Anthony Thomas

About 6 pages (1,898 words)

**Anthony Thomas**
National Football League Debut
Buffalo Bills — No. 28
Running back
Date of Birth: November 7 1977 (1977-11-07) (age 30)
Place of Birth: Winnfield, Louisiana
Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Weight: 221 lb (100 kg)
2001 for the Chicago Bears
Career Highlights and Awards
2x Citrus Bowl MVP (1999, 2001) AP NFL Offensive ROY (2001)
Career History
College: Michigan
NFL Draft: 2001 / Round: 2 / Pick: 38
Teams: Chicago Bears (2001-2004) Dallas Cowboys (2005) New Orleans Saints (2005) Buffalo Bills (2006-present)
Stats at NFL.com

Anthony Jermaine Thomas (born November 7, 1977 in Winnfield, Louisiana) is an American football running back who currently plays plays for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round (38th overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played collegiately at Michigan. As a rookie with the Bears in 2001, rushed for over 1,100 yards and seven touchdowns to earn the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award.

1 High school career
2 College career
3 Professional career
- 3.1 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

High school career

At Winnfield Senior High School, he starred on the basketball, track, and football teams. He set a state record with 106 career touchdowns while playing both running back and placekicker. He was named a first-team All-American and rated as the second-best running back in the country by the Prep Football Report.

College career

Before entering the professional ranks, Thomas played college football at University of Michigan. As a freshman in 1997, he contributed to the Wolverines' 12-0 national championship season. In his stellar collegiate career (1997-2000), Thomas set school records for rushing yards (4,472) and touchdowns (56). His record for rushing yards was broken seven years later by Mike Hart, as shown in the following chart:

Rank	Name	Attempts	Net Yds	Yds/Att	Touchdowns	Long	Start	End
1	Mike Hart	983	4911	5.0	39	64	2004	2007
2	Anthony Thomas	924	4472	4.8	55	80	1997	2000
3	Jamie Morris	806	4392	5.5	25	68	1984	1987
4	Tyrone Wheatley	688	4178	6.1	47	88	1991	1994
5	Butch Woolfolk	717	3850	5.4	29	92	1978	1981

^[1]

Thomas also ranks second in school history in rushing yards in a single season with 1,703 yards in 2000:

Rank	Name	Attempts	Net Yds	Yds/Att	Year
1	Tim Biakabutuka	303	1818	6.0	1995
2	Anthony Thomas	319	1733	5.4	2000
3	Jamie Morris	282	1703	6.0	1987
4	Chris Perry	338	1674	5.0	2003
5	Mike Hart	318	1562	4.9	2006

^[2]

Professional career

Thomas was selected in the second round (38th overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. Nicknamed "A-Train" due to his power-running style, he powered his way to 1,183 rushing yards and the NFL Rookie of the Year Award. With the emergence of Thomas Jones in Chicago, he signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 2005 as the backup running back to Julius Jones. Thomas' ineffectiveness in limited duty, his inability to play special teams, and the emergence of Marion Barber III as the primary backup led Dallas to release him in November 2005. He was quickly signed by New Orleans after they lost Deuce McAllister with a season ending knee injury, and split rushing duties with Aaron Stecker. On April 28, 2006, Thomas signed with the Buffalo Bills.

Trivia

Award-winning rookie campaign culminated in his selection as the 2001 rookie recipient of the Brian Piccolo Award, voted by his Bears teammates, after being named NFL Rookie-of-the-Year by Sports Illustrated and selected to Pro Football Weekly's All-Rookie team
Thomas set an NFL record for most touches by a rookie without a fumble with 300 split between 278 rush attempts and 22 receptions

External links

Anthony Thomas gets second chance with the Saints (wwltv.com)

Preceded by Mike Anderson	AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Clinton Portis

• • e

NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award from the Associated Press

