Brian Thomas Jr. (born October 8, 2002) is an American professional

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 ...

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 ...

for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). 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 ...

for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

, leading the FBS in touchdown receptions in 2023. Thomas was selected by the Jaguars in the first round of the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

Early life

Thomas Jr. was born on October 8, 2002, in

Walker, Louisiana Walker is a city in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was placed at 6,374 (up from 6,138 in 2010), making Walker and Denham Springs the only parish municipalities classified as cities. History T ...

and attended Walker High School. He played both football and basketball in high school. He had 30 receptions for 507 yards with seven touchdowns as a senior in 2020 and 75 receptions for 1,272 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior. Thomas Jr. was selected to the 2021

All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1990. The game was known as the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977 to 1985. In 1986, the National Football Foundatio ...

. He committed to

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

(LSU) to play college football.

College career

As a freshman at LSU in 2021, Thomas Jr. played in 12 games and had nine starts, recording 28 receptions for 359 yards and two touchdowns. As a sophomore in 2022, he started six of 13 games and had 31 receptions for 361 yards and five touchdowns. He led the FBS with 17 receiving touchdowns in 2023 and declared for the

following the season.

Professional career

Thomas was selected by the

in the first round with the 23rd overall selection in the

. He scored a receiving touchdown in his NFL debut, a 20–17 loss to the Miami Dolphins in week 1. In week 5 against the Indianapolis Colts, he had five receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown in the 37–34 victory. In week 15 against the New York Jets, he had ten receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns in the 32–25 loss. In the following game against the Las Vegas Raiders, he had nine receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown in the 19–14 loss. In the 2024 season, Thomas finished with 87 receptions for 1,282 receiving yards and ten receiving touchdowns as a rookie, setting Jaguars rookie records for all three. He finished third in the league in receiving yards. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bioLSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas Jr, Brian 2002 births Living people Players of American football from Louisiana People from Walker, Louisiana American football wide receivers LSU Tigers football players Jacksonville Jaguars players