Humble and hungry: Clemson five-star Xavier Thomas arrived ready to work
It would be understandable if Xavier Thomas arrived at Clemson with a bit of an ego.
The Florence native was a unanimous five-star recruit and was rated as the No. 3 overall player in the country for the class of 2018 by the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Thomas was being compared to Jadeveon Clowney before his junior year of high school and just about every top program in the country was recruiting him.
But Thomas has been on campus at Clemson for about seven months after enrolling in January and defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall recently said that he has not acted entitled at all.
“He’s been great,” Hall recently said at Dabo Swinney’s annual media golf outing. “You would think when you get the five-stars, you’ve got to smack this guy over the head, but that hasn’t been the case.”
Thomas was a big piece of a Clemson recruiting class that was ranked No. 7 in the country, led by five five-star recruits.
Hall wasn’t exactly sure how Thomas’ work ethic would be as he adjusted to the college game, but he was thrilled with the effort he saw this spring.
“I think for Xavier obviously there is a lot of hype. I’ve got to work on keeping him grounded. His effort, his execution of what we’re trying to do and his attitude each and every day, which has been great,” Hall said. “He’s been very humble. And you can be humble when you’ve got a bunch of guys in the room that are great, when you’ve got the leaders that we have. I’m proud of the effort that I’ve seen thus far.”
Thomas quickly worked his way up the depth chart and recorded two sacks in Clemson’s spring game.
He impressed enough during the spring and summer that Hall said he will “absolutely” be ready to help the Tigers in 2018.
“I love that kid. I love his tenacity… The sky’s the limit for him,” Hall said. “If he continues to work and do the things that he needs to be great he has the opportunity to be a great player. I know he wants to be great and my job is to help him be great.”
Thomas has not only impressed his position coach but also fellow defensive end Clelin Ferrell. The All-American recently said at the ACC Kickoff event that Thomas and fellow five-star defensive end K.J. Henry have been impressive since arriving on campus.
“People ask them, ‘Why are you going to a school where they’re already so-called deep in the defensive line.’ But it’s because they know that they’re not afraid to come in and compete,” Ferrell said. “They understand the great tradition there, and they understand that they have guys that aren’t just about themselves. We’re all about each other. And I see those guys come in and be able to take constructive criticism and come in and work hard and make the progressions that they’ve made throughout the summer. Man, it’s been huge and I love that about them.”
This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 1:18 PM.