The Daily Nole

Orange Bowl Film Focus: Matthew Thomas vs. Michigan

Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Florida State’s Matthew Thomas was simply good in 2016. Not average. But not great.

The junior linebacker has had a roller-coaster of a journey at Florida State, with anything from suspensions to academic ineligibility to targeting calls limiting his time on the field. When he’s played, he’s been Florida State’s best linebacker. Thomas was a highly sought after recruit coming out of Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, ranked as the No. 2 outside linebacker and the No. 8 overall player in the country. Physically, Thomas is the prototype of future NFL linebackers. He’s lengthy and has the speed to cover tight ends perfectly, refusing to be one-dimensional.

Yet for most of 2016, Thomas didn’t have any spectacular efforts. Everyone knew he had the talent to do so. But it became clear that he was still getting comfortable in his position, and he had to do this in the middle of defensive confusion. Which is why his Orange Bowl explosion was unexpected. 15 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss later, and Thomas was a clear bright spot on the defense.

We watched every snap that Thomas took in the Orange Bowl, and we examined each notable play. Obviously we are using broadcast footage, so some plays simply weren’t observable. There’s also instances where he is not particularly evident on a play — say a run that gets immediately stopped in the backfield while he’s dropping back in coverage. We try to highlight the ones where he is and provide some sort of analysis.

1st Quarter

12:47 – Thomas and fellow linebacker Jacob Pugh recognize almost immediately where the play is going. Michigan receiver Jehu Chesson has great speed, but Thomas gets to the sidelines quickly and forces him to try and cut back inside. It’s not all that successful, only going for two yards.

12:16 – Florida State drops into zone coverage, and it holds fairly well until Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight begins to roll out to the left. FSU defensive end Josh Sweat tries to rush him and it leaves tight end Jake Butt open over the middle. Thomas makes the tackle.

11:43 – Michigan tries a lead run play up the middle. The offensive line does well at moving FSU’s defensive front, but Thomas is quick to the hole that opens up. He collides with the fullback and clogs the lane, holding De’Veon Smith to no gain.

10:42 – The play that had everyone talking. Thomas realizes beforehand where the run is going, and he goes virtually untouched into the backfield to deliver a pop on Smith. The overhead angle makes it even more impressive, watching just how quickly he’s able to break through the line. Fantastic play from the junior that possibly saved a touchdown.

10:00 – It took a couple views to see what happened here, but this is a great example of how his coverage ability makes him so dynamic. Thomas reads Speight’s eyes the whole time, realizing that he’s sticking to the right of the field for a streaking Chesson across the middle. If he leaves his coverage spot, Speight has enough time and room to zip one in for a touchdown. As it is, Speight gets pressured and has to force it over the heads of the defenders (and his receiver). Incomplete, and another potential touchdown prevented.

9:53 – Thomas makes the tackle short of the end zone, though it’s clear FSU was purely trying to prevent any sort of score. Thomas sees Chesson going underneath and trails him to make sure he doesn’t go any further. Good tackle.

4:29 – This play was fairly hectic, and it seems like Thomas got caught looking a bit. Speight runs almost 15 yards in the backfield looking for a receiver, and Thomas begins to close in once he gets near. De’Veon Smith has great awareness and goes out for a pass behind Thomas, which he takes for a first down. Still impressive that Thomas was able to catch up and prevent an even bigger gain.

4:10 – Good pursuit here to tackle Smith near the sideline. Nothing overly impressive, but still good to see him not taking any plays off.

First Quarter Summary: Matthew Thomas might have been the MVP of the defense in the first quarter, if not the whole team. He had a major impact on two different plays to prevent touchdowns, and only one broken play saw him make a possible mistake. He was also fantastic at taking away the under routes from Speight, forcing the quarterback to struggle early.

2nd Quarter

12:00 – Being hesitant here allows Thomas to get blocked and for Chris Evans to pick six yards. Thomas sort of freezes up on the right side of the field, trying to see if the run is going to the inside. Probably his first mistake when it comes to run defense so far.

11:30 – Another instant play recognition from Thomas. He’s the first player to realize that Evans is going to the outside left on the toss, and he begins to sprint to try and cut the runner off. The only negative is that he underestimates Evans’ speed, and it goes for eight yards and a first down. Chesson getting a piece of him with the shoulder also probably helped. It would have been better if he tried to go to the outside, but obviously he doesn’t have the angles viewers do.

11:00 – Speight does very well at extending plays. This is an example. After rolling out to the right and finding nothing, he tosses it to the other sideline to Jake Butt. Thomas stayed disciplined and continued to patrol the middle of the field, so he has a good one-on-one chance with Butt. Thomas is able to hit him, but the tight end is able to break the tackle with a spin and gets the first down. If nothing else, Thomas gave time for safety Trey Marshall to come over and stop a potential score.

10:40 – Michigan kept going back to Evans after witnessing what he was able to do earlier in the drive. He gets another sweep play here, this time going from the left to the right side of the field. DeMarcus Walker fills the original gap, so Evans bounces outside again. He finds A.J. Westbrook and Matthew Thomas waiting for him. Thomas was initially blocked by Ian Bunting on the play, but continued to pursue it and broke through his block for the tackle. Walker, Westbrook, and Thomas were all impressive here.

