There’s A New D.T. On the Football Radar Screen

If you didn’t know his name and his lineage, you would only notice him because he’s a tall, good looking young man.

But knowing who he is, and who his father was, when you first see him, it takes your breath away.

Derrion Thomas is the son of the late Derrick Thomas. He’s a senior at Blue Springs South High School. Every day he grows more into the image of his father. His face is not quite as oval as his Dad’s, but he has the same sparkle in his eye. And his body … well he’s grown into a young man that’s as tall and only a few pounds lighter than the original D.T.

He’s starting to look like his father on the football field as well.

This past Friday evening in the Missouri state high school playoffs, this younger version of D.T. had four sacks in Blue Springs South upset over top-ranked Rockhurst. The Jaguars advanced to the state semi-finals this coming Friday night against Jefferson City.

Whether Derrion plays in this Friday’s game is unknown because of an arm injury he suffered against Rockhurst. The injury occurred in the first half; he played the entire second half with pretty much one arm.

The game, the sacks, the injury capped what was quite a Friday for the young man.

That type of performance in the setting of the playoffs would be memorable enough. But it was an unforgettable night for Derrion because he was wearing his father’s shoulder pads, the same pads that Derrick Thomas wore playing in his last game on January 2, 2000 at Arrowhead Stadium against the Oakland Raiders.

Derrion and his 10-year old brother Robert spent their lunch time on Friday at the Chiefs practice facility. The Chiefs Wives Organization (CWO) led by Lia Edwards held an event to honor some of the kids from the Derrick Thomas Academy. The DTA is a charter school in Kansas City, Missouri that primarily serves at risk, inner-city African-American students who face challenges at home, struggle in the typical public school environment, and/or are in dire need of a strong quality education.

Youngsters from DTA had an essay contest with the subject being Derrick Thomas and the best examples were selected and honored with a day with the Chiefs. Led by Edwards, Lori Peterson and other wives of Chiefs administrators, coaches and players, the kids from DTA got the chance to watch practice and get player autographs. Carl Peterson spoke to the group about D.T. and the importance of education, as did the team’s executive director of player development Lamonte Winston. Derrion got the chance to say hello to Gunther Cunningham (above) one of his father’s football mentors.

And Derrion spoke to the kids from DTA as well. Wearing his Blue Springs South jersey, he stood in front of a room full of adults and children and talked about his father. It’s one of the first times he’s done this outside his family and friends.

While all this was going on, Mike Davidson and Allen Wright, the Chiefs top equipment guys were pulling a trunk out of storage. It contained all of Derrick Thomas’ football equipment. After his untimely death in February of 2000, they put the helmet, pads, shoes and uniform in the trunk for safekeeping and posterity.

At one point during his several hours at the team’s facility, Davidson and Wright took Derrion to the team’s equipment room and put his father’s shoulder pads on him. Back when Derrick Thomas was playing, one of the last things Mike and Allen would do before leaving the locker room for kickoff was pull the linebacker’s jersey over his head and shoulder pads. The jersey was skin tight, because any extra fabric would be yanked by opposing linemen trying to block D.T. on the pass rush. It was so tight that Thomas couldn’t pull it on or take it off by himself.

The shoulder pads had spots that lined up with D.T.’s torso, so they could be strapped down as tightly as possible. When Derrion pulled on the shoulder pads, the position of those spots lined up on his body just as they did for his father.

He wore those pads under his No. 33 jersey against Rockhurst and ended up with the four sacks and a half-dozen other tackles in the Jaguars 14-9 victory.

“I don’t know if they made a difference or not,” Derrion told the Blue Springs Examiner after the game. “But I felt like my Dad was with me all night. I felt like he was with me the minute I put them on. If just felt different going into this game. I can’t explain it. It was just different.”

This is the first year that Derrion has concentrated on football; he’s been a competitive swimmer for years and won a state championship for Blue Springs South last year. His future in the game appears to be limitless and he plans to make a trip to his father’s alma mater the University of Alabama to see about playing football in college.

Depending on the seriousness of the injury to his arm, Derrion plans to wear those pads again this Friday night against Jeff City.

Fueled by his father’s spirit and shoulder pads, there’s a new D.T. on the scene.