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Unfulfilled Expectations?
Mike Thomas’ Career Passing Statistics
Year Comp Att Yds INT Pet TD LP
T 991 ? 7 50 or 371 0 22”
1992 54 114 831 4 .474 3 47
1993 20 37 336 2 .541 1 49
1994 39 83 715 3 .470 8 71
Totals 117 241 1932 9 .485 12 71
before the second injury.
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In the spring after the bowl game, Tho
mas tore his left pectoralis muscle while
lifting weights. He missed all of spring prac
tice and did not play baseball that summer
after having surgery March 3.
More adversity for Thomas to overcome.
“I was looking forward to a lot of things
in the future, and then I had the injury,"
Thomas said. “It was a big setback for me,
because I had never had that type of injury.
It was something I had to deal with and fight
through.”
Thomas spent that spring and summer
rehabilitating, and when fall practice started,
the quarterback controversy continued. Who
would start?
Brown hinted he would go with Thomas
in the season opener against Southern Cal,
but Stanicek started that game and the next
four. Thomas finally got his chance at N.C.
State, after Stanicek injured his shoulder the
previous week against Florida State.
But Thomas was sacked early, bruising
his ribs. Stanicek came off the bench and led
UNC to its first win against the Wolfpack in
six years. Thomas missed the UTEP game
mu me photo
the next week and made only 14 pass at
tempts in the last five games.
“I slipped on the turf and somebody fell
on me—l was in an awkward position, like
a hurdler’s position,” Thomas said in No
vember. “It hurt to pass, I couldn’t run the
option, I couldn’t punt. It was frustrating.”
‘Frustrating’ was Thomas’ word that fall.
His team was winning, headed to the Gator
Bowl, and he was practically a nonfactor.
From Ittch Iflfarmar to Hsro
Stanicek continued to rack up UNC record
numbers as Thomas sat into the ‘94 season.
But when Stanicek bruised hisribslateinthe
second quarter at SMU, Brown once again
turned to Thomas, who was waiting pa
tiently on the sidelines.
The junior responded with two touch
down passes, including a 66-yard crossing
route to freshman Octavus Barnes that
brought UNC from behind for the win.
“There was no panic there,” Thomas said
that day. “I’ve been under situations before
—and some of the guys back in ‘92—we’ve
been under pressures before.... We needed
to face the adversity and came back to win. ”
The next week, Stanicek started against
Georgia Tech and broke Justice's record.
But Stanicek, a master at the op
tion, was getting battered, and
Thomas relieved Stanicek for
good in the Clemson loss.
After passing for 177 yards
that day, Thomas started the
final two games and the Sun
Bowl against Texas.
“I knew Jason was taking
a beating in the middle of the
season,” Thomas said. "I was
hoping to come in and relieve
him some. Things didn’t go the
way I wanted, but when I came
in, I just wanted to do my job
and put points on the board
and put us in a position to
win ballgames.”
In the final three games,
Thomas passed for 196,210 1
and29B yards, against Wake
Forest, Duke and Texas, re
spectively. He threw six TDs,
including a 71-yarder to
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Barnes. Thomas was bombing
away.
“That opens up a different avenue for us,
with Mike having a stronger arm,” Wall
said. “That definitely makes a receiver, when
it’s his turn to run a deep or a post route, get
excited and think, ‘lt could be coming to me
this time.’ So that opens up a different av
enue in our game plan.”
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Brown contends that the game plan does
not change with Thomas at the helm, but
UNC is more pass-oriented and less option
oriented under Thomas. In the five games in
which Thomas was a factor, UNC averaged
243 passing yards. In the other seven games,
the Tar Heels averaged 153 yards.
“Offensively, Mike Thomas gives us the
ability to spread the ball around the field and
throw the ball deep, and continue to run the
option, so we feel we’ve got some good
combinations of things,” Brown said.
Thomas said: "We’ll just use everybody.
Share the wealth, that’s how I see it happen
ing. Share the wealth and put it in the zone
any time we get a chance. ”
If Thomas does that, he will continue to
fulfill the great expectations placed on him
and add another chapter to his idiosyncratic
career.
“Mike’s been through a lot, no doubt,”
said Barnes, his high school coach. “People
have tried to drag him down all throughout
his career. That’s what’s angered me so
much.”
Carr said those doubters have had no
effect on the thick-skinned Thomas.
“Those things are the pressures that the
fans and the media put on Mike, ” Carr said.
“The demands are nothing short of goals
that he sets for himself. It’s not a matter of
pressure from the fans and the media. He
just feels like he’s going to do well. ”
Thomas’ odyssey through college ends
this year, when he graduates in May with his
communicationsdegree.Hedidn'tplaybase
ball this summer, electing to stay in town to
prepare for this final year.
Now he is a senior leader, bom in 1971,
on a team with freshmen who were bom in
1977. But Thomas isn’t worrying about the
past five years.
“It’s gone by quick,” he said. “There’s
been some good and some bad. A lot of
memories. But it’s been good, andl’mhappy
to be here. The only thing that I can do is
handle the present, and the future is what’s
ahead of me.”
No doubt he’ll be able to handle whatever
adversities are thrown at him.
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