Blake Thomas is a 6’4” 240 pound tight end from Westlake, Ohio. In his first full season as a starter at St. Ignatius in 2010, Thomas solidified himself as one of the top prospects in the state, attracting interest from several Big Ten and ACC schools. Highlights from his junior year can be viewed here. While Notre Dame is an early favorite, Blake visited Duke for Junior Day and thought he could fit in with the Blue Devil program.

BDN: Can you start off by describing the strengths and weaknesses of your game for someone who hasn’t had a chance to see you play?

My strengths – I’m pretty big, I’m a good blocker. I have good hands and I can use my body to get off guys on routes. I catch a lot of passes over the middle, too.

 

BDN: What are some of the goals you have for yourself and your team this fall?

Definitely for the team our goal is to go 10-0, to win a state championship this year. We’re supposed to be pretty good, we’ve got a couple good players coming back, actually most of our team is returning. Personal goals – I want to have more catches this year, preferably upwards of 35, probably over 10 touchdowns would be a goal for me. I want to work on exploding off my blocks more, my footwork is – I have good footwork in my blocks, but sometimes I don’t explode as well as I’d like.

 

BDN: What are the most important things you are looking for in a college?

Definitely I want to play for a school that wins games, that would be something big. But even bigger would be academics and the school itself. The campus, I have to like it where I am. It doesn’t matter if I’m playing football if I don’t like the school that I’m at. So pretty much the campus life, the location of the school. I have to make sure that I like that.

 

BDN: What schools have you recently heard from? Who was the first school to contact you?

My earliest contact was Cincinnati. Since then I’ve had a lot more. I’ve had a lot of contact with Notre Dame recently, and Boston College. Some with Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Northwestern – schools like that.

 

BDN: Can you talk a little about the schools you have been able to visit recently?

Duke, I’m just getting back from. Duke was awesome. The coaches were great, they seemed really interested. I really liked the school, I know it’s a top academic school and I feel I could really fit into the system there. That’s what’s attractive about Duke and I like it a lot. Before that I saw Notre Dame, I saw a game at Notre Dame and met some of the coaches there during the football season. And then before that I went to Cincinnati. Those are the three schools I’ve been able to visit so far. I’ve had other invites, but they just haven’t worked with my schedule.

 

BDN: Of the schools you’ve visited so far and heard from, are there any schools that have particularly impressed you?

Up until now, my top school has definitely been Notre Dame. I’ve had a lot of communication with them and I’ve seen the campus a lot. I’ve seen a game there. I’ve been really pleased with it and I like it a lot. I think once I’ve been to more schools, once I’ve seen Boston College and Northwestern – schools like that, I’ll have a better idea of the schools that I’ll really be interested in.

 

BDN: Do you have any plans for other visits this spring or summer?

I know I’m seeing Notre Dame February 26. Also I got invited to LSU recently but I don’t know if I’m going to go all the way down there for a Junior Day. I’m not sure if I’m going to go to any other schools for Junior Days right now. I have a couple more that I can choose from, but just with driving and stuff I’m not sure I want to go all over the place right now. I’m sure I’ll be at a couple places for spring practices, too.

 

BDN: It’s still very early in the process, but ideally, when would you like to make your college decision?

Well ideally I’d like to be able to put if off until after my senior year, but if I got a school like Notre Dame before my senior year, I’d probably commit so I wouldn’t have to worry about it. But kind of the plan would be to wait out, see how many I could get, how many schools I really liked that I could get offers from. But definitely if a big school like that offered me, I’d probably take it.

 

BDN: Is there anything else you think is important for ACC football fans to know about you?

Not really, other than that. Schools that I’m looking for would be a good football school with a great campus and good academics. Stuff like that is really important. Other than that, not really.

 

BDN: Thanks a lot, Blake and best of luck to you.

Thanks.