Prep’s Johnathan Thomas thrilled with Penn State

Johnathan Thomas will sign a piece of paper at 8 a.m. Wednesday that officially makes a lifelong dream come true.

But for the St. John’s Prep running back, the process leading up to National Signing Day was never that simple.

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The signature on Thomas’s letter of intent to Penn State comes after an early commitment to Maryland, a decommitment, a commitment to Penn State, a season-ending knee injury, and a coaching change for the Nittany Lions.

So Wednesday comes as a relief.

“It feels great,” Thomas said Monday night. “My recruiting process has been a long journey. There [were] a lot of obstacles during the process. But I ended up where I wanted to be.”

Thomas committed to Maryland last May, but changed his mind when Penn State offered him a scholarship in September — a result of five scholarships being restored after the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

“Honestly, I committed too early,” the Salem native said. “I knew I liked the school, but I really didn’t love it.”

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Soon after Thomas was offered the Penn State scholarship, the 5-foot-11-inch, 210-pounder tore his right ACL against Everett Sept. 28. The blow came after Thomas had rushed for more than 700 yards and eight touchdowns in four games.
He had surgery in October.

“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” said Thomas. “I’m humbled to have this opportunity to go to my dream school. It doesn’t get better than that.”

Another hitch came Jan. 2 when Prep alum and Penn State coach Bill O’Brien announced he was leaving to become the coach of the Houston Texans.

But O’Brien’s departure didn’t rattle Thomas.

“Originally, [O’Brien] told me that he wasn’t going to leave, but he had a tremendous opportunity to be the head coach of an NFL team,” Thomas said.

“You choose a school, you don’t choose a coach. It would be nice for him to be there, but honestly, I’m happy with how everything all played out.”

James Franklin was named the new coach in Happy Valley Jan. 11, and he reached out to Thomas that day.

A few days later, Thomas met Franklin during a visit to the campus.

“I really enjoy him,” Thomas said. “I like the way that he’s a team guy, he’s a players’ coach, and he really cares about his players.”

Thomas is still rehabbing his knee, able to work out but not yet allowed to do any sprints.

“I’m progressing each day and I’ll be back 100 percent soon,” Thomas said.

.   .   .

Elsewhere, Natick quarterback Troy Flutie — the state’s all-time leader in career touchdown passes — will sign his letter of intent to Boston College . . . Archbishop Williams running back Kylan Philbert-Richardson will play at Penn, while Cardinal Spellman’s Rory Donovan and Central Catholic’s D’Andre Drummond-Mayrie are headed to New Hampshire. Division 4 Player of the Year Bo Berluti will do a post-grad year at Phillips Exeter. Bishop Fenwick’s Nick Bona, the Division 5 Player of the Year, is deciding between Stonehill, Merrimack, St. Anselm, and Assumption. Latin Academy quarterback Kyle Dance, the Boston City League’s all-time leader in career TD passes, will choose among Springfield, Endicott, and WNEC.

The next step

These seniors, all of whom played football, have decided where they will attend college. Not all have decided on a sport.

Player	Position	High School	College
Jon Baker	OL/DL	Millis	Boston College
AJ Barros	WR/DB	Belmont Hill	Tufts
Drew Belcher	QB	Reading	Maine
Steve Bissainthe	T	BB&N	Middlebury
Pat Champagnie	WR/LB	BB&N	Bryant
Kevin Cohee Jr.	DE	Roxbury Latin	Boston College
Mike Cronin	OL/DL	Milton Academy	Bates
Luke Cuneo	WR	Dexter	Furman
Ryan DeMarinis	DT/OG	Westwood	Case Western Reserve
Jaylin Deveau	TE/LB	Whittier	Sacred Heart
Dan DiNicola	OL/DL	Dexter	UMass-Amherst
Rory Donovan	WR/DB	Cardinal Spellman	New Hampshire
D’Andre Drummond-Mayrie	RB/S	Central Catholic	New Hampshire
Shaun Duncombe	OL/DL	Plymouth South	Bryant
Lubern Figaro	WR/DB	Everett	Wisconsin
James Fiore	RB/LB	St. Sebastian’s	Union
Troy Flutie	QB	Natick	Boston College
Dan Fulham	TE/DE	St. Sebastian’s	Middlebury
Jack Galvin	WR	Lowell	Brown
Darcy Gopie	OL/DL	Milton Academy	Bates
Peter Graves	TE/DE	Milton Academy	Harvard
Tim Grogan	LB	BB&N	Bates
Dillon Guthro	OT/DE	Newburyport	Bryant
James Hendren	OL/DL	Dexter	Boston College
Jack Herlihy	T/DT	Duxbury	Sacred Heart
Drew Jacobs	RB/LB	Milton Academy	Middlebury
Matt Jeye	QB/DB	Holliston	Wesleyan
Shayne Kaminski	LB/RB	Xaverian	Wesleyan
Joe Kearney	WR/DB	St. Sebastian’s	Harvard
Liam Kenneally	LB/FB	Reading	Trinity
AJ King	WR/DB	Xaverian	St. Anselm
Grant Kramer	OL/DL	Duxbury	Army
Erik Kushner	TE/DE/SS	Sharon	Colgate
Joseph LaLiberte	OL/DL	Belmont Hill	Middlebury
Sean Lovett	C	St. John’s Prep	Bates
Luke Macdonald	FB/LB	Milton Academy	Bates
Mike McCaffrey	WR/CB	BB&N	Holy Cross
Will Medina	TE/DE	Milton Academy	Curry
Matt Morin	WR/LB	Milton Academy	Trinity
Dylan Oxsen	RB	Plymouth South	Assumption
Dante Papas	FB/OLB	BB&N	Amherst
Jeff Perez	OL/DL	Xaverian	Westfield State
Kylan Philbert-Richardson	RB/DB	Archbishop Williams	Pennsylvania
Greg Plumb	RB/DB	Belmont Hill	Williams
Danny Roache	RB	Westwood	Colby
Mike Samko	LB	BB&N	Bentley
Cam Smith	OL/DL	Medway	Lafayette
David Smith	WR/K	St. Paul’s	Dartmouth
Austin Stern	LB	Groton	Bowdoin
Connor Strachan	LB	St. Sebastian’s	Boston College
Jonathan Thomas	RB	St. John’s Prep	Penn State
Connor Walsh	TE/LB	BC High	Maine
Tim Walsh	QB	Attleboro	Bentley
Frank Williams	RB/S	BB&N	Bates