Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 16, 2023 19 was a junior in high school. But once he did, he turned himself into one of the best football players Karns has ever seen — and that includes his brother. Thomas was the first player in Karns history to exceed 1,000 receiving yards in a single season. Then he did it again, breaking his own record, with 1,279 re- ceiving yards and 18 touchdowns as a se- nior. He also had 92 total tackles that year. The switch Thomas flipped from 2016, Taylor's first season as head coach, to 2017 was unlike anything Taylor had ever seen. "You could literally see it in his eyes that something clicked in his brain," Taylor told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "'This is what I'm going to do, and I'm going to go do it.'" Thomas played in 35 of Oklahoma State's 38 games from 2019-21, includ- ing 12 as a true freshman. He played in seven in 2022 before injuring his shoulder and later transferring to Notre Dame. He made his first Notre Dame start in the Fighting Irish's home opener versus Tennessee State Sept. 2, totaling 3 tackles (1 for loss). Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free- man said Thomas is someone Notre Dame will lean on quite a bit throughout 2023. "He's a guy that comes with a lot of experience," Freeman said. "We'd heard really great things when we started re- cruiting Thomas. He's done a great job in the nickel position for us. "We didn't see a lot of him during the first game because we weren't playing a lot of nickel defense, but he's really done a great job of transitioning from Oklahoma State to here, and he's been practicing at a high level." Devin, meanwhile, spent six seasons at Oklahoma State. He had 96 total tackles with 10 tackles for loss and 6 sacks as a super senior in 2021. Ironically, 10 of those tackles and 1 of the tackles for loss came against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. He was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. That's something Uncle Mike would have loved to see. A former high school running back in Winnsboro, S.C., Un- cle Mike would have also loved to see Thomas slip on a gold helmet and play for one of the most prestigious college football programs of all time, too. Now he has a bird's eye for what he already saw coming. "He knew they had the athleticism," Alacia Harper said. "Every time he talked to them, he always kept encouraging them. 'You're going to make it. You're go- ing to do good. Just keep focusing, doing what you're doing. Work hard.' "All the positive things. He just knew. I mean, he just knew." A CALL AWAY What Uncle Mike did see, in real life, was Thomas becoming an uncle of his own. And that meant, of course, Devin becoming a father. Camden Ry- der Harper, Devin's son and Thomas' nephew, was born on Aug. 9, 2019, 267 days before Uncle Mike died. Thomas knows what it means to be a good uncle. He had one in Mike. Now he's trying to be one himself. "Every time I see Cam I want to make him feel good and have a smile on his face," Thomas said. "Be positive. Just love on him. Make him understand he has me in his corner, and if he ever needs anything or anything like that, he can always call me." He's barely 4, but he's already taking Thomas up on that. "Cam loves him to death," Alacia Harper said. "Every time he's with me, which is at least once a week now, he wants to call Thomas. He says, 'Let's call Thomas.' After he talks to his dad, he wants to talk with his uncle. Every time. Never fails." That's the kind of impact Thomas made on youths dating back to his days as a re- cord-setting star at Karns, according to Kilgore. It was never about Thomas. It was always about those around him. "Little kids are always looking at older individuals, whether you know it or not," Kilgore told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "There is always going to be that perfect example mixed in with the bad ones. The perfect one stands out. That's Thomas. "He's very encouraging to others. He excels at all areas he puts his mind to. From academics to athletics, he'll definitely be someone to help mold that young man. He's got the right traits that his little nephew is going to pick up on for sure." Harper is an avid book reader. He made the Notre Dame media aware of that in his first interview session way back in February. Some of his conquests include "The Servant: A Simple Story About The True Essence of Leadership" by James C. Hunter and "How To Win Friends And Influence People In The Digital Age" by Dale Carnegie. Those aren't leisure reads. Those are purposed to better oneself. They're pur- posed to ensure one is doing everything he can to be the best son, brother, uncle and teammate possible. Thomas has always been about that. He's a guy who routinely worked out at 5 a.m. before school, once again during school with his team and one final time after school with his brother, all because he knew he had to go the extra mile to make it as a slightly undersized but still "unbelievable" athlete, as Taylor put it. Part of that came from Devin. It helps to see someone from your own school in Tennessee play Power Five football for a program as widely recognized as Okla- homa State and then get drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. It helps even more when that someone is your own brother. Devin is on his own path and Thomas is on his, but the latter often follows the former. That traces back to Uncle Mike and the everlasting imprint he made on the young boys he used to mentor. He saw the best in both of them. And apples don't fall far from trees. "It's a family I still talk about with other kids and families about how to do things the right way," Kilgore said. "It's easy to pull up a picture of Devin or Thomas and say, 'This is what you can do and the opportunities that are out there if you work hard and do things the right way.'" ✦ Harper's uncle, Michael T. Mozie Sr., was a big influ- ence in his life. He said when he has a down day, he thinks of Uncle Mike's legacy to get him through. PHOTO COURTESY THOMAS HARPER