay County as he and two passengers were driving to Kansas City International Airport during a snowstorm for a flight to St. Louis to watch the NFC Championship Game between the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In his second season, he doubled his sack total, leading the NFL with 20. It wasn't his size that impressed you. [Tied for 3rd] Most Defensive Touchdowns, Career - 4, [1st] Most Sacks, Career - 7.5 Derrick Thomas Position: RB Height: 6-0 Weight: 207 College: Boise State Hometown: Pittsburg, TX High School: Northview (AL) HS Previous College (s): Butler County CC (KS) Stats Derrick Thomas Stats Derrick Thomas career stats. NFL draft questions for teams in the top 10: Will the Colts trade up? Thomas was also named First-Team All-Pro the following year when he finished the season with 13.5 sacks. ", According to the Associated Press, Thomas' funeral lasted more than five hours and featured 11 speakers, including Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor. ", "I think that sums it up," Baker said. Note: All stats are through Oct. 1, 2021. But Krieg slipped free from Thomason the last play of the gameand tossed a 25-yard touchdownpass to Paul Skansi in the end zone. [Tied for 1st] Most Safeties, Season - 1 (1994, 1997, 1998) These Derrick Henry . 204 Yards lost by Alabama's opponents in 1988 on Thomas' sacks - more than two football fields' worth of yardage. May 21, 2014, 4:52 PM. See where Derrick Thomas ranks. I remember a couple of times, even when you tried to use some athletic ability to fake him or anything of that nature just to get him off balance -- again I go back to the redirect he had, you just couldn't. Derrick Thomas weighed 243 lbs (110 kg) when playing. That just doesn't happen. The news left players and coaches stunned. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. We'll bring a couple of guys. I said, Bill, that's a very interesting concept. Baseball Baseball: Facebook Baseball: Twitter Baseball: Instagram Baseball . He gave him every linebacker drill he knew. With Alabama's offense unable to score a touchdown, Thomas and the Crimson Tide defense was the difference in an 8-3 win, holding Penn State to 21 second-half yards. And I think we can say today that he accomplished almost everyone. Thomas . It's silly, really. Sophomore Derrick Bueno (Palisades Park, N.J.) had a key three-point play, while Evans and Heber combined for five free throws over the final 1:12 to outpace the Wildcats. Thomas at a Glance. 1990s All-Decade Team. See our list of forfeits and vacated games for more details. Thank you for your guy. Thats how Ill always remember him., Twenty years after his death, Thomas is still remembered fondly by family and friends. That included a key safety which Derrick calls in the east end zone before the snap. Iron Bowl Flashback: Bear Bryant Notches Record-Setting 315th Win, Crazy Fans are Everywhere, But This Guy Will Forever Be Alabama's Greatest. Considered one of the greatest pass rushers of all time, he played 11 seasons with the Chiefs until his death in 2000. ), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Derrick_Thomas&oldid=1141039555, National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award winners, National Football League players with retired numbers, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Short description is different from Wikidata, NFL player missing current team parameter, Infobox NFL biography articles missing alt text, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 01:35. Players/Alumni. Derrick Thomas attended college at Alabama. Which he always talked about how it wasn't important to kill quarterbacks. SEC Performances: Derrick Thomas vs Penn State, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. Some college football pundits suggest Anderson might keep Bryce Young from winning another Heisman after the 2022 season. Derrick Thomas Amateur & College Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com Stathead Derrick Thomas Derrick Thomas Overview Amateur & College Lg Stats More More Derrick Thomas Pages at Baseball Reference Derrick Thomas page at the Bullpen Wiki On this page: Player News Register Batting Register Fielding Teams Played For Full Site Menu Player News He finished his career with 126.5 sacks which was the fourth highest total by a linebacker in NFL history. The others are LB Cornelius Bennett, seventh in 1986 (winner was Miami QB Vinny Testaverde), and DE Eric Curry, 10th in 1992 (Miami QB Gino Torretta). Led by Thomas -- a unanimous All-American who finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy voting -- the University of Alabama's defense allowed just 15.7 points per game and held their opponents to 10 or fewer points five times. Create a play or a serious of plays that swings the momentum of that game in the favor of your team. It was important for me to kind of be around the people who have been a part of my life throughout this whole thing and just kind of celebrate what he meant to Kansas City.. During his career, he received nine Pro Bowl and two first-team All-Pro selections, and set the single-game sacks record. Join our linker program. Draft: 1st round, 4th overall of the 1989 NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Wednesday, March 1, 11:34AM. "I had never taken a hit like that.". Positions: In my personal opinion, there are only a handful of such defensive players in the modern era. And those stats were because of the catalyst, Derrick Thomas. They were taking him away. . I know that Derrick is smiling down now. No defender was more dominant in the history of college football than the late Derrick Thomas was for the Alabama Crimson Tide. And by now they had fallen away, totally exhausted. [Tied for 1st] Most Games Played, Career - 10, NFL Statistical Championships Stats Gamelogs. "It was not a good feeling. Thomas, 33, was being transferred from his bed at Jackson Memorial Hospital to a wheelchair for a therapy session when he went into cardio-respiratory arrest and could not be revived, hospital officials said. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. "I think he was kind of the prototype," Pavlas said. The official 2023 Baseball cumulative statistics for the The Citadel Bulldogs. [4] He was awarded the Sington Soaring Spirit Award by the Lakeshore Foundation. Picture Von Miller or Jadeveon Clowney or another other modern-day edge rusher. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Slack got the call from a friend in tears. Tragically, Thomas was paralyzed in a car accident near Kansas City, Missouri on January 23, 2000. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. His pass rushing specialty continued on the professional level as he amassed 10 sacks as a rookie for the Chiefs in 1989. 5 Kicks blocked by Thomas (four punts and one field-goal attempt) - the Alabama career record. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. I just know this: Derrick will hang over this stadium forever. And so happy that this moment has come. Sacks did not become an official NCAA statistic until the 2000 season. We present them here for purely educational purposes. On Jan. 23, 2000, Thomas and two friends were en route to Kansas City International Airport to fly to St. Louis to watch the NFC Championship Game between the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sacks as one of the best pass rushers ever never taken a hit that... Thomas vs Penn State, derrick thomas college stats newspaper front pages, posters and more on. 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