Hitting All The Right Notes

HOOVER, Ala. — You can see it in his movements on an off the football field. Despite his pretty epic size, 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, Georgia All-American left tackle Andrew Thomas goes about with grace and balance. And that balance might be a big part of his success on and off the field.

Dressed sharply in a blue suit as he made his way into the main interview room and smoothly stepped up onto his assigned SEC Media Days dais Tuesday morning inside the Winfrey Hotel, where media members from all over the country were waiting to fire off questions both relevant to the season ahead and completely off the wall, the junior from Lithonia, Ga., looked cool and calm.

"Andrew, he's a quiet giant," Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm said earlier Tuesday. "He's not going to say a whole lot of words, but when he does everybody definitely listens."

This was Thomas' first Media Days appearance — joining him Tuesday were redshirt senior safety J.R. Reed (making his second trip) and fellow junior and first-timer Fromm — but the soft-spoken and thoughtful Thomas had the visage of a veteran throughout.

"I told him today as we got off the plane: 'Andrew, you're going to have to talk today,'" coach Kirby Smart said.

That Thomas handled everything well is, of course, no surprise.

From the moment Thomas arrived at Georgia in the summer of 2017, he's excelled. He started every game at right tackle as a true freshman, earning Freshman All-America honors after helping the Bulldogs' dynamic running game roll over teams on the way to an appearance in the College Football Playoffs.

When asked about the one moment that stands out the most at this point in his career — Georgia is 24-5 over the past two seasons — Thomas said the block he made on the Nick Chubb 2-yard touchdown run with 55 seconds left regulation in the Rose Bowl.

"It was not when Sony (Michel) scored (the game-winner) but when we drove down the drive before overtime and we scored on a play that we always run, the train play; it's a toss-sweep right and I made a block and after we scored it was ... I saw the video and I had so much emotion on that play," he said.

Last season, he moved over to the critical left tackle spot and earned more All-America nods.

"He's a great football player, great dude (and) I'm really glad he's my teammate, my friend and I'm really thankful he's my left tackle," Fromm said.

Meanwhile, the Pace Academy graduate has thrived in the classroom as well. And when he's not doing football or scholastic duties or consuming the thousands of calories a day he needs to keep his big engine running, Thomas makes time for more relaxed and delicate pursuits, like playing the piano.

Thomas comes from a musical family in which singing and playing instruments are the norm, and in high school he played percussion in the school band. When he got to college, though, he wanted to give learning the piano a try.

Several months ago he said he was working on learning "Ribbons in the Sky" by Stevie Wonder. This summer, though, has featured a lot more working out than working on his piano skills. There was also a leadership trip to Pensacola, Fla., "that was pretty fun," he said.

As far as his summer workouts, Thomas said: "Just getting stronger in the weight room, getting faster, and then from a football standpoint, working on my hands and my pass (protection)."

And the piano? "I'm still working on it; I slacked off a little bit but I'm going to get back on it."

It's hard to picture Thomas slacking off on anything, but there are only so many hours in the day. I asked him if there was any correlation between football and music.

"I guess it's the same as far as you have to practice it a lot," he said. "It's like offensive line, you can't just go and do it; you have to learn it, learn what happens, and I guess it's the same for piano."

Of the instruments he plays, Thomas said playing the drums was probably the most satisfying, what with the banging and all, "but piano's a little more cool, I guess."

Football and all that goes into it takes up a lot of the Bulldogs' time and energy, but beyond it and school, the players have to do things to take their minds off of it all.

"It's key because life isn't football," Reed said, "you can't just go football, football, football. My head might explode, so sometimes I've just got to take a break, relax and have some family time and R&R."

For Reed, that family time included a trip home to Frisco, Texas, and a trip with his mom to Candytopia in Dallas. It's something like a big art exhibit and funhouse but with candy.

"That was pretty fun, just seeing all this stuff made out of candy," Reed said. "That was pretty cool and my mom loved it, and I got some free candy."

"I think you have to have a balance," Thomas said. "Football is definitely demanding a lot, but I guess to keep sanity you have to make sure you have something else to take your mind off of football sometimes."

Thomas said he's considering adding to his musical repertoire by learning how to produce beats for tracks. "I'm thinking about it, we'll see," he said.

Thomas has produced from Day One with the Bulldogs. He was listed in the 2017 media guide at 338 pounds; he's been listed the past two years at 320. He's a big and strong young man, without anything extra on his frame. Thomas said he's up about "50 to 60 pounds" in the weight room on things like the power clean and bench press.

Smart said the biggest difference between Thomas from his first day at Georgia to Tuesday's media day is physical.

"He was able to play early on but he wasn't physically ready; he didn't have the body that he has now, he didn't have the strength," Smart said. "He's put on some really good weight and I think that's the biggest difference, his physical appearance and probably his ability to handle getting beat on a pass rush. He handles that a lot better now than he did as a freshman."

Thomas doesn't get beat often, though soon he may be producing beats when he's not tickling the ivories or anchoring a Bulldog offensive line that should be one of Georgia's strongest units.

"Andrew comes off as a very quiet guy, not like a teddy bear but just a gentle giant," Reed said. "Once you get to know him, he likes to have fun. And when he's on the field, don't mess with him at all.

"I've seen what he can do to opposing teams and sometimes if I blitz I get tangled up with him — I know if I'm going Andrew's way I've got to bring my 'A' game."

John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.

University of Georgia Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jake Fromm

J.R. Reed

Andrew Thomas

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