Thomas eager to play in the SEC, partner with Trey’Dez Green

By Hunt Palmer

The 2019 run still pays dividends for LSU.

New Tiger tight end Malachi Thomas remembers watching Justin Jefferson and the Tigers torch Georgia and Oklahoma just miles from his hometown in Thomasville, GA.

He wanted to play for LSU.

“I’m a south Georgia boy,” Thomas told Matt Moscona on After Further Review. “I just grew up in the SEC, and I grew up watching that 2019 team squad. It’s been in my heart since.”

Now Thomas will get that chance after a weekend visit to Baton Rouge that cemented his transfer from Pittsburgh to LSU. He met with the new LSU coaching staff, played a little pickleball and decided the purple and gold was the place for him.

Coming from a big city like Pittsburgh, Baton Rouge offered a more collegiate environment that appealed to Thomas.

“We went to a couple of restaurants, and the fans treated LSU like that they’re team, the only team in the state,” Thomas said. “Everybody says it’s a fan town for sure.”

In his meeting with the LSU coaching staff including tight ends coach Joe Cox, Thomas explored how he could be used in the offense.

He felt the fit was perfect.

“I’m a tight end that can do everything,” Thomas said. “First off, they said they love their run game. I love to block. So, they can just put me in a formation, hit the pop pass, get the easy stuff when you’ve got a tight end that can do everything. They get the ball in open space, and I thrive from there.”

Thomas didn’t always block.

“That’s something I learned in high school,” he said. “In 11^th grade, we got a new coaching staff. I was trash. I was probably 200 pounds, 6’2” at the time. He was like, ‘yeah, you’re the new tight end.’ I was playing wide receiver. ‘You want the ball, you’ve got to block.’ That’s been my mentality ever since.”

Thomas offers a little more physicality at the position than current LSU tight end Trey’Dez Green who is an athletic force in the passing game. The LSU staff showed him video from Ole Miss action where two tight ends were on the field exploiting opposing defenses.

It was enough to lure Thomas to be a Tiger.

Meanwhile, the search for LSU’s next quarterback remains. Thomas said he would love to play with Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt, but he didn’t need to have the position filled before he made his decision.

His concern level appeared low.

“Kiffin is going to get somebody to throw that rock,” he said.

The quotes in this story come from Malachi Thomas’s interview on After Further Review.