Sports

Former Bulldog Andrew Thomas focused on staying healthy as he prepares for NFL Draft

Four days a week, you will find Andrew Thomas training at Dash Performance.

The offensive guard spends three of those days working on strength, conditioning, flexibility and mobility. The other day he’s working on position work making sure he’s in top shape ready to go on draft night.

“On the field wise, my hands in pass pro, making sure I keep my hands inside the frame and staying overall in good shape,” Thomas said. “You want to be healthy going into the camp. With this virus, no telling if we’re going to get rookie OTAs and stuff like that. So I want to be in the best shape possible."

Channel 2’s Alison Mastrangelo recently visited with Thomas during one of his workouts. The former Bulldog is continuing to train and practice social distancing as he prepares for life in the NFL.

Thomas, who is from Lithonia and graduated from Pace Academy, has been widely projected as a top-10 or top-15 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

[WATCH the 2020 NFL Draft LIVE on Channel 2]

Once his training session is complete, the former Bulldog is busy taking FaceTime and Zoom interviews with NFL teams.

“The Patriots, the Bucs, Jaguars, the Browns, New York Jets, Arizona and the Chargers,” Thomas said.

Thomas said some of these conversations have lasted almost an hour and include general managers, assistant GMs, coaches and personnel guys jumping in to talk with him.

The talks are meant to get a better sense of his personality and knowledge of the game.

“Some of them will just be a conversation about your background, asking you to explain challenges you went through and things like that,” he said. “The others will put up film and you have to explain your technique and play call and everything going on in the play. Then some teams will teach you some of their plays and you have to spit it back to them.”

Now, of course, with the draft going virtual, Thomas’ draft nights plans have changed. He said he originally had his outfit all picked out ready to go and walk across the stage in Las Vegas when his name got called.

He said his family is now renting a house and will have a small group together on draft night.