It was trial by fire for Michael Thomas last year. He walked into to training camp a true freshman and ended up playing in game number one. Thomas mostly played in the nickel situations on defense, but he also saw time on offense at quarterback in a few wildcat formations.
As Thomas enters his second season, he is in a battle for a starting position at the cornerback position. Win or lose, expect to see a lot of Thomas on the field this year. I had a quick chat between autographs with Thomas at the fan’s meet and greet on Saturday.
Q How are things going?
Things are going great, I am just trying to finish up finals and then come back to football
Q This was your first year, what was that like?
It has been crazy. First I was just trying to get started and find an identity, and once I got on the defense and playing cornerback just trying to figure out the scheme and the system. But I feel like I am getting more comfortable with it now.
Q: You plan on playing a bigger role this year maybe even some more on offense?
We are still planning to expand on the wildcat offense. Coach experimented with it last year. I did pretty well, but I think I am going to play a bigger role. I am probably going to play a lot more corner rather than just nickel this year. It is a tough competition between me, Corey Gatewood and Richard Sherman, that is what I am really concentrating on, but anytime I can get my hands on the ball that would be great.
Q: What about on defense, trial by fire going in as a freshman last year, what did you learn what are you working on?
The emotional part is what I had to learn first. Making mistakes and learning how to bounce back from it. As I progressed and actually learned what I was doing playing defense, now it is about executing every play by assignment and by leverage and just taking it one play at a time and making plays
Q: What about wrapping up your first year and taking finals, what is it like by a Stanford student?
It has been tough, this is Stanford University, I knew what I was getting into when I came here, but teammates and coaches have been helping me and the rest of the freshman adjust to it really well. I think I made a great adjustment to it and now I am ready to get on to next year.
National signing day was Wednesday and Stanford football introduced 22 athletes for the incoming class of 2010. After head coach Jim Harbaugh met the …