Notre Dame faced 2nd-and-7 from their own 40-yard-line in the first quarter of their Week 2 game vs. Ball State. Brandon Wimbush took the snap and fed running back Tony Jones Jr., who'd be escorted through an off-tackle hole by pulling right guard Tommy Kraemer and pulling left guard Alex Bars.
Ball State linebacker Jaylin Thomas had other ideas. The 6-foot-1, 236-pound redshirt sophomore read the play and shot the gap between Kraemer and Bars to shove Notre Dame into 3rd-and-long, which failed and resulted in a punt.
Another angle: Kraemer sees Thomas and attempts to go low, but Thomas went lower through Kraemer's path and wrapped up Jones.
It was one of seven first-half tackles (nine total) for Thomas, who entered the game never having recorded more than six tackles in a game. He earned the highest Pro Football Focus grade among all FBS linebackers in Week 2 and the third-highest grade among all FBS defenders.
Six of his tackles in the near-upset of the Irish came within two yards of the line of scrimmage — a big reason why a Ball State defense that allowed 5.2 yards per carry in 2017 allowed only 2.9 yards per carry in Week 2.
"I think it's a culmination of his development and how hard he's worked at it," second-year defensive coordinator Mike Elson said. "It's one game, but certainly, it's one he can build on. He can learn from the good things he did, and also there are some plays we left on the field, and he knows that.
"Quite honestly, he had not been practicing all that well lately. But he's very coachable. There are some things he was doing in practice that we corrected."
RANKINGS: Ball State Makes Week 3 Jump
Let's do a quick exercise: Pull up YouTube, type in "Jaylin Thomas Ball State."
The first result is a news report of Thomas committing to Ball State from January 2016. The second result is Ball State special teams coordinator Patrick Dougherty discussing Thomas' signing from February 2016. The third result is a 12-minute postgame interview with Cardinals' head coach Mike Neu following their Week 1 win over Central Connecticut State.
Keep scrolling or adjust your search terms to "Jaylin Thomas Ball State highlights" or something similarly specific if you'd like. Nothing. There is not one highlight of Thomas on YouTube.
Buy a ticket aboard the Jaylin Thomas Train now; clearly, it's cheap and the price will soon skyrocket if those corrections stick and he keeps dominating the line of scrimmage.
