RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — For the past three months, brothers Thayer and Drake Thomas have been in semi-seclusion, running, lifting and eating right as the big day approached. Then, the big day arrived, Pro Day, and the two were seen limbering up together just moments before performing in front of 30 NFL scouts.
“You know every day it has been a grind,” North Carolina State University wide receiver Thayer Thomas said. “It was nice having someone to keep me accountable. I know I kept him accountable, so it has been great.”
Wolfpack linebacker Drake Thomas agreed, and said having someone keep him accountable, but also to work out with, has been more than helpful.
“Every step of the way my brother has been right there with me,” Drake Thomas said. “Just having him with me on this journey, showing me the way as an older brother, has been a blessing for sure.”
For the Thomas brothers, the journey began long before their NC State days.
Thayer was a three-sport athlete at Heritage High School in Wake Forest, but he never really knew which sport he’d finally choose to settle into, he said.
Meanwhile, Drake played baseball and football for the Huskies knowing all along he’d end up on the gridiron, he said.
But through all the sports and all the seasons, the Thomas brothers always felt this day would come.
“They’ve been working for this day it seems like their whole lives,” Trevor Thomas, their dad, said. “In the last three months they’ve kind of fine-tuned what they’ve been doing, so it has been great to see.”
Despite being a four-star recruit and one of the top inside linebackers in the nation coming out of high school, Drake still would hear the whispers, he said.
“People tell me I can’t, people trying to put limits or barriers on what I can do based off how tall I am,” he said. “But I continue to make plays and prove people wrong I feel like every single year.”
The nay-sayers were even tougher on Thayer.
He had to walk on at NC State, but quickly earned a scholarship. Now, after acing his Pro Day, Thayer feels, he’s ready to prove the skeptics wrong one more time.
“You know I’ve always been the underdog, but I think I’ve always rose to the occasion,” Thayer said. “I think I always knew I had it in me, it was just coming out today and putting it on display.”
When the lights come on, the Thomas brothers always seem to shine.