Thomas Ives (born June 25, 1997) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

who is a free agent. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Colgate and was signed by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2019.

Early life

Hinsdale Central High School Hinsdale Central High School, or HCHS (locally referred to as simply "Central") is a public four-year high school located at the corner of W. 55th St. and S. Grant St. in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois. It is located ...

, Ives played for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

teams. In 2014, Hinsdale Central reached the Class 8A state playoffs with an 8–3 record; Ives led the team as a captain with 48 receptions for 888 yards and 12 touchdowns. Ives led the team in scoring as he broke program records for receptions and receiving touchdowns in a season.

College career

Ives attended Colgate, where he played

for the football program for four years, beginning in 2015. In his freshman season, Ives saw little playing time in the regular season, catching just one pass for nine yards in a week eight win over Georgetown. But across three playoff games, Ives hauled in five passes for 98 yards. In his sophomore season, Ives caught nine passes for 142 yards and one touchdown. As a junior, Ives led the Raiders in several statistical categories, as he hauled in a team-best 353 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. He tied for the second-most receptions on the team, with 23 passes caught. Prior to his senior season, Ives was named a team captain and to the preseason all-Patriot League team. Ives caught just 15 passes for 263 yards and one touchdown as an injury limited Ives in two games and took him out of three games. Ives graduated from Colgate with a degree in political science.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Ives signed with the

as an undrafted free agent following the

2019 NFL draft The 2019 NFL draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. The first round was held ...

. On August 31, 2019, Ives was released by the Bears as part of final roster cuts, but was signed to the practice squad the next day. On December 30, 2019, Ives was signed to a reserve/future contract. Like in 2019, Ives was among the Bears' last roster cuts prior to the 2020 season on September 5, 2020, before joining the practice squad the next day. He was placed on the practice squad/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

list by the team on December 8, 2020, and restored to the practice squad on December 22. On January 11, 2021, Ives signed a reserve/futures contract with the Bears. He was waived/injured on August 13, 2021, and placed on injured reserve. He was released on August 20, 2021.

References

External links

Colgate Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ives, Thomas 1996 births Living people American football wide receivers Chicago Bears players Colgate Raiders football players Players of American football from Hinsdale, Illinois Players of American football from DuPage County, Illinois