Turning a negative into a positive

Two years ago Nate Thomas was a definite bright spot for the USD football team and the sky was looking like the limit after running for more than 700 yards as a freshman. 

A serious football injury – what happened to Thomas involved a lot of medical terms that he can rattle off but most of us could not – ended his sophomore season before it began. 

He has returned and is part of a strong backfield rotation now. For Thomas, some of that strength comes from what it took to get him back on the field. 

“It was a ruptured ACL, torn medial and lateral meniscus and then I sprained just about everything else – like the LCL (lateral collateral ligament) and the PCL (posterior cruciate ligament),” Thomas said. “It was really bad and it was based on making just one cut. It was just crazy.”

Thomas, a psychology major and Missouri Valley Conference honor roll member, probably wishes he didn’t know quite as much as he does about the anatomy of the knee these days, but he didn’t have much choice on that after the injury.

What he has discovered through the rehab process is that being cleared to play after a major injury includes several stages. A green light from a doctor and a training staff represents the beginning of recovery as much as it does the end of it.

“I’m trying to build that full confidence back inside my body,” Thomas said. “I’m also trying to build up the confidence of my coaches and trying to gain their trust.”

The confidence element can be a little hard to define but a running back knows when he has it.

“It’s a slow process,” Thomas said. “What it looks like is thinking about the moves you want to make and then not hesitating to cut this way or that way. It’s pretty much being able to play the game without overthinking what you’re doing out there. A running back is basically just reacting to whatever the defense is giving you or how a block is made.”

Thomas had an outstanding junior season at St. Laurence High School in the Chicago area, running for 1,754 yards and 26 touchdowns. A year later during the COVID-laced 2020 season, he played in just two-and-a-half games. An injury knocked him out of a season where his high school team played just four times due to COVID issues.

For a kid looking to impress college coaches enough to get scholarship offers, the timing of the pandemic could have been better. In addition to curbing his opportunities as a high school senior, it also reduced the interest of colleges.

Like so many others who graduated from high school that year, he ran into numbers problems. When the NCAA granted another year of eligibility for athletes affected by the pandemic, that meant college seniors could remain with their teams for another season. Those programs with a glut at running back might be reluctant to take on more at that position.

He still got a call from the University of South Dakota, however, when a few other offers fell through. This led to an invitation to become part of the team. That was all Thomas needed to prove he was worthy of becoming a valuable part of the program.

Since then, he has established himself as an outgoing, hardworking and popular teammate.

“I’ve always considered myself a positive person,” he said. “I’ve always told myself that a positive person can find a positive in a negative situation. A negative person finds negatives in a positive situation.”

The theory was tested during the year on the sidelines. Thomas spent a lot of time thinking about how to make the best of it. What was he supposed to learn from this? 

“I’m always trying to figure out what God is telling me,” he said. “The injury was a big one. At first I didn’t realize it but I know now it was a blessing in disguise. The more I went through the process I really started connecting and praying to God. I started to understand that not everything is going to go the way you want it to. What you might think is meant to destroy you sometimes is meant to build you up. The spiritual connection I gained really solidified how positive I can be in some situations.”

Thomas is a guy you want to talk to. You want to ask him questions because he’s generous and insightful with his answers. Plus, teammates and coaches will tell you this positive attitude translates to not taking plays off in practice or in games. Positivity converts to energy.

“People were asking me, ‘Are you going to come back? Are you going to be able to do things the way you want?,’” Thomas said. “And that just gave me another chip on my shoulder to motivate me. It made me appreciate school and really start focusing on school more. And it showed me football is not always going to be there. During practice it motivates me to go hard every time, even for the little stuff. And I’m starting to see that really play out.”