• • e Michigan Wolverines football
All-time record: 868–286–36 (.745)
Key Personnel	Head Coach: Rich Rodriguez • Offensive Coordinator: Calvin Magee • Defensive Coordinator: TBD
Playing Fields	Ann Arbor Fairgrounds • Regents Field • Ferry Field • Michigan Stadium
Rivalries	The Ohio State Game • Michigan State-Paul Bunyan Trophy • Notre Dame • Minnesota-Little Brown Jug
Head Coaches	Murphy • Crawford • Barbour • McCauley • Ward • Ferbert • Lea • Yost • Little • Wieman • Kipke • Crisler • Oosterbaan • Elliott • Schembechler • Moeller • Carr • Rodriguez
Retired Numbers	#11 Al Wistert, Alvin Wistert, and W. Wistert • #47 Oosterbaan #48 G. Ford • #87 Kramer • #98 Harmon
Heisman Trophy Winners	Harmon • Howard • Woodson
Big Ten Most Valuable Player	Friedman • Newman • Harmon • B. Elliott • Pace • Timberlake • Johnson • Lytle • Leach • Carter • Harbaugh • Howard • Woodson • Perry • Edwards
College Football Hall of Fame	Benbrook • Brown • Carter • Chappuis • Crisler • Curtis • Dierdorf • B. Elliott • P. Elliott • Evashevski • Friedman • Harmon • Heston • Hirsch • Johnson • Kipke • Kramer • Little • Mandich • Maulbetsch • McKenzie • Newman • Oosterbaan • Pregulman • Raymond • Schembechler • Schulz • Snow • Vick • Westfall • Wieman • Al Wistert • Alvin Wistert • W. Wistert • Yost
First Team All-Americans (Consensus, ^Unanimous)	1890s: Cunningham 1900s: Snow • Heston • Heston • Schulz • Benbrook 1910s: Benbrook • Wells • Pontius • Craig • Maulbetsch • Culver • Steketee 1920s: Vick • Kipke • Blott • Slaughter • Brown • Oosterbaan • Friedman • Oosterbaan • Friedman • ^Oosterbaan • Pommerening 1930s: Morrison • Petoskey • ^Newman • Bernard • Petoskey • W. Wistert • ^Bernard • ^Heikkinen • Harmon 1940s: ^Harmon • Frutig • Westfall • Al Wistert • Franks • ^Daley • Pregulman • Madar • Chappuis • B. Elliott • P. Elliott • Rifenburg • Alvin Wistert • Alvin Wistert • Wahl 1950s: Wahl • Perry • Walker • Kramer • ^Kramer • Pace 1960s: Timberlake • Yearby • Yearby • ^Clancy • Johnson • Volk • ^Mandich • Curtis 1970s: Hill • Dierdorf • Huff • McKenzie • ^Taylor • Darden • Seymour • Logan • Gallagher • Brown • ^Brown • Dufek • Smith • O'Neal • Lytle • Donahue • ^Donahue • Downing • Anderson • Leach • Greer • Simpkins • Lilja 1980s: Carter • ^Carter • Muransky • Becker • ^Carter • Paris • Dixon • Humphries • Hammerstein • Cochran • Rivers • J. Elliott • J. Elliott • Vitale • ^Messner • ^Welborne 1990s: ^Welborne • Dingman • Skrepenak • ^Howard • Anderson • ^Skrepenak • C. Hutchinson • Hamilton • Law • Horn • Payne • Irons • Woodson • Steele • ^Woodson • Tuman • Jansen • Renes 2000s: ^S. Hutchinson • Walker • Perry • ^Edwards • Baas • Jackson • Shazor • Hall • Long • ^Woodley
First Round Draft Picks	Harmon • Evashevski • Westfall • Pregulman • Hirsch • Lund • Madar • Chappuis • Dworsky • P. Elliott • Derricotte • Kramer • Pace • Mack • Yearby • Detwiler • Johnson • Darden • Taylor • Seymour • Gallagher • Greer • Kenn • Anderson • Giesler • Gold • Owens • Woolfolk • Brooks • Harbaugh • Bunch • Howard • Everitt • Alexander • Wheatley • Law • Jenkins • Biakabutuka • Woodson • Terrell • S. Hutchinson • Backus • Perry • Edwards • Jackson • Hall
Pro Football Hall of Fame	Hirsch • Hewitt • L. Ford • Dierdorf • Mack • Allen • Friedman
NFL Pro Bowlers	Al Wistert • L. Ford (4) • Hirsch (3) • Zatkoff (3) • Kramer • Morrow • Barr (2) • Keating (2) • Volk (3) • Mack (11) • Dierdorf (5) • Darden • Logan (2) • Kenn (5) • Hicks (4) • Brown • Haji-Sheikh • Carter (2) • Bostic • Hoard • Harbaugh • J. Elliott • Law (4) • Woodson (4) • Grbac • Howard • Brady (4) • Gold • Runyan • S. Hutchinson (5) • June • Griese • Edwards
Alumni Active in the NFL	Askew • Avant • Baas • Backus • Brady • Branch • Breaston • Burgess • Campbell • Collins • Dudley • Edwards • Feely • Foote • Gold • Goodwin • Griese • James Hall • Leon Hall • Harris • Hobson • Hutchinson • Jackson • Jansen • Jones • Joppru • June • Law • LeSueur • Manning • Massaquoi • Navarre • Orr • Pape • Pearson • Perry • Riley • Runyan • Shea • Terrell • Thomas • Toomer • Tuman • Watson • B. Williams • M. Williams • Woodley • Woods • Woodson
Active First-Team All Big Ten Players at Michigan	Hart • Kraus • Long • Manningham
Other Important Figures	Bell • Canham • Franklin • Henne • Mallett • Morris • Streets • Ufer • Vaughn
National Championships (11)	1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, 1997
Big Ten Championships (42)	1898, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1918, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1964, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004
All-Time leaders	Receiving • Passing • Rushing