What transfer running back Star Thomas said about his transition to Tennessee

What transfer running back Star Thomas said during his press conference this week, discussing his transition to Tennessee Football after transferring from Duke:

How his spring has been at Tennessee

“It’s been great. Just a slow process for me right here coming in. But overall it’s been great, though. It’s been a great learning experience for me, especially playing at this level.”

What sold him on Tennessee when he was in the NCAA Transfer Portal

“Just the past couple years of them, winning. And then me, Coach Heup, seeing how down to earth he is, (the) great person he is. Coach Sims, how they go about recruiting and how they connect with their players. And that’s something that I wanted to be a part of my last year. And I see like the bond that everybody got here and how they go about the team here. And it’s just what I wanted to be a part of. And I love like the camaraderie that the team has.”

De’Rail Sims saying Tennessee’s running back room is competitive, but there are no egos

“He’s right. We’re really, highly competitive. No egos. We all feel like we got something to prove. I know losing Samp (Dylan Sampson) last year, coming in I knew how big that would be. So we know the burden on our shoulder. But we’re not letting it get to us. We’re just coming in to do our job every day and prepare to take the next step and try to be better. Not say be better than what he did, but try to match what he did here.”

The opportunity he saw at running back at Tennessee, with DeSean Bishop and Peyton Lewis coming back

“I really didn’t just think about it like that. I just felt just Tennessee in general, it was a place that I wanted to be. I always dreamed of playing SEC football. And I just feel this was the perfect opportunity with (Sampson) leaving and me hitting the portal. I just felt like it was the perfect opportunity and a great opportunity for me to come in and have a chance at playing in the SEC.” 

When he realized he would have another year of eligibility because of his time in junior college

“I was shocked when I heard it. I didn’t believe it at first. I had to call around and really get some proven facts on it. But I mean it helped me a lot. I was like, why not? I had to come back and try it again. Like I feel last year, like I did alright but I didn’t have the season that I wanted to have overall, that I feel would’ve got me to that next level. And I feel like I can do that here.”

What he has enjoyed the most about being at Tennessee

“Just the team overall. The team. No egos. Everybody down, everybody together on the team and that’s what I wanted it to be. That’s what I love about being here.”

If he has had an opportunity to talk to Dylan Sampson 

“I met him on Pro Day, talked to him a little. (He said) just come in, be yourself, don’t overthink. Just come in and be about business.”

If Star is his given name or it was a nickname

“It was my given name. My mama, she named me after my uncle, well one of my uncle had Star in his name and one of them had Corey, so she tried to mix it together and we just ran along with Starey.”

If a name like that is something he has to live up to

“Yes sir … I really don’t know. I mean, that name does carry, just having that name, like you got to live up to a star. But I never just thought like I had to, but it just was always just, it just the name like Star, like I know it’s a name that attracts people. I really don’t got an answer for that one.”

If he knew Dylan Sampson previously, with both of them being from Louisiana

“No, sir. I didn’t know him. I had heard about him in high school, because we were from similar, same area and stuff, like three hours (apart). He’s like three hours up the road. I heard about him in high school, but I never met him until Pro Day (at Tennessee).”

How similar Tennessee’s offense is to what he played in at New Mexico State and Duke

“It is real similar because you can spread out wide, bunch in. And then like New Mexico State, we had like more of a slower type of offense, didn’t run many plays. And last year at Duke it was kind of like the same tempo, but it’s more plays in this offense than it was at Duke. And it hasn’t been so hard for me to pick up on lately.”

His approach coming into the Tennessee running back room

“It was sort of both, coming in to work and if I can help them on some things, like how to set the holes up better, like being patient. I try to talk to them about that. But I mean those guys, those guys were kind of pretty seasoned when I came. They kind of helped me a little on a lot of things like how to go about running my tracks on the run game, staying square and pass protection and stuff. We got a great room. All those guys, they talk about it and they’re eager to learn too. There ain’t no egos in there.” 

How he has gone about learning Tennessee’s playbook and the verbiage on offense

“Just going home every night, studying and coming in the office, asking coach, asking about like the signals and stuff. Making sure that I just stay on top of it and just asking as many question that I can to keep up with it. Because tempo, how fast, especially Tennessee, how fast that we go, the next play, soon as you hit the ground, you got to jump up right away, look to the signal. That’s what I had a hard part at first doing, but now I’m getting it. I don’t slow down a lot.”

How much progress he has made with that learning curve during spring practice  

“At first it was kind of slow, but now I’m kind of getting it. I’m comfortable now. I’m way more comfortable than I was the first practice or the second practice. I’m to the point where I know everything now, and now it’s just me just going out there executing and not thinking, having nothing in the back of my head. Once I see the signal, time to go.”

If he was surprised by the lack of egos in Tennessee’s running back room, on the roster 

“Not really because I can just tell like how last year when Samp was doing his thing, you can just tell there wasn’t, coming in. It wasn’t no slouch on his name, about what they wanted to do and all that. Those guys were happy to be behind him and learn from him. And you don’t usually see that, especially being here at the SEC. You probably wouldn’t see that anywhere. But it is great though. Peyton (Lewis), (DeSean) Bishop, (Hunter) Barnes, Daune (Morris), everybody’s just so close. It’s a great room. Probably one of the best rooms I’ve been around.”

If it’s less overwhelming learning a new playbook when he’s been in this position before

“Yes sir. It helped a lot. It wasn’t too hard learning the plays once I seen it. Only thing that was just hard, like I said, is the tempo of learning the plays. That was probably the hardest part about it. But now since I got the tempo down of how they want to move and how they want go about it, everything else has been easy and come full circle.”

How he would describe Tennessee running backs coach De’Rail Sims

“Great. Straightforward, no sugarcoating. Going to always tell you the truth. Honest. And just a great individual overall. Every detail, he owns it. He own it and that’s what I like. The small things matter to him.”