Sometimes, first choices in life are best left to second chances.
This time last year, Pete Thomas ranked among the nation’s elite high school quarterbacks and had committed to play for Arizona State. He planned to graduate from high school early for a head start at college.
Instead, in two weeks he’ll take his turn under center for Colorado State in a raucous 70,000-plus bipartisan house at Invesco Field at Mile High against Colorado.
“I’m going to be pretty excited,” he said this week after he was named CSU’s starter for the Sept. 4 season opener. “You just have to go out and play the game the way you played it since you were little.”
As if the 6-foot-5 bearded freshman was ever little. He’ll combat nerves, he said, by being prepared mentally and physically.
For the record, his biggest audience to date was about 5,000 in a prep playoff game at Qualcomm Stadium as a junior in San Diego.
While CSU coach Steve Fairchild raves over raw talent and frets over inexperience, Thomas’ last coach, Steve Sutton of Valhalla High School in El Cajon, Calif., knows better.
“I don’t think it will bother him,” Sutton said of his three-year starter’s college debut in Denver. “Sure, he’ll be nervous in his first college game. He fires up for big games.”
The 18-year-old figures to get plenty of support from his elder teammates.
“I can go in and give him some reassurance,” senior tight end Eric Peitz said. “We look him in the eye and tell him, ‘It’s all right — we’re going to block for you, we’re going to do everything we can to help you succeed.’ “
From Thomas’ first snap in spring ball, he was everything as advertised. His combined passing stats for his junior and senior seasons at Valhalla: 5,553 yards, 52 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions.
Plan for Arizona State didn’t work out
To know Thomas is to know his family. His parents have advanced degrees. His brother, Chris, is an Air Force Academy senior.
Academics came first, and rewards came in the form of family ski outings.
“He switched to snowboarding when he was 14,” said his mother, Avis Thomas. As the stakes for his football future became more apparent, “he became a little more cautious on the moguls,” Avis said.
Similarly, the well thought out Arizona State commitment had to change. There was a shakeup in Dennis Erickson’s staff after the 2009 season and uncertainty over a future offensive coordinator and scheme. Thomas worried about a scheme not suited to his pure drop-back passing ability.
“I was going to ASU at first, but some things didn’t work out,” Thomas said.
Re-enter Fairchild, who sometimes sounds morally opposed to spread offenses and running quarterbacks.
Avis Thomas recalled: “(CSU assistant coach) Anthoney Hill and (quarterbacks coach) Daren Wilkinson both called Pete for six months to say ‘we’re here for you in case.’ . . . They were there at the right time at the right place.”
CSU, however, had not waited until nearly Christmas to find a quarterback for the 2010 recruiting class. The Rams had offered to Tyler Shreve, a decent prospect in his own right, but knew there was a chance he would go straight to a pro baseball career.
Utah instead signed Shreve but pulled the scholarship when he was kicked off his high school baseball team. He was taken in the 10th round by Toronto.
CSU coaches spared no effort to land Thomas on the second go-round. Fairchild has often talked about CSU president Tony Frank greeting the family on campus. The recruiting dinner was Fort Collins’ top eatery, Sonny Lubick Steakhouse. There was no coincidence he would be playing at Sonny Lubick Field.
He went ahead with early graduation and enrolled at CSU in the spring.
“It was tough, but it will be worth it in the long run,” said Thomas, who missed his high school graduation for just another summer drill.
He said he talked to Tate Forcier, who played prep ball in San Diego but enrolled early at Michigan in the spring of 2009, about coming in as a midyear freshman.
Getting an early start a big plus
Spring ball and summer workouts mean all the difference between a reasonable chance of success and disaster. CSU receivers coach Dan Hammerschmidt was CSU’s offensive coordinator when the Rams last started a freshman, Caleb Hanie, in 2004.
Hammerschmidt was at Wyoming last year when true freshman Austyn Carta-Samuels grew into the starting job.
Hammerschmidt feigned memory loss about his 2004 statement that he never wanted to go through a year with a freshman quarterback.
“We have better quarterback coaches now,” Hammerschmidt said. “Pete’s advantage is he had all of last spring and this summer. We never used to do that stuff. A lot of people are playing freshmen.”
Some coaches suggest all the high school summer quarterback competition, clinics and camps help mature players earlier. Fairchild insisted with Thomas it was his determination to learn the craft.
“Anybody who gives up the last semester of high school is pretty serious,” the CSU coach said.
The sacrifice was relative. For college students, friends and family are a cellphone away. The perfect San Diego weather, home cooking and not-too-distant beaches can’t be transmitted electronically, however.
Avis Thomas marvels at her son’s transition except for one focus. He really misses the family’s four Great Danes.
“We’re always texting pictures of them,” Avis said. “He misses his dogs tremendously. They are going to come out there for a few games.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
The Pete Thomas file
Height: 6-feet-5
Weight: 218 pounds
Hometown: El Cajon, Calif.
High-school honors: San Diego Union-Tribune student-athlete of the year; 16th-ranked pro-style QB; USA Today Super 25 No. 6 pro-style QB; three-year captain.
Stats: 4.0 GPA with advanced placement courses; 19-5 combined record as junior and senior; 52 career TDs and 11 interceptions.
What you didn’t know: Skied and snowboarded until two years ago; brother was on the Air Force wrestling team; also was place-kicker for Valhalla High School; lettered in baseball for two years.
