Latarrius Thomas is a safety out of Eastern Michigan whose hometown is Daytona, Fla. The 6-foot-1, 210-lb. NFL hopeful was a third-team All-American last season and is projected to be taken in the middle or late rounds of the NFL Draft. In the second installment of his two-part Draft Diary, an exclusive to Pro Player Insiders, Thomas details his everyday training routine, recaps his recent Pro Day and explains why an NFL team should draft him.
For the past three months, I was in Indianapolis training at St. Vincent. My everyday training routine consisted of waking up around 7 a.m. and eating breakfast. At 8:00, I would do speed training. Right after the speed training, I would go back and get treatment on any nicks I might have. This may involve icing or getting in the cold tub. Then I would go eat lunch. After lunch, I would either train upper body or lower body depending on the day. Then I would go back and get treatment again to keep my body fresh. My day would finish with dinner around 6 p.m. I did this routine Monday through Friday and then on Saturday, I would work out once in the morning too.
I feel like I did well at Eastern Michigan’s Pro Day. I haven’t seen the official times, but we had about 22 watches there and overall, the times were around what everybody expected me to run. I jumped well, I benched well. Overall it was a successful day and I believe I helped myself.
Looking ahead to the NFL Draft, I think I am a big physical safety that knows the game. I think an NFL team should draft me because I am willing to learn every day; I don’t know everything about the game but I am willing learn whatever it is that you want to teach me.
The most challenging part of this whole process is not knowing where you’re going to go in the draft. You hear where everyone projects you to go, but you are never really sure. So it has been pretty stressful—being one of the lower-named safeties in the draft, you never know how it is going to turn out on that day. Nothing is really set in stone until your name is called.
One thing you don’t know about me is I grew up a big wrestling fan. I used to be a wrestling fan around the WCW era. I know WrestleMania is coming up with John Cena vs. The Rock. I know The Rock, everybody knows The Rock. John Cena was more of the new-age guy; I didn’t really get into it when he came on. By then I was playing more football. I had given up my wrestling dreams because I found out I wasn’t going to make it in wrestling. I would think The Rock would win, though. But you never know—they both just might knock each other out and end up with a draw.
-As told to ProPlayerInsiders.com contributor Josh Volpe
