Clemson football's Xavier Thomas will work another year for rekindled NFL dream

Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas pressures Boston College quarterback Dennis Grosel earlier this season at Memorial Stadium.
Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas pressures Boston College quarterback Dennis Grosel earlier this season at Memorial Stadium.
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Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas carried the weight of unfulfilled expectations. That and about 30 extra pounds.

It was a heavy burden.

Thomas, a few years ago, was projected as a first-round NFL draft pick. Since then, he's been hit hard with injuries and COVID-related illnesses, "snake-bit" as former Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables put it.

Out of action, Thomas became an extra-wide edge rusher. He tipped the scale and nearly tipped it over at close to 300 pounds.

He returned to this season as a senior with 15 quarterback hurries and 3.5 sacks but was limited by a hamstring injury beginning in November. NFL teams had lukewarm interest, he was hearing. So he's going to try to heat things up again.

Two days before the deadline, Thomas declared Saturday night on social media that he would return for a postgraduate season. He could raise his stock by rejoining an already strong defensive line to help the Tigers get back to the College Football Playoffs.

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"Big thanks to my coaches, teammates and family by supporting me to help bounce back from a huge setback year of adversity in 2020," Thomas wrote on a graphic he posted on Twitter. "In 2021, it looked to everyone like I was playing my best ball. To me, knowing what I am capable of and my abilities, that wasn’t even half my best.”

A fire inside him is building from a rekindled dream he nearly extinguished.

"I was about to give up on myself and give up on football," Thomas said earlier this season. "You could ask Coach (Dabo) Swinney. I had contacted him over the phone before camp (last year). I was just really going to give up.

"... I was disappointed looking in the mirror every day and also seeing my old self and where I was then. My plan was to have a great third year and then go out to the draft. A lot of guys I came in with, seeing those guys get drafted really motivated me because that's where I planned to be and I didn't get there. Having 30-plus (extra) pounds on you is a lot to carry. I really felt sorry for myself as far as gaining all the weight and (I was) reading a lot of negative things that were said about me online. Things like that. I was worried about the wrong things in life and just wasn't focused at all. I had to do a lot of praying to get my mind right."

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Thomas had a standout freshman season, 3.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss, despite forced to squeeze playing time from a defensive line that had future first-round picks Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant. Thomas has been projected as high as No. 10 overall by Pro Football Focus.

Headed into the April 28-30 draft, Thomas is not considered among the top 15 defensive ends. This year's class is stacked with high picks at the position. PFF has Michigan's Aidan Hutchinson going first overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Oregon's Kayvon Thibodeaux second to the Detroit Lions and Purdue's George Karlaftis seventh to the New York Giants. Michigan's David Ojabo, South Carolina's Kingsley Enagbare and Southern Cal's Drake Jackson are also considered first-round picks.

Thomas said believes he can get there, too, and will be "practicing every day with a purpose" to make it happen.

Defensive end K.J. Henry is also returning for a graduate season and will join all-ACC player Myles Murphy at the position. Clemson has all-ACC defensive tackles in Bryan Bresee and Tyler Davis, who is believed to be coming back this year but has not yet confirmed. He has until the end of Monday to declare for the NFL draft.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: NFL dream on hold: Clemson's Xavier Thomas will work another year