9:48 – Florida State goes into zone coverage on the third down near the end zone. Michigan drops back for a pass. Thomas stays on his assignment, but then sees Smith slip away and look for the throw. Thomas then begins to run over and try to cover him, giving Speight a clear passing lane to try and squeeze it in to Amra Darboh. While the pass falls incomplete, this would appear to be the first “big” mistake on Thomas’ part. Tarvarus McFadden was right by Smith and was covering it well. Thomas bit too early and is lucky that Speight was inaccurate.

2:53 – No. 19 (Henry Poggi) for Michigan has been tasked with blocking Thomas multiple times, and it hasn’t been successful once. Once again, Michigan goes to the outside on a run play, where the fullback is expected to pick up the block. He gets his hands on Thomas, but the linebacker is able to grab Smith with his right arm and let Ro’Derrick Hoskins do the rest. Fantastic job by Thomas so far of standing his ground.

Second Quarter Summary: Comparatively a worse quarter for Thomas, but it’s not bad by any means. Besides one questionable play near the end zone, Thomas has stayed focused and not let any receivers by him in coverage. He always seems to know where a play is developing and makes his way to it. He’s also been near flawless in run defense.

3rd Quarter

14:02 – Michigan goes with a quick pass to pick up the first down over the middle. Thomas dropped into coverage, but didn’t turn his head fast enough to see tight end Tyrone Wheatley open near him.

13:03 – Poggi on Thomas again. Same result. Thomas blows right past him and connects with Smith to cause a short 2-yard gain. There was more room for Smith to run if Poggi was able to make the block.

12:08 -The Wolverines are getting more of a push at the line by this point in the game, meaning more runs are getting to the second level. Here Thomas assists on the tackle while on the ground. Wheatley puts a good block on him, but he reaches out and grabs Smith’s leg to help defensive tackle Demarcus Christmas with the stop near the line of scrimmage.

9:02 – Toss to the left side fools no one on the FSU defense. Westbrook is able to keep the edge on Smith and force him back inside. That’s where Thomas is coming in unblocked to trip up the ball carrier and lead him into Jacob Pugh’s arms.

Third Quarter Summary: It was the quietest quarter of the game for Thomas. He wasn’t playing bad at all; in fact, one thing that won’t get analyzed too much is how well he played man coverage in pass defense. There’s simply not much to analyze when he tracks his assignment the whole way and prevents Speight from even considering a pass in his direction. Whereas the second quarter highlighted Thomas’ run defense, the third highlights his pass defense.

4th Quarter

11:33 – Poggi finally does get a successful block on Thomas. He hits him below the waist and gives Smith enough time to break through the left side of the line. Thomas was in the right place, but the block was simply hard to avoid. Good play from Poggi rather than a mistake by Thomas.

4:14 – There’s a large gap here because most of the plays before this one went to the complete opposite side of Thomas (which is a good sign). Draw plays only work if the offensive line is able to hold their blocks, which Michigan clearly cannot do on this one. Derrick Nnadi hits Smith first in the backfield, and Thomas runs over to finish the tackle. Once again, the motor on Thomas might be the most exciting thing about him going forward. He doesn’t take plays off.

2:47 – Florida State had this run stopped at the line of scrimmage. The offensive line slanted towards the right and had a fullback leading through the hole on the left side. Despite this, the Michigan guard is unable to engage Pugh in time to help out Evans. But both Pugh and Thomas go towards the right side of the ball carrier, so only one (Pugh) actually touches him. Evans simply breaks the tackle and goes for nine yards. This seems more of a Pugh error than anything.

2:06 – Thomas clearly know where he needs to be on this play. He goes straight to the right side of the line where fullback Khalid Hill is throwing a block for Evans. Where Thomas fails is keeping himself in good position. He tries to lower his shoulder and hit the fullback out of the way, which works, but Thomas gets turned around from the play and is off balance. This lets Evans run through the gap and break off the touchdown run to put Michigan up 28-27. This was by far Thomas’ biggest error of the game, and it could not have come at a worse time.

:31 – No error here. With the game winding down and Michigan attempting to drive, Thomas sniffs out a screen as soon as the ball is snapped. He shows fantastic speed on his way to tackling Evans behind the line. Keep in mind that this was an open field match-up between a running back and a linebacker. And the linebacker won.

Fourth Quarter Summary: His worst mistake and his best tackle both made an appearance at the end of the game. At no point in the contest did Thomas show signs of slowing down. His motor continued to run high, and his awareness was apparent in all facets of the game.

Overall

If Matthew Thomas continues to play like this next year, he’s going to be a first round draft pick. Hopes were high for Thomas when he committed to Florida State all the way back in early 2013. It took him a while to live up to the hype, but the 2016 Orange Bowl was quite the stage to have the biggest game of his career so far.

The 33-32 victory showcased everything that made him such an exciting prospect. He has great awareness, elite closing speed, and good coverage ability. Rarely does Thomas give up on a play even after getting blocked or otherwise deterred. At last count, there were two mistakes from Thomas that were almost solely on him. Other than those, he played a phenomenal game and made a huge impact. It’s fairly clear that FSU does not win if he’s not on the field.

Here’s the final thing I’ll say: I was on the sidelines during the Michigan 2-point conversion to put the Wolverines up by three. After the touchdown, most of FSU’s defenders had their hands on their hips or were dejected. The lone exception I saw? Matthew Thomas, trying to lift their spirits and clapping to get his teammate’s energy up. If that’s the mentality he’ll continue with heading into the 2017 season, linebacker might finally be a strong suit of the FSU defense.

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