NC State fourth-year junior outside linebacker Drake Thomas announced Friday night that he'll be playing his last game with the Wolfpack in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Dec. 30 in Charlotte, N.C.
The 6-foot, 230-pound Thomas will enter the NFL Draft and will likely earn an NFL Combine invite. He graduated this month with a degree in business administration.
Thomas helped lead the ACC’s top defense with 90 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and 23 quarterback hurries. He finished third in the ACC defensive player of the year voting by the ACC media, and was named second-team all-league.
The Associated Press voted him first-team All-ACC at linebacker. Thomas was also named first-team All-ACC in 2021.
Thomas finished his decorated NC State career starting 37 of 46 games with 282 tackles, 18.5 sacks, four interceptions, 42.5 tackles for loss and 37 quarterback hurries.
Thomas set a career-high with 15 tackles against Louisville in 2021, and he had 14 tackles in the win over Florida State this past season.
Thomas was a Rivals.com three-star prospect in the class of 2019 coming out of Wake Forest (N.C.) Heritage. He was the No. 22 inside linebacker in the country and the No. 19 overall player in the state of North Carolina in the 2019 class.
Thomas followed his brother — wide receiver Thayer Thomas — to NC State, picking the Wolfpack over Alabama, Charlotte, Clemson, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
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