A Lone Star Mystery

mgsteve · September 6, 2007

Three years ago, North Texas tailback Jamario Thomas led Division I-A with 180.1 rushing yards per game.

Since then, Thomas has rushed for only 1,033 yards, a baffling decline for a player who set an N.C.A.A. record during his sensational 2004 season by rushing for more than 200 yards in five consecutive games.

Now a senior, the 5-11, 210-pound Thomas ran for only 4 yards on 5 carries in North Texas’ 79-10 season-opening loss at No. 8 Oklahoma on Saturday.

Once considered to be a “great” running back, Thomas, the Sun Belt Conference’s player of the year in 2004, has had hamstring problems the past several seasons. Still, his sudden free fall is perplexing, especially to N.F.L. scouts, said Gil Brandt, the former Dallas Cowboys executive and an analyst for nfl.com.

“It’s like a guy hitting 60 home runs and the next year he hits 3,” Brandt said in a telephone interview. “I don’t know what the deal is with the guy, but he has fallen off the face of the earth.”

The first-year North Texas Coach Todd Dodge said he still has high hopes for Thomas, known as “Super Jamario” among Mean Green fans.

“He’s a fabulous talent who’s very explosive,” Dodge said in a telephone interview. “He’s a little dinged up right now. It’s nothing that we feel will ultimately get in the way of him being a great contributor to this football team. I think we’ve just got to make sure that we keep him healthy. When he steps out there, we need him to be 100 percent.”

UNTflyer · September 6, 2007

If ever there was a week we need J-Mo to step up, this is it...

medpilot21 · September 6, 2007

If ever there was a week we need J-Mo to step up, this is it...

Aint that the truth...

GMG!!!

SilverEagle · September 6, 2007

During his great freshman year, J-mo was plagued by his hamstring. He missed half of the Baylor game, all of the Ark St. game, and parts of other games because of it. So, what has changed since his freshman year?

ADLER · September 6, 2007

UNT Notes

12:15 AM CDT on Thursday, September 6, 2007

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Briefly …

Senior running back Jamario Thomas did not practice on Wednesday.

Eagle1855 · September 6, 2007

he just looks slow. He doesnt have that quickness out of the gate that he used to have. Mosely looked a lot better against OU, granted it was garbage time... those are some pretty solid 2nd team guys they roll out there. Im guessing we'll see a lot more Mosely in the weeks to come.

If the second half of the OU game is any indicator, Vizza, Mosely, and Fitzgerald will be our offensive core in Sun Belt play.

island eagle · September 6, 2007

he just looks slow. He doesnt have that quickness out of the gate that he used to have. Mosely looked a lot better against OU, granted it was garbage time... those are some pretty solid 2nd team guys they roll out there. Im guessing we'll see a lot more Mosely in the weeks to come.
If the second half of the OU game is any indicator, Vizza, Mosely, and Fitzgerald will be our offensive core in Sun Belt play.

If you look at film of him as a freshman and video of him today, you see two different players. His quickness, reaction time, ability to move into a hole (which I assume includes field vision) was miles ahead of where he is now. It's a shame, because he could have been all-world. But, unless he gets those attributes back, he won't be.

untgirl04 · September 6, 2007

It really makes you wonder just how big an impact PC had on Jamario's play freshman year. Maybe after he's done with the Dolphins he can come back and coach running backs...

class84 · September 6, 2007

Not having Cam Montgomery at the level that we all thought he would be is really going to hurt us. He was the supposed to be the crown jewel of the recruiting class, and he doesn't get mentioned in any running back talk.

What happened?

ipEAGLE · September 6, 2007

I'm pretty sure we all jinxed him a couple yrs back wondering if he would transfer to a bigger school / leave for the NFL before his senior year.

greenminer · September 6, 2007

It really makes you wonder just how big an impact PC had on Jamario's play freshman year. Maybe after he's done with the Dolphins he can come back and coach running backs...

That's interesting. that's f'n interesting, man.

GoMeanGreen1999 · September 6, 2007

During his great freshman year, J-mo was plagued by his hamstring. He missed half of the Baylor game, all of the Ark St. game, and parts of other games because of it. So, what has changed since his freshman year?

Not having Cam Montgomery at the level that we all thought he would be is really going to hurt us. He was the supposed to be the crown jewel of the recruiting class, and he doesn't get mentioned in any running back talk.
What happened?

Two GREAT questions. JT just makes so little sense to me. You are right SE, he had the same hamstring problems that year as he does today. Where is Cam? Did he even travel to OU?

adman · September 6, 2007

Two GREAT questions. JT just makes so little sense to me. You are right SE, he had the same hamstring problems that year as he does today. Where is Cam? Did he even travel to OU?

Cam played in the OU game.

GoMeanGreen1999 · September 6, 2007

Cam played in the OU game.

Boy I sure missed that one.

Cr1028 · September 7, 2007

Boy I sure missed that one.

He and Tune both played in the last series running the clock out.

jdennis82 · September 7, 2007

man, i hate to see this in writing. i think we all knew that jmo had nfl talent on display as a freshman and it's hurt us as fans to see the decline. what happened to the dreams of the "mario brothers"?

September 7, 2007

He and Tune both played in the last series running the clock out.

The participation report doesn't show that Montgomery played but I'm sure that was him with the three carries for seven yards in the final series. The statistician gave the carries to Noel Luna, who is also #26. But, Luna is a defensive back, not a running back. Someone needs to notify the statistician of the error.