By Hunt Palmer
In a game where the opposing quarterback rushed for a career high and LSU’s offense managed a single touchdown, positives became difficult to identify.
One of those was Zavion Thomas’s kickoff return production.
Thomas returned five kickoffs for an average of 29 yards. He busted his first return for 50 yards up to midfield where Caden Durham immediately put LSU in scoring position. Later he nudged the ball out beyond the 25 yard line with returns of 27 and 32 yards.
While Thomas’s primary position is wide receiver, he’s been a spark to an LSU return game that had largely disappeared over the past four seasons.
What may look simple to those watching at home, actually requires significant preparation.
“It’s a lot of small things that people don’t know,” Thomas said. “Especially with kick return. Kick return is a timing thing. You catch the ball, you may see a hole that’s gigantic, but you’ve got to think the kickoff team is running lanes. You’ve got to hit holes quick.”
Thomas works tirelessly every day in practice to hone his technique. Even the smallest detail could be the difference in a short return and breaking into the clear for a big play.
“If you watch, every time I catch the ball, I have one foot back,” Thomas said. “That’s so I can hit the hole quick and have a head start when I’m catching the ball.”
Thomas garnered freshman All-America honors as a punt returner in 2022 when he was at Mississippi State. This season he hasn’t broken free on a punt return yet. He’s averaging just 3.5 yards per return. His reputation may have something to do with that as teams carefully place punts where the speedster cannot produce a big return.
On the kickoff side of things, Thomas leads the SEC with 424 yards on the season. His 24.9 yards per return ranks second to Kentucky’s Barion Brown who is the only player in the SEC to return a kickoff for a touchdown this season.
“My freshman year and my sophomore year, I feel like punt return was my thing,” Thomas said. “As I came here, I still love punt return, but I’ve been feeling kick return lately.”
With LSU’s offense sputtering the last six quarters, Thomas’s special teams explosiveness could be a way out. His ability to create field position advantages carries extra importance although Thomas remains confident in the Tiger offense.
“I just feel like if I get the opportunity (to return a punt or kickoff), I need to make the most of it,” he said. “I know our offense can go on 99-yard drives, 50-yard drives. I’m not going to say I make it a key thing to give them great field position, but I just have to go out and do my job.”
Thomas has help. Bob Diaco has run the LSU special teams for the last two seasons. Diaco has worked with special teams groups dating back to his days at Western Carolina in 1999.
Now that college programs have iPads on the sidelines, Thomas can immediately come to the bench to take a look at how opponents are defending him. At times, he can adjust.
“During the Alabama game, if you look, my first return, I went to the field,” Thomas said. “After the Bama coaches saw that I went to the field, they made an adjustment where the R-5 would loop out to stop me from going to the field.
“So, I want to say, on the third or fourth return, Coach Diaco and Coach (Lester) Urb saw something on film where they saw them looping out, so they wanted me to hit it up the hashes.”
The result was a 27-yard return up to the 32 yard line.
Thomas clearly relishes the role on special teams. He’s excelled in it for three seasons. Most return men hate fair catching the ball and always see the opportunity to make a big play. The New Orleans native wouldn’t quite go that far.
“You can’t hate it, because you have to make the right decision to put your team in the right position,” Thomas said with a smile. “Hate is a strong word. I dislike it. But I’m not going to say I hate it.”
Thomas has positioned his team well all season. Until two weeks ago, the offense had responded with quality possessions and point production. Saturday resulted in LSU weakest offensive effort of the season both in terms of total yardage and points.
As a part of the offense, Thomas feels like that group isn’t far off.
“We know what we’re capable of,” Thomas said. “We know we’re capable of going out there and putting up 50. Any time everybody is on the same page, we know we’re unstoppable. It’s just keeping our foot on the gas these last three games of the season.